ABC Sets Feb. 2 Premiere Date for LOST Final Season, Chuck Returns for NBC; ABC Family Monday Originals in January

Friday, November 20, 2009

ABC Sets Feb. 2 Premiere Date for LOST Final Season, Chuck Returns for NBC; ABC Family Monday Originals in January

ABC announced that the premiere of the sixth and final season of LOST, will have a special all-night event on Tuesday, February 2, 2010. A recap special will kick off the night at 8:00 p.m., ET/PT, followed by the much anticipated two-hour premiere from 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT. The series will then air in its regular time period Tuesday nights from 9:00-10:00 p.m., ET beginning the following week, on February 9.
ABC has not announced anything else for 2010 in terms of schedule changes. LOST airing in the 9pm hour will likely have ABC move Scrubs and Better off Ted to the 8pm hour. Those comedies start airing in the 9pm hour starting Dec. 1 and will likely air there in January as well before LOST takes the hour starting in February. It is unclear what ABC will air at 8pm on Tuesdays in January. My guess? Shark Tank. ABC has some episodes still to air and they announced yesterday that repeats will air on Saturdays in January at 5pm ET starting Jan. 9. ABC will also air repeats of Shaq Vs. on Sundays at 5pm ET starting Jan. 3. Back to primetime, the forgotten will likely air Tuesdays at 10pm still in January and February. In March both Dancing with the Stars: The Results and V will return. They will air at 8pm and 10pm, but either time for each could work. The only other question mark for ABC will be Wednesdays at 10pm starting in January. Could Ugly Betty be on the move to that slot? Stay with us!

NBC's one-hour action-comedy series Chuck returns to the NBC lineup on Sunday, January 10 with all-new missions and two action-packed, back-to-back original episodes in its season premiere from 9-11 p.m. ET before the series -- starring Zachary Levi in the title role -- moves back to its regular day and time (Mondays 8-9 p.m. ET) beginning Monday, January 11. NBC has 19 hours of Chuck this season, so they are using three hours the first week.
In other programming news, a special two-hour episode of Heroes will be broadcast on Monday, January 4 from 8-10 p.m. ET and then the series moves to its new time slot (actually its old slot) of Mondays at 9 p.m. ET starting January 11. NBC has also announced they have ordered three more episodes of canceled drama Trauma. Why? For inventory reasons as they will need a few more hours to program. Trauma will air 10 episodes in 2009, so 6 episodes will remain to air sometime in 2010. It won't be airing Mondays at 9 in January that's for sure. Looks like it will return when maybe Heroes finishes up its run in February? Don't get too excited Trauma fans, NBC did the same thing by ordering more Lipstick Jungle last year and it remained canceled after that.

Finally, ABC Family will return its two original hit dramas, The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Make It or Break It one week earlier, moving to Monday, January 4 at 8:00-9:00PM ET/PT and 9:00-10:00PM ET/PT. The Secret Life of the American Teenager returns (8:00-9:00PM ET/PT) to complete its second season with 12 all-new episodes; Make It or Break It (9:00PM-10:00PM ET/PT) returns to complete its first season with 10 all-new episodes. The two series were initially scheduled to return on Monday, January 11, 2010.
The network has also created its first 3-hour block of original programming on Monday nights by setting the premiere date for the return of Greek on Monday, January 25 at 10:00 PM ET/PT. Greek will join the new Monday line up in the 10 o'clock hour, which will round out its third season with 10 episodes.
We will have more on ABC Family January 2010 at a later date, if anything has changed on the regular daytime schedule (7am-8pm).

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Tuesday, January 28

The Conners - "Mud Turtles, A Good Steak and One Man in a Tub" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Becky thinks that Jackie’s new friend Dawn (guest star Cheryl Hines), a restaurant supplier, is only cozying up to her to sell them things they can’t afford for the Lunch Box. Darlene is thrilled when Harris gets into Central Illinois State, but Harris might have found a better offer on her own. When Dan finds himself in an embarrassing situation nursing an injury, Louise (Katey Sagal) tries to help him out.

Bless This Mess - "The Letter of the Law" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Rio is bummed she can’t afford to go to Iceland for her best friend’s wedding, so the nuptials are moved and brought to the farm. Meanwhile, Rio is forced to take on Deb’s mail route after she quits, and Mike and Jacob help Rudy get over Constance.

mixed-ish - "True Colors" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Paul is shocked to hear from his estranged mother who wants to visit for Rainbow’s 13th birthday and soon learns more about why she abandoned him. Meanwhile, Rainbow sees turning 13 as a huge turning point in her life and wants a big birthday party, but Alicia wants to celebrate all the things Rainbow missed out on over the years while on the commune.

black-ish - "Adventure to Ventura" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Dre worries Diane and Jack don’t know how to fend for themselves and sends them out on an adventure, only to realize it’s his overbearing worries that hold the twins back. Meanwhile, Junior gets into a tricky situation at work when he befriends Josh in hopes of scoring a positive peer review.

Schitt's Creek - "Maid of Honour" (Pop, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Moira shares the newly released "Crows" movie trailer with the Jazzagals; Johnny and Roland find a suspicious bag of money at the new motel.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 27)

Tuesday, January 28

Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) - Catch Ben on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) - William drops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Ashton Kutcher (The Ranch/Two and a Half Men/That '70s Show) - Ashton visits The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana is a guest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at 11pm.
Tony Rock (Living Biblically/All of Us) - Tony is a panelist on Lights Out with David Spade at 11:30pm on Comedy Central.
Kumail Nanjiani (Bless the Harts/Silicon Valley) - Kumail stops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Aidy Bryant (Shrill) - Aidy appears on Watch What Happens: Live at 10pm on Bravo.
Miles Brown (black-ish) - Miles is a guest on The Real, so check your local listings.
Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris talks about Fox's The Resident on a repeat of Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Wendie Malick (Hot in Cleveland/Hot in Cleveland/Jake in Progress/Just Shoot Me!) - Wendie talks about Disney Channel's The Owl House on a repeat of Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Life) - Nia talks about Poisoned Love on NBC's Today in the 10am hour and on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Bill Pullman (1600 Penn) - Bill talks about The Sinner on NBC's Today in the 10am hour and on the BUILD Series at 12:15pm.
Janeane Garofalo (The Larry Sanders Show) and Grant Rosenmeyer (Oliver Beene) - Janeane and Grant are guests on the BUILD Series at 2pm.