Tuesday, November 24, 2009

WGN America and WPIX's 2009 Holiday Stunts; Classic Power Rangers Coming to ABC Kids

We told you already about WGN America's Newhart Thanksgiving Day marathon, now we have the rest of the holiday specials for WGN America to close out 2009! Airing on Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24, 2009) will be Yogi's First Christmas (1980) from 2-4pm ET, followed by back-to-back holiday episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, Cheers, and Becker from 4pm-7pm ET. Then we have the special A Flintstone Christmas (1977) in the 7pm ET hour leading into WWE Superstars at 8pm ET followed by the primetime movie The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002) from 9pm-11pm ET. Then A Flintstone Christmas (1977) encores in the 11pm ET hour, followed by an encore of WWE Superstars at 12am ET. At 1am ET through 2:30am ET, Midnight Mass from Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago airs live. The Mass leads into holiday episodes of Barney Miller at 2:30am & 3am ET, followed by the Cosby Show Christmas episode at 3:30am ET, and then four holiday episodes of Coach from 4am-6am ET.
The following day, Christmas Day (Friday, December 25, 2009) starts off with the annual Yule Log from 8am-11am ET! Open your presents in the morning with this! Then from 11am-1pm ET the movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) airs. The Chicago local news airs at 1pm, followed by a local special called Dean's Holiday Movies & Memories, from WGN entertainment critic Dean Richards. Yogi's First Christmas (1980) encores from 2-4pm ET on this day, too. Finally, more holiday movies (Secret of Giving (1999) and The Wool Cap (2004)) cap off the day from 4pm-8pm ET.
Other holiday movies and episodes will air on their regular times such as Bewitched holiday episodes on weekdays, Outta Sight Retro Night (Sunday, Dec. 20) and movies such as Jingle All the Way (1996) and Home for the Holidays (1995).
And finally for WGN America, ring out 2009 and roll in 2010 with two special marathons! On New Year's Eve from 1am-6am ET close out 2009 and start your 2010 with South Park...with a night marathon! Then take a few hours of sleep and start 2010 fresh with the classic sitcom Barney Miller from 8am-10pm ET on Friday, January 1, 2010! That's 14 hours (28 episodes) of the classic '70s sitcom starring Hal Linden!

For you New York City readers, we have some WPIX (CW11) holiday specials to tell you! They usually do some nice specials as well. WPIX is owned by Tribune, the same company that owns cable network WGN America. On Saturday, Dec. 19 they will air the annual classic March of the Wooden Soldiers at 8pm ET. They will also encore it on Christmas Day as usual at 1pm ET. On Sunday, Dec. 20 from 1pm-5pm ET, WPIX will present a sitcom holiday episode stunt! Holiday episodes airings of Two and a Half Men, double shots of According to Jim, Frasier, and The Jeffersons, along with The Odd Couple will air!
On Christmas Eve, when the clock strikes midnight WPIX will present the Christmas Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for 90 minutes. And of course on Christmas morning from 4-6am and again from 9am-1pm it's the annual WPIX Yule Log! I had to relay the classic stunts for you New Yorkers on WPIX since I mentioned WGN America!

The classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is scheduled to air in the 12:00PM & 12:30 PM ET (11:00 & 11:30 AM CT/PT; 10:00 & 10:30AM MT) time periods effective Saturday, January 2, 2010 on ABC's Saturday morning block called ABC Kids.
The classic episodes replace the current Power Rangers: RPM, which will have its last telecast on Saturday, December 26, 2009. In addition to the return to television, a new toy line will accompany the series and will appear in stores by the end of 2009.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers aired from 1993 to 1995 on Fox Kids, the longest running Power Rangers series, spanning three seasons. The series was about normal teens Jason (Red Ranger), Kimberly (Pink Ranger), Zack (Black Ranger), Trini (Yellow Ranger), and Billy (Blue Ranger), given the ability to morph into Power Rangers, including an arsenal of weapons at their disposal as well as large robotic machines called Zords, which can combine into the mighty Megazord. Later a new teen was added Tommy (Green Ranger). Zordon and Alpha 5 recruited them. The villains were Rita Repulsa (one of the ugliest TV characters ever!) and Lord Zedd. Sounds wacky...but it was pretty good and clearly the best version of Power Rangers, I think.
View the episode schedule for the classic episodes on ABC Kids! Go Go Power Rangers, You Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Saturday, May 10

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 5)

Friday, May 9

  • Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Watch Paul on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Matt Bomer (Mid-Century Modern) - Matt appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Asif Ali (Deli Boys) and Saagar Shaikh (Deli Boys) - Asif and Saagar are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Busy Philipps (Girls5eva/Vice Principals/Cougar Town/Love, Inc.) - Busy chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Christine Baranski (The Big Bang Theory/Happy Family/Welcome to New York/Cybill) - Christine talks about Nine Perfect Strangers on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love/Like Family/Love, Inc.) - Holly swings by for a chat about her new film Hats Off to Love on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) and Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother/Free Spirit) - NBC's Today catches up with Sarah and Alyson in the 9am hour.
  • Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - In this a little bit extra episode Drew shares more of her conversation with Brooke at the news desk on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo, so check your local listings.
  • Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Julia Sweeney (Shrill/Work in Progress/Maybe It's Me/George and Leo) and Marsha Mason (Grace and Frankie/The Middle/Sibs) - Julia and Marsha talk about My First Ex-Husband on PIX11 Morinng News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

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