Sunday, January 31, 2010

Week 19 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 19 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thurs finals):


Households: #1. Fox 8.6/13.5 rating/share; #2. CBS 6.5/10.4; #3. ABC 4.2/6.7; #4. NBC 3.6/5.7; #5. The CW 1.2/1.9
Total Viewers:#1. Fox 15.14 million; #2. CBS 10.19 million; #3. ABC 6.35 million; #4. NBC 5.71; #5. The CW 1.83
Adults 18-49: #1. Fox 5.3/14.1 rating/share; #2. CBS 2.5/6.7; #3. ABC 2.1/5.7; #4. NBC 2.0/5.6; #5. The CW 0.9/2.3

Week 19 (Jan. 25-31) Analysis: For week 19, American Idol is helping Fox with the lead and not having an hour of ratings counted because of Obama's State of the Union certainly helped. So far through the first four days of the week, Fox is obviously in the lead in HH/viewers and 18-49. CBS follows in a solid second in those categories, with ABC in third in every category, and NBC fourth in every category as usual. Just about the same as we were this time last week. Last week, week 18, Fox dominated and won the week in all categories thanks to a huge NFL NFC Championship Game doing a huge 57.93 million and of course American Idol helps. CBS was a distant second place in those categories for the week. With ABC in third and NBC in fourth. No more NFL for NBC this season to rely on.
On Monday it was Fox and ABC battling for the lead, while CBS was in repeats. CBS started with repeats of its comedies and ended with a repeat of CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 5.98 million for a repeat, while a repeat of Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 5.52 million, not bad for both, but could be better as CBS Monday comedies tend to do better. Two and a Half Men followed with a repeat as well doing 12.07 million, that is very strong for a repeat and more than doubled from the lead-in, and The Big Bang Theory followed with a repeat of its own doing 11.5 million, it built from the lead-in in 18-49 from a 3.8 to a 4.0. A repeat of CSI: Miami settled for second place in its slot with 9.55 million, way lower than the usual repeat. ABC got good mileage again out of The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love doing a solid 11.47 million, up once again from previous week, and a 3.9 18-49 rating for the two-hours, also up a bit from previous week. It keeps growing every week just like it did last year. A new episode of Castle was next and did a first place 10.55 million, up a million week-to-week, and tied a series high with a 3.0 18-49 rating! Castle mania baby! Fox started off with an all-new House doing a night best 14.21 million and a 5.2 18-49 rating. A new episode of 24 was next doing 10.81 million and a 3.4 18-49 rating, both off a bit from previous week when it was two-hours. NBC started off with a new Chuck at a decent 6.98 million, up some from previous week and a 2.5 18-49 rating again. Next Heroes did only 4.3 million and a 1.9 A18-49 rating, both up a tick from the series lows the previous week. Still needs to go. The Jay Leno Show followed with only 4.26 million, off some from previous week. The CW aired an all-new One Tree Hill doing a decent but could be better 2.19 million, followed by an all-new episode of Life UneXpected at 2.17 million, down from previous week's premiere and in the range of what Gossip Girl has done here all season.
On Tuesday, Fox won but CBS nearly won in total viewers. Fox of course started with an all-new American Idol with 24.45 million, down two million or so from previous week. Next a new episode of Human Target on a special night did an OK 9.26 million, losing a ton of the lead-in's audience and just slightly better what a repeat of the pilot did the previous week. CBS started with a new NCIS doing 20.22 million, even against Idol. Then spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles was next with a new showing of its own doing 16.94 million, what more can you say? And finally CBS aired a repeat of The Good Wife doing a solid 10.02 million, up from previous week's repeat. NBC was next with a two-hour The Biggest Loser doing 9.71 million, down slightly from previous week. Then The Jay Leno Show tanked as usual to 6.2 million, but up a bit from previous week. ABC started off with a new Scrubs [Med School] doing 3.17 million better than previous week, followed by a new Better off Ted doing only 2.52 million. Then ABC reaired last season's season finale of LOST from 9-11pm doing 3.45 million and a 1.4 18-49 rating. Cannot wait for this Tuesday's final season premiere. I've seen the first hour...it is AMAZING! ABC will return the forgotten on Feb. 9 at 10pm. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Melrose Place doing only 940,000 and 850,000 viewers...but both actually up from previous week's repeats.
Wednesday it was Fox on top again but better than usual because the State of the Union aired at 9pm and that does not count in the ratings. Fox started with American Idol doing 25.71 million and a 9.5 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week. Fox then aired the State of the Union Address rather than the normal Human Target airing, so Fox's average for the night only includes Idol. Fox must be happy. CBS started with repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried at below level numbers thanks to the State of the Union doing 4.82 and 4.48 million. Next CBS aired the State of the Union as Criminal Minds and CSI: NY were preempted. CBS's analysis immediately following the address did 6.14 million for 9 minutes. A repeat of Two and a Half Men aired from 10:47pm-11:17pm ET doing 5.56 million. ABC comedies were next with a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm doing a decent 5.85 million, followed by a repeat of The Middle doing 5.05 million, both up from previous week's repeats and beating the competing CBS comedy repeats. Modern Family was not new at 9pm because of the State of the Union. ABC analysis of the address following the address did 6.36 million. A Cougar Town repeat was joined in progress at 10:44pm ET and did 3.47 million. Ugly Betty was preempted. NBC was next with a repeat of Mercy only doing 3.59 million. Law & Order: SVU and The Jay Leno Show were preempted because of the State of the Union. NBC's analysis of the address did 8.28 million, followed by a repeat of The Office joined in progress at 10:44pm ET doing 3.39 million. The CW aired more repeats as Gossip Girl did only 720,000, lower than previous week when it was at 9pm and then a repeat of Life UneXpected followed and 1.38 million, not too bad.
Thursday it was Fox on top as CBS and ABC were primarily in repeats with their big guns. CBS opened with a failed pilot with Jeff Probst called Live for the Moment doing only 4.56 million. A repeat of CSI followed with 9.14 million. At 10pm The Mentalist was also a repeat but did a better 11.07 million. ABC started off with week two of The Deep End at 6.09 million, down a million from the premiere, but did the same exact 1.8 18-49 rating as the premiere, so that is a positive since the rest of the night were repeats for ABC. A repeat of Grey's Anatomy was next doing 5.21 million, seems a bit better than usual repeat numbers for this show. A repeat of Private Practice was next doing 4.29 million. Fox had a new Bones doing a season high and impressive 12.33 million and a 3.618-49 rating, wow, but the competition was pretty weak A new Fringe did 8.98 million, up two million from previous week as there was nothing else new on in the hour. NBC had repeats of its comedies with Community doing 4.18 million, Parks & Recreation, was next and did only 3.71 million, The Office was next with a repeat episode doing 4.58 million and a repeat of 30 Rock was next doing 3.87 million. The Jay Leno Show closed the night with only 4.34 million, off a it from previous week. The CW aired a new Vampire Diaries at a solid 3.7 million, on par with previous week, and Supernatural was new and did 2.71 million, off a bit from previous week, but still their best night by far of the week as usual.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but CBS won Friday with their dramas, with ABC did well with 20/20 at 10. Series finale of Dollhouse barely registered for Fox hurting the season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares at 9pm.
Saturday numbers saw Fox win a very quiet night with its usual reality crime series.
Tonight ABC has all-new episodes of its regular line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters all intact. NBC has Dateline and a new SNL special that should do average. CBS will win the night though with 60 Minutes followed by the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. Fox returns with their animated comedies being all-new but new 'Til Death episodes will lead-in. Fox will win the week in all categories and CBS will likely be second in everything especially thanks to the Grammys after tonight. ABC will be third and NBC in fourth across the board. As for this coming week, look for the final season of LOST launching Tuesday on ABC! And February 2010 sweeps starts Thursday!

Week 19 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 18-- Jan. 18-24)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - preempted again.
  • The Cleveland Show (Fox) - preempted again.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - preempted again.
  • American Dad (Fox) - preempted again.

Monday Sitcoms

  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A repeat did 5.98 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, not bad for a repeat but CBS Monday comedies usually do better.
  • Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 5.52 million for a repeat...pretty good retention from the lead-in.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 12.07 million for a repeat...still the best of the sitcoms.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 11.5 million for a repeat is great. The 18-49 for this week was a 4.0 and this was a repeat.

Tuesday Sitcoms

  • [scrubs] (ABC) - A new episode of the [Med School] edition at 8pm did 3.17 million, better than previous week's new episode, which aired at 9pm.
  • Better off Ted (ABC) - Only 2.52 million for a new episode at 8:30pm. This was the last scheduled one, but still two episodes remain (same goes for [scrubs]) unscheduled.

Wednesday Sitcoms

  • Old Christine (CBS) - A repeat did only 4.82 million, maybe because of the State of he Union.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - 4.48 million for a repeat only.
  • The Middle (ABC) - A repeat at 8:30pm following a repeat of Modern Family did 5.05 million and a 1.6 18-49 rating, beating Gary on CBS.
  • Modern Family (ABC) - A repeat at 8pm did 5.85 million, up from previous week's repeat. Regular 9pm airing was preempted due to State of the Union.
  • Cougar Town (ABC) - A repeat at a special time of 10:44pm ET was joined in progress and did 3.47 million.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - A special repeat airing aired in its entirety after the State of the Union doing 5.56 million from 10:47-11:17pm ET.
  • The Office (NBC) -A special repeat airing was joined in progress after the State of the Union doing 3.39 million at 10:44pm ET.

Thursday Sitcoms

  • Community (NBC) - A repeat did only 4.18 million...but not too far from previous week when it was new.
  • Parks & Recreation (NBC) - Only 3.71 million for a repeat. Yet a third season is ordered?
  • The Office (NBC) - A repeat did 4.58 million, best of the bunch of course.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - A repeat did 3.87 million...needs to do better.

Friday Sitcoms

  • None.

Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) are 'Til Death on Fox followed by the Fox animated comedies starting at 7.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother repeats were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Old Christine, The Office) or just plain old terrible (such as Better off Ted, Scrubs).

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Blog DVD Review: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Reviews. Today week we take a look at Warner Home Video's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition. This is the 1985 TV special and is based on the 1967 musical of the same name. Join Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and the rest of the gang with Charlie Brown in an animated mini-musical! See my Blog DVD Review of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown Remastered Deluxe Edition:

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition (Warner, $19.98) brings us the 1985 TV special on DVD for the very first time! This is an animated version of the stage musical. The story focuses on of course Charlie Brown, the kid for whom life is a constant source of frustration. The gallery of familiar Peanuts characters, including Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and Snoopy, express their obsessions and insecurities in ten songs retained from the original musical. Clark Gesner's songs are featured.

Let's now move on to the packaging. We have a thin case that is movie style. The cover art is light blue in color, and has a shot of Charlie Brown with a crown with the gang carrying him up. The title of the special is above that, with a mention that the special is a remastered deluxe edition all the way on the top with a Snoopy Peanuts logo! To the back we go, we get a nice shot of most of the cast, as Snoopy and Linus are sitting on top of Snoopy's dog house. The back also has a list of special features. When we open the case, we see the disc on the right panel. There is no artwork on the panels, as it is just plain black. Disc artwork is also in light blue color with a shot of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Woodstock.

The menu screen has options of Features, Special Features, and Languages. We get that light blue background again, with the theme song playing in the background. We also have the same artwork as the cover art on the main menu. We get auto-trailers before the main menu for items like Be My Valentine Charlie Brown, It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown and Peanuts '70s Collection Vol. 1. For Languages, we can have either have English, Portuguese or Japanese. For subtitles we have those three options again and also Chinese and Thai! The Features section has the special listed and it's the only option. Finally, Special Features lists the featurette and a trailer for Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins.

The video and audio is tremendous once again and on par from what we have seen on past sets. These specials have all looked so good ever since they stated the Remastered Collection sets. They have never looked better and the audio is also superb. I am very impressed yet again; what more can I continue to say about these digitally remastered sets? Warner continues to do a great job on this remastering of all these classic specials. This special has 7 chapter stops and it runs 48:04. So, yes of course it is unedited! These sets are must buys for the video quality alone!

As for special features, these sets always have something and here we get a nice featurette like usual! It is titled "Animating a Charlie Brown Musical" and runs 14:41. We find out the 20-year history of the Clark Gesner album that evolved into an Off-Broadway hit before this special was even created. Interviewed are Lee Mendelson (executive producer), Nat Gertler (Peanuts Historian), Dean Stolber (original Broadway Charlie Brown), and Jeannie Schulz (Charles' wife. There is also a clip from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from Feb. 7, 1973 with Charles Schulz! How cool!

I once again highly do recommend this set for any Charlie Brown-Peanuts fan and classic animation in general. Continue your collection, because we get another classic special we never had on DVD before and also remastered for the first time on DVD. This is totally worth it! Warner continues to do a wonderful job with the remastering and the behind the scenes extras for each set. Let's hope they continue to release more Peanuts specials and eventually we get them all remastered in our personal libraries! We still need volume two of the '70s collection of Peanuts, so hopefully that is out by the summer at least. So start singing Happiness because you'll be very happy after you watch this classic special!

-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Charlie Brown Official Page
Charlie Brown Specials

Friday, January 29, 2010

Nick at Nite February 2010 Has Week-Long 'Nanny' Event; CBS Renews Veterans For 2010-11

Before we get to our lead story, I want to mention we still don't have full details on the Married...with Children on Comedy Central move. But we do know now that it will not launch on Monday. It will launch the following week, Feb. 8 instead. So stay with us!

Back to our lead story, Nick at Nite has announced their February 2010 highlights. The regular schedule will remain the same as it is now, which is pretty strong in the ratings. One change they made last weekend and will occur this weekend as well is that on Friday and Saturday nights from 2-4am Everybody Hates Chris gets an extra hour for some reason, preempting the 3am hour of Family Matters. This change isn't listed beyond this weekend, but that can change. Nothing else is changing.
As for highlights of stunts, Nick at Nite will present a week-long The Nanny marathon in time for Valentine's Day! The marathon starts Monday, Feb. 8 and will last into Valentine's night on Sunday, Feb. 14. The marathon airs from 11pm-6am ET/PT for these seven nights. It's seven nights of love with Fran and family! The Nanny star Fran Drescher hosts "Valentine Schmalentine." During "Valentine Schmalentine," Drescher invites viewers into her "boudoir" as she shares her expertise on love, dating, romance and relationships, as well as her favorite clips from the series. Elsewhere, the last two Sundays of February will have movies on Nick at Nite. The Nickelodeon original movie School Gyrlz will air on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 7pm leading into the big screen movie Drumline from 8pm-10:30pm. And on Sunday, Feb. 28, Nick at Nite will air the classic comedy movie Uncle Buck from 8pm-10:30pm. Other than all that, it is a pretty quiet month for Nick at Nite. Original animated comedy Glenn Martin continues to air Mondays at 8pm.
View the full Nick at Nite February 2010 schedule and highlights.

CBS has ordered more editions of its long running reality franchises Survivor and The Amazing Race for the 2010-2011 season.
Survivor will return with two more editions, marking the 21st and 22nd installments of broadcast television's longest-running reality competition series. The series' 20th edition, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, premieres with a special two-hour episode on Thursday, Feb. 11 from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT.
CBS has also ordered the 17th edition of the seven-time Emmy Award-winning reality series The Amazing Race, hosted by Phil Keoghan. The 17th cycle will likely air in Fall 2010. The Amazing Race 16th edition returns Sunday, Feb. 14 at8:00 PM, ET/PT.
And finally, CBS has not officially put out a press release on this, but they have ordered a sixth season of Monday night sitcom How I Met Your Mother for the 2010-11 season. CBS did announce that Jennifer Lopez will guest star in an episode airing this March. Lopez will play Anita Appleby, a no-nonsense author of self-help books that teach women how to train men into relationship machines through the power of denial. When Robin tells Anita how Barney acts toward women, she makes it her mission to "break" him.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

TV Land Alters February 2010 Schedule, 'Married' Situation Addressed; ABC Cancels Ugly Betty But Proper Series Finale Will Air, More ABC Notes

TV Land is altering its February 2010 schedule a bit, and now Married...with Children will leave the line-up starting Feb. 1 (which is next week!), instead of March 1 - a month earlier than planned. It is very strange because the series does well for them in the ratings, but it must be some contractual issues that forces them to do this. But this time it won't move back to sister network Spike TV, it will move to sister network Comedy Central starting Monday, Feb. 1. Stay with us for details on that (hoping by tomorrow we can post it). But for TV Land, there are just two days left -- tonight 10pm and 1am hours and Saturday, Jan. 30 from 1pm-5pm. So, effective Monday, Feb. 1, on weeknights another hour of Home Improvement will air in the 10pm hour and Roseanne will air for another hour in the 1am hour both replacing Married. So, Home Improvement will air 9-11pm and Roseanne from 11pm-2am. The 11pm hour of Roseanne will be replaced by Feb. 15 when Boston Legal launches though, cutting it to 12-2am. Roseanne's late night hour of 3am will be gone because of these changes, as The Cosby Show will air again from 2am-3:30am and Three's Company from 3:30am-5am (both gain an extra episode again). And finally, an hour of The Beverly Hillbillies will air in the 5pm hour replacing an hour of Andy Griffith Show on weekdays.
The Saturday Married...with Children marathon blocks will be replaced by other sitcom blocks, most notably by Sanford & Son and Andy Griffith.
View the updated TV Land February 2010 schedule, but remember more changes are to come in March as now Everybody Loves Raymond will be joining the schedule earlier than planned, as we mentioned a few days back. Stay with us for the TV Land schedule starting March 18 with Raymond added and if Married returns again on TV Land (like it always ends up doing after being dropped by Spike, or perhaps it will be different now that Comedy Central will air it). I also expect March 1-17 to be changed a bit on TV Land as well from the original schedule, too because of these February changes. So watch for that. And we'll tell you the timeslots for Married on Comedy Central by tomorrow.

ABC is ending Ugly Betty after the end of this season. The series is in the middle of its fourth season. The show will get a proper and satisfying ending though, as they still have time to shoot the series finale. However, the season order of 22 episodes has been trimmed down to 20 episodes. Here is the statement from ABC and the producers of Ugly Betty:
"We've mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty's final season, and are announcing now as we want to allow the show ample time to write a satisfying conclusion. We are extremely proud of this groundbreaking series, and felt it was important to give the fans a proper farewell."
ABC will air the series finale in April. Tentatively the finale will likely air Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 10pm. The series will air all-new episodes on Wednesdays at 10pm from next Wednesday (Feb. 3) to April (except two weeks in February (Feb. 17 and 24), since the Winter Olympics will air then). The series took a dip in the ratings when it moved to Fridays at 9pm this fall and the Wednesday at 10pm move in January only slightly improved on its Friday airings. ABC has not yet announced what will replace Ugly Betty on Wednesdays at 10pm after Betty has its finale. Stay with us for that.

In other ABC schedule updates, The Bachelor: On The Wings of Love - After the Final Rose special will air immediately after the season finale of The Bachelor: On The Wings of Love from 8-10pm on Monday, March 1. But the big news is that ABC has scheduled a Bachelor wedding for last season's couple Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney. The two-hour The Bachelor: Jason and Molly's Wedding will air Monday, March 8 from 8-10pm leading into Castle. The event will include the bride's dress fitting, planning for the big day, bachelor and bachelorette parties and the ceremony itself. Past Bachelor and Bachelorette couples and participants will be on the guest list.
Jason Mesnick was one of the final two bachelors on DeAnna Pappas' edition of The Bachelorette. He became the first single dad on The Bachelor and proposed to Melissa Rycroft in the finale last year, only to change his mind and break up with Rycroft on the air and instead propose to runner-up Molly Malaney.
ABC will air an all-new season of reality staple Wife Swap on Fridays starting Friday, March 26, 2010 at 8pm ET/PT. Wife Swap replaces Supernanny, and will lead into Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution at 9pm, which also launches on March 26. Wife Swap will likely go into the summer months as it is starting a bit late and has more than 13 episodes in the can for season six.
And finally, ABC has ordered two more episodes of surging hit Castle for this season, CastleTV.net reports. This is no surprise, as Castle is growing every week in the ratings and also has a special two-part, two-night episode coming March 21-22. So it was no surprise to me that ABC ordered two more episodes. Castle will be all-new next on Monday, Feb. 8 with a baseball themed episode featuring a cameo by L.A. Dodgers manager Joe Torre. After that, Castle takes a Winter Olympic break for repeats (and preempted on March 1 by The Bachelor finale) and returns March 8. Castle stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

FamilyNet March 2010 Schedule, Removes Sitcoms; NATPE Syndication 2010: Day 3

FamilyNet, which was bought by ComStar last month or so, is changing their schedule in March 2010. ComStar also owns AmericanLife TV, so FamilyNet and ALN are now sister networks. And because of that, FamilyNet will be airing some series that used to air or air now on ALN. Effective Monday, March 1, 2010, FamilyNet will air Lou Grant, Trapper John M.D., and Color Honeymooners. The Ed Asner drama Lou Grant will air Mon-Thurs at 5pm and 6pm ET. Trapper John, M.D. will follow that and air Mon-Thurs at 7pm and 8pm ET. Both series are spin-offs of popular series Mary Tyler Moore Show and M*A*S*H. FamilyNet Movie Flicks will follow the dramas at 9pm ET and another one at 12am ET. And the Color Honeymooners will air Fridays at 5pm ET. Also airing on Fridays will be FamilyNet Documentary, World Combat League, and ALN Live from 6-9pm. ALN Live also airs on ALN at 8pm on Fridays, so it will be simulcast on FamilyNet.
Merv Griffin's Crosswords and Black Beauty will remain on the schedule and air weekdays at 3pm and 4pm ET. With the addition of these new series, this means Happy Days, My Three Sons, Family Ties, and Early Edition will be off the line-up after their Friday, Feb. 26 airings. They haven't lost rights I believe, but they have been played for 3 cycles each or so and FamilyNet wanted to do something fresh. Since some ALN series have migrated to FamilyNet, you might wonder if these series could migrate to ALN? As of now, that is not happening because they can't. But if it ever happens, we'll let you know!

What about AmericanLife TV in March 2010? There is only one change, Fridays at 10am and 5pm will now be another airing of The Color Honeymooners. So Rhoda and Phyllis will be now cut to Mon-Thurs 10am & 5pm instead of Mon-Fri in March. Not a big deal. And Merv Griffin's Crosswords will air Saturdays at 4pm, as they will share it with sister net FamilyNet. Everything else will remain the same as it is now. Stay with us for updates as usual.

We didn't mention on day one the first-run weekend series up for sale for next fall. The following all-new series are trying to be sold for Fall 2010 on weekends:
The Crook and Chase Hour (one-hour, music talk show from All Media Partners); Curiosity Quest Goes Green (Half-hour kids series from Telco Productions); The Kids Block (Half-hour kids series from Showplace Television Syndication); My Parents, My Sister & Me (Half-hour sitcom starring Jasmine Guy from Showplace Television Syndication); Real Green (Half-hour lifestyle magazine from Telco Productions); Treasure Hunters Road Show (Half-hour reality from Entertainment Concepts International); Wild Limited (Half-hour wildlife series from Litton); Young Icons (Half-hour kids reality from Entertainment Studios, Inc.); Untitled Project With Magic Johnson (Half-hour from sports reality Showplace Television Syndication); World's Funniest Moments (One-hour reality from MGM).
As of now, I have no clearances for any of these. I'm sure a few of these will get cleared. It would be nice to have an first-run sitcom in syndication again like in the days of Charles in Charge and Out of this World! So here's hoping My Parents, My Sister & Me starring Jasmine Guy gets cleared! Debbie Allen is producing that sitcom. Stay with us for updates!

In other NATPE news, Trifecta Entertainment has acquired distribution rights for Hacienda Heights, an original soap opera featuring an all-Hispanic cast. Trifecta hopes to launch it this fall as a weekend block of two half-hours on both English and Spanish-language TV stations, as well as secure a cable run for it if possible. It will be produced for both English and Spanish, B&C reports. The show stars Resurrection Blvd.'s Mauricio Mendoza, and will be shot in San Francisco, where executive producer Desmond Gumbs owns a sound stage and production facility. Gumbs financed the production of the first 11 episodes himself. Those episodes were test-marketed in four Western markets with strong Hispanic demographics: San Francisco; Los Angeles; Yuma, Ariz.; and Santa Rosa, Calif. New York-based Sahara Media has agreed to finance the production's next 89 episodes, bringing the show to 100. Once the companies get enough episodes, they hope to turn the show into a daytime strip.
As of now, no clearances on this yet. If it gets picked-up, we'll let you know.

We shall return if anything else is known today, so come on back and check!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Everybody Loves Raymond Now Coming to TV Land in March; NATPE 2010 Syndication: Day 2 - Martha Stewart Moves to Hallmark

Just last week we gave you TV Land's March 2010 schedule and highlights and at the end we mentioned Everybody Loves Raymond would be coming in April now instead of June. Guess what? Now that has changed again! This time the series will launch in March now. TV Land welcomes the hilarious Barone family to the network when the Emmy Award-winning sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond premieres on Thursday, March 18 with a four-day primetime event. The series then joins the schedule for a primetime block each weeknight starting at 9PM ET/PT. Viewers will fall in love all over again with the antics of Ray Barone's entire family, from his over-bearing mother Marie and his wise-cracking father, Frank, to his wife Debra's no-nonsense impatience with him and the incessant sibling rivalry between Ray and younger brother Robert.
TV Land says it is excited to begin airing Everybody Loves Raymond so that they can infuse their schedule with a fan favorite, giving them a great lead-in audience for their newest original series First Love, Second Chance, which launches March 10.
We will have more very soon on how the Raymond addition will impact the March 2010 schedule. Looks like their will be plenty of primetime times changes as a result. And it looks like the Bewitched marathon weekend of March 21-22 (11am-11pm), will be cut a bit due to the Raymond four-night primetime event. We will announce the updated TV Land March 2010 schedule as soon as they announce. So as always, stay with us! For now, discuss the addition of Raymond!

It is day 2 of the 2010 edition of NATPE and the big news is that The Martha Stewart Show is leaving broadcast syndication in the fall for a move to cable!
Hallmark Channel today announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (MSLO) to exclusively televise original episodes of the Emmy Award-winning, popular daytime home and lifestyle series The Martha Stewart Show on Hallmark Channel beginning September 2010.
As part of the agreement, MSLO will also develop a range of new and original series and prime time specials that will complement Hallmark Channel's current schedule of popular original movies, movies from the acclaimed "Hallmark Hall of Fame" library collection, specials and classic television series. In 2010 the network will produce 24 original movies.
Beginning in the fall, Mondays through Fridays, The Martha Stewart Show will be presented 10-11 a.m. (ET/PT), kicking off a two-and-half-hour block of original Martha Stewart programming. The flagship how-to series will continue to be filmed in New York City with a live studio audience, informing and inspiring viewers on subjects from cooking and entertaining to crafting and gardening. Encore performances of the daily show will also be presented on the network.
Following The Martha Stewart Show from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (ET/PT) each weekday, Hallmark Channel will present exclusive original programming currently in development at MSLO that will feature a portfolio of creative content for which the Martha Stewart brand is known and which will showcase experts and personalities from within MSLO. Additionally, MSLO will develop numerous holiday and interview specials for prime time on the network.

Stay with us throughout the day if there are any other major NATPE updates. So check back!

Monday, January 25, 2010

NATPE 2010 Syndication: Day 1; Obama's First State of the Union on Wednesday, Network TV Plans

It's that time of year again where stations buy new programs being offered for syndication next fall (or beyond even). The National Association of Television Program Executive (NATPE) conference is held every year in January and as always we will cover it! NATPE is going on this week from Jan. 25-27 in Las Vegas. Here is what is being offered (some might not be bought, so beware) for Fall 2010:

OFF-NETWORK REPEATS

Daily Half-Hour Sitcoms
American Dad! *WEEKENDS ONLY* (Twentieth Television)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (Warner Bros.)
Entourage (Warner Bros.)
How I Met Your Mother (Twentieth Television)
Meet the Browns (Debmar-Mercury)
The New Adventures of Old Christine (Warner Bros.)

Weekly Hour Dramas
Brothers and Sisters (Disney-ABC)
The Closer (Warner Bros.)
Criminal Minds (CBS)
Heartland (Genesis International)
NUMB3RS (CBS)
Stargate: Universe (MGM)
Ugly Betty (Disney-ABC)

Reality Half-Hour/Hour
Cash Cab (MGM)
Real Housewives (NBC Universal)
True Hollywood Story (Debmar-Mercury)

FIRST-RUN SERIES

Talk Shows
Nate Berkus Show (Sony Pictures Television)
The Jeremy Kyle Show (Debmar-Mercury) (test run summer 2010)
Steve and Chris (Program Partners)

Court Shows
America's Court with Judge Kevin Ross (Entertainment Studios)
Judge Bryan Superior Court (All Media Partners)
Judge Heck (Trifecta)
Judge Karen's Court (Litton Entertainment)
Swift Justice with Nancy Grace (CBS Television Distribution)

Game Shows
Don't Forget the Lyrics! (Twentieth Television)

News Magazine
Tooned In (Trifecta)

Remember this is what is being offered. Some of these entries have not gotten clearances, but as soon as they do, we'll let you know. Discuss this update on our message board. Stay with us!

Latest clearances for Fall 2010:
Twentieth Television will launch Don't Forget the Lyrics! on the Fox-owned TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Washington, D.C. It also will air on MyNetwork TV in primetime, paired with Twentieth's Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? on Tuesday nights, replacing Deal or No Deal, which is likely ending after this season. Don't Forget the Lyrics! will also have a run on Viacom-owned cable network VH1 (Fifth Grader airs on Viacom's CMT).
Debmar-Mercury has cleared E!'s True Hollywood Story in more than 65% of the country for a fall 2010 launch. Stations from the Fox, CBS, Weigel, Sunbeam, Capitol, Scripps, Raycom and Landmark broadcast groups have picked up the show, with clearances secured in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Debmar-Mercury has selected key episodes out of the more than 500 that exist. About 180 episodes have been chosen, It will run as a one-hour daily strip weekdays.


As promised, I'll give you the full updates on what the networks will do this Wednesday when President Obama gives his first State of the Union speech. We will cover each time zone, so you all will know what to expect!

First up is ABC. ABC will now not air an all-new [scrubs] now on a special night of Wednesday at 8pm due to the State of the Union plans. Instead a repeat of Modern Family will air instead. So, for the east/central, ABC will air Modern Family and The Middle repeats at 8/7 central. Then ABC will air the ABC News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response at 9/8c through 10:30/9:30c. A repeat of Cougar Town will air at a special time of 10:30/9:30c.
For the mountain time zone, the ABC News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response will air at 7:00pm MT followed by a repeat of Cougar Town at 8:30pm MT. Modern Family and The Middle repeats will follow at a special hour of 9pm MT.
Finally for the Pacific time zone, ABC News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response will air live at 6pm PT. From 7:30pm through 8:30pm PT, local programming will air. Comedy repeats will air in their normal times with The Middle, Modern Family and Cougar Town from 8:30pm-10pm PT. Local programming will air at 10pm PT though. View our recap of what we just said for ABC.

Next up is CBS. For the east/central time zones, repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried will air in its normal 8/7 central hour. Then at 98 central, CBS News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response will air live. A repeat of Two and a Half Men will air at 10:30/9:30c on a special night.
For the mountain time zone, CBS News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response airs live at 7pm MT. Two and a Half Men will follow at 8:30pm MT, followed by repeats of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried at a special time from 9-10pm MT.
And finally for the Pacific time zone, CBS News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response airs live at 6pm PT. Local programming airs at 7:30pm PT following the speech. Old Christine and Gary Unmarried repeats air in their normal time periods of 8-9pm PT. A repeat of Two and a Half Men will air at 9:00pm PT on a special night, followed by another repeat of Gary Unmarried at 9:30pm PT. If the State of the Union does run long and ends at 11pm ET/8pm PT then in the Pacific time zone, Two and a Half Men/Gary Unmarried won't air in the 9pm PT hour. A repeat of Ghost Whisperer would then air instead. The 10pm PT hour will be programmed by local programming instead. View our recap of what we just said for CBS.

Moving to NBC, for the east/central time zone, a repeat of Mercy will air in its normal timeslot of 87 central, followed by NBC News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response. NBC has programmed it through 11/10c, so unlike ABC and CBS a comedy repeat will not air at 10:30/9:30c.
For the Mountain time zone, NBC News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response will air live at 7pm MT, followed by a repeat of Mercy at a special time of 9pm MT. And finally for the Pacific time zone, NBC News Special: President Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response will air live at 6pm PT, followed by a repeat of Mercy at 8pm PT in its normal hour. The 9pm PT hour will be local programming, while the 10pm PT hour will be a repeat of Dateline NBC. View our recap of what we just said for NBC.

And finally for Fox, in the east/central they will air American Idol at a special time of 8/7 central, so Human Target will be preempted (but it will air on Tuesday, the night before, at 9/8 central). Fox's coverage of the State of the Union will follow at 9/8 central.
For the mountain time zone, the Fox news coverage of the State of the Union airs live at 7pm PT, followed by American Idol at a special time of 8:30-9:30pm MT. Local Programming will follow at 9:30pm MT. And for the Pacific time zone, Fox news coverage of the State of the Union airs live at 6pm PT. Local programming follows at 7:30pm Pt, then American Idol at 8pm PT, and more local programming in the 9pm PT hour. View our recap of what we just said for Fox.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Week 18 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did; 16th Annual SAG Awards Winners

Week 18 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thurs finals):
(We don't have final network averages for Thursday, so we won't give you the network averages for the first four nights, but please find the final program final ratings in the analysis below.)

Households: N/A
Total Viewers: N/A
Adults 18-49: N/A

Week 18 (Jan. 18-24) Analysis: For week 18, American Idol is helping Fox with the lead and the NFC Championship Game will seal their weekly win after tonight. So far through the first four days of the week I can project (since network averages are not available above), Fox is obviously in the lead in HH/viewers and 18-49. CBS follows in a solid second in those categories, with ABC in third in every category, and NBC fourth in every category as usual. Last week, week 17, CBS won the week in all categories thanks to NFL playoff coverage, as American Idol fueled Fox had to settle for second in all categories. NBC and ABC battled for third with NBC getting the edge thanks to a good showing from The Golden Globes.
On Monday it was CBS in the lead new episodes of their regulars as ABC was close behind. CBS started with new episodes of its comedies and ended with a new CSI: Miami. How I Met Your Mother started it off with 10.41 million, and did better than the 100th episode the previous week, while a new Accidentally on Purpose followed doing 9.56 million, up over a million from previous week. Two and a Half Men followed with a new showing doing 16.31 million, that is very strong but down a million week-to-week, and The Big Bang Theory followed with a new episode of its own doing 15.05 million, down from previous week's series best numbers. A new CSI: Miami did 13.22 million, down a half a million or so from previous week. ABC got good mileage again out of The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love doing a solid 10.66 million, some from previous week, and a 3.8 18-49 rating for the two-hours, also up a bit from previous week. It keeps growing every week. A new episode of Castle was next and did a solid 9.48 million and a season high of 2.8 18-49 rating. Buzz is certainly growing for this very fun show! Fox was on the map but lower than normal with House being preempted as a two-hour episode of 24 did 11.11 million and a 3.5 18-49 rating. NBC started off with a new Chuck at a decent 6.65 million and 2.5 18-49 rating, both down some from previous week. Next Heroes plummeted even more doing only 3.98 million and a 1.8 A18-49 rating, both series lows AGAIN. This is the fastest decline of a hit show in the history of television. The Jay Leno Show followed with only 4.6 million, but it built a bit from the lead-in in total viewers at least once again, that should be even more proof Heroes needs to be canned. The CW aired the return of an all-new One Tree Hill doing a decent but could be better 2.18 million, followed by the series premiere of Life UneXpected at 2.83 million, better than anything Gossip Girl has done here all season.
On Tuesday, Fox ruled big as CBS was still in the game with repeats. Fox of course started with an all-new American Idol with 26.38 million, down three million or so from previous week's premiere, but that was two-hours. Next a repeat of the pilot episode of Human Target did an OK 8.83 million, losing a ton of the lead-in's audience. CBS started with a repeat of NCIS doing 14.19 million, how about that for good numbers. Then spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles was next with a repeat of its own doing 12.34 million, not bad as it didn't face Idol this week. And finally CBS aired a repeat of The Good Wife doing a solid 9.41 million. NBC was next with a two-hour The Biggest Loser doing 9.95 million, up nearly 2 million from previous week, as the second hour got a huge bump when Idol finished. Then The Jay Leno Show tanked as usual to 5.99 million, but down only a bit from previous week. ABC started off with a repeat of Scrubs [Med School] doing only 2.43 million only on par really from previous week, followed by a repeat of Better off Ted doing only 1.78 million, not sure why a repeat was used. All-new episodes of each followed doing only 3.04 and 2.92 million, up some from previous week but still not good. At 10pm, the forgotten was a repeat and did only 3.35 million. The CW aired repeats of 90210 and Melrose Place doing only 820,000 and 610,000 viewers...this is getting sickening with all these repeats airing.
Wednesday it was Fox on top again. Fox started with American Idol doing 26.85 million and a 9.9 18-49 rating, both really on par with previous week when it was 90-minutes. A new episode of Human Target followed with 10.46 million, not bad but lost a lot of the lead-in and dropped every 15 minutes. Looks to be a dud for Fox, but they'll be patient. CBS started with new episodes of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried at below level numbers thanks to Idol, but better than previous week a bit doing 6.21 and 5.89 million. Next CBS aired a new Criminal Minds doing a solid 14.91 million, up a million from previous week as it didn't face the last half-hour of Idol like previous week. A new CSI: NY followed with a solid 13.54 million, but down from previous week. ABC comedies were next with a repeat of Modern Family at 8pm doing a decent 5.0 million, followed by a repeat of The Middle doing 4.66 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating, nearly beating the competing CBS comedy which was new. Modern Family was next at 9pm and all-new doing 9.83 million, up two million from previous week as it didn't go head-to-head vs. Idol. Its 4.2 18-49 rating was its best number since the pilot. Cougar Town was also new and did a solid 7.54 million and a solid 3.4 18-49 rating, both up a bit from previous week. Ugly Betty was next at 10pm and did 4.53 million...up some from previous week. Still needs to do better, but it is steady at 1.6 18-49 rating at least. NBC was next with a new episode of Mercy doing 5.86 million, on par from previous week, followed by a repeat of Law & Order: SVU doing 5.45 million, down a lot from previous week's repeat. At 10pm NBC aired The Jay Leno Show of course at only 4.51 million, down from previous week. The CW aired more repeats as Life UneXpected did a solid 1.63 million, way better than the usual One Tree Hill repeat. And Gossip Girl followed and did only 760,000 viewers. Ouch, but up a tad from previous week thanks to a better lead-in.
Thursday it was a CBS and ABC battle, with CBS winning in viewers and ABC in 18-49. CBS opened with two repeats of The Big Bang Theory at 6.75 and 7.38 million, lower than the drama repeats recently, but better in 18-49 with 2.1 and 2.4 rating. A new CSI followed with a solid 14.29 million, but down a million from previous week. At 10pm The Mentalist was also new and did 14.56 million, down from previous week. ABC started off with the series premiere of The Deep End to just OK numbers with 7.11 million and a should be better 1.8 18-49 rating. A new Grey's Anatomy was next doing 12.7 million and 4.7 18-49, both on par really from previous week. A new Private Practice was next doing 9.64 million and a solid 3.6 18-49 rating for first in its slot. Fox had a new Bones doing a quiet and impressive 11.97 million and a 3.5 18-49 rating, wow! A new Fringe did 6.9 million, better than usual here again thanks to that great lead-in. NBC had new episodes of its comedies with Community doing 4.75 million, which was down from previous week, Parks & Recreation, was next and did only 4.36 million, also down from previous week, The Office was next with a clip-show type episode doing only 7.28 million and a 3.7 18-49 rating. 30 Rock was next doing 5.54 million, better than previous week's special two episodes which did bad. The Jay Leno Show closed the night with only 4.45 million. The CW returned Vampire Diaries at a solid 3.68 million and Supernatural returned to 2.85 million...their best night by far of the week as usual.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available as usual, but ABC won Friday with 20/20 at 10. The Hope for Haiti Now telethon numbers from 8-10pm do not count in the ratings, but ABC lead the pack in that.
Saturday numbers saw Fox win a very quiet night with its usual reality crime series.
Tonight ABC has only new episodes of AFV & Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are preempted. NBC has Dateline and Figure Skating that should skew so old and not generate much. CBS has a 60 Minutes special at 7pm followed by crime repeats. Fox will easily win the night with NFC Championship Game between the Vikings and Saints. Will Favre head to the Super Bowl? I think Fox will win the week in all categories thanks to NFL tonight. CBS will likely be second in everything, with ABC and NBC in third and fourth across the board. As for this coming week, look for President Obama's first State of the Union address this Wednesday at 9pm ET/6pm PT.

Week 18 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week 17 -- Jan. 11-17)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - preempted.
  • The Cleveland Show (Fox) - preempted.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - preempted again.
  • American Dad (Fox) - preempted again.

Monday Sitcoms

  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - A new episode did a season best 10.41 million and a 4.0 18-49 rating, better than previous week's 100th episode. This is what I was expecting for episode 100.
  • Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - 9.56 million for a new episode, up over a million from previous week as the lead-in did better. The question is how will it do Wednesdays at 8:30pm when it moves there?
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 16.31 million for a new showing, but that is down a million or so from previous week. Weird since the two previous comedies leading in were up. Still the best though.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 15.05 million for a new episodes, lower than previous week's series high of 15.82 million and a 5.7 18-49 rating. The 18-49 for this week was a 5.3, holding steady from the lead-in, as lately it has been building from the lead-in.

Tuesday Sitcoms

  • [scrubs] (ABC) 2 episodes - Two airings of the [Med School] edition did only 2.43 million for a repeat at 8pm and a new episode at 9pm only did 3.04 million, as that was up from previous week as it didn't face Idol head to head at 9. Still not good though.
  • Better off Ted (ABC) 2 episodes - Only 1.78 million for a repeat at 8:30pm and 2.92 million for a hilarious all-new episode at 9:30pm. What a good one that was, but ratings still are lacking.

Wednesday Sitcoms
  • Old Christine (CBS) - All-new episode did 6.21 million for a new showing, up some from previous week.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - 5.89 million for a new episode also up some from previous week. Only 1.8 18-49 rating, nearly losing to ABC's competing comedy repeat.
  • The Middle (ABC) - A repeat at 8:30pm following a repeat of Modern Family did 4.66 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating, nearly beating a NEW Gary on CBS.
  • Modern Family (ABC) 2 airings - A repeat at 8pm did 5.0 million. Not bad and it was an airing of the pilot. A new episode at 9pm did 9.83 million and a 4.2 18-49 rating, both up bit from previous week as it did NOT face Idol head-to-head this week. 4.2 18-49 rating is a best since the pilot. Growing hit continues to grow!
  • Cougar Town (ABC) - A new episode did a solid 7.54 million, good showing. 3.4 18-49 rating is decent, too...both up from previous week.

Thursday Sitcoms

  • Community (NBC) - A new episode did only 4.75 million...Jack Black effect over already?
  • Parks & Recreation (NBC) - Only 4.36 million. A disappointment again.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 2 airings - Two repeats on a special night did a decent 6.75 and 7.38 million, lower than the usual crime repeats lately in this slot, but big improvement on 18-49 with a 2.1 and 2.4 rating. Beat the NBC comedies EASILY in both measures!
  • The Office (NBC) - A clip show did a below normal 7.28 million, but what can you do? Now next week is a repeat. What was the point of the clip show this past week then?
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - New showing did 5.54 million, better than previous week's special two all-new episodes, as The Office as a lead-in was the reason for the growth this week.

Friday Sitcoms

  • None.

Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.

Airing tonight (Sunday) are no sitcoms.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, Cougar Town & Accidentally on Purpose were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Old Christine, The Office) or just plain old terrible (such as Better off Ted, Scrubs).



The 16th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) were last night and the winners were announced. It seemed like everything was a repeat from last week's Golden Globes except for Tina Fey winning over Globe winner Toni Collette. So I think you know who won in every other category since they also won at the Globes.
Here are the main TV winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Simon Baker (The Mentalist, CBS)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, AMC)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Showtime)
Jon Hamm (Mad Men, HBO)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
WINNER: Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Patricia Arquette (Medium, CBS)
Glenn Close (Damages, FX)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)
Holly Hunter (Saving Grace, TNT)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, CBS)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer, TNT)
WINNER: Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, CBS)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC)
Steve Carrell (The Office, NBC)
Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO)
Tony Shalhoub (Monk, USA)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)
WINNER: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)
Toni Collette (The United States of Tara, Showtime)
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie, Showtime)
Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine, CBS)
WINNER: Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Closer (TNT)
Dexter (Showtime)
The Good Wife (CBS)
Mad Men (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)
WINNER: Mad Men (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
Glee (Fox)
Modern Family (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
30 Rock (NBC)
WINNER: Glee (Fox)

View the complete TV portion winners and to discuss the winners!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Blog DVD Review: Defying Gravity - The Complete First Season

Welcome to another edition of blog DVD reviews. This week we take a look at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season. Defying Gravity was the multi-nationally produced series that aired on ABC and CTV this past summer about 8 astronauts in the year 2052 on a six-year mission through the Solar System. See my blog DVD review of Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season:

Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season (Fox, $49.98) brings all 13 episodes, including the final five episodes that never aired in the U.S., of this multi-nationally produced series on DVD. The series has been said it was Grey's Anatomy in space with mythology like of LOST. An international team of four men and four women in 2052 undertake the most ambitious exploration in the history of mankind - a six-year, grand tour of the solar system. But space travel is a fool's game as passions rise, relationships blossom, and tensions mount as veteran astronaut Maddux Donner and his vivacious crew mates rocket toward their mysterious destiny, driven by a dark, otherworldly force to the very edge of the madness - and beyond. Defying Gravity stars Ron Livingston (Maddux), Malik Yoba (Ted), Laura Harris (Zoe), Eyal Podell (Mintz), Christina Cox (Jen), Florentine Lahme (Nadia), Paula Garcés (Paula), and Dylan Taylor (Steve) all on the Antares spaceship. Also starring are Ty Olsson (Rollie), Zahf Paroo (Ajay), Andrew Airlie (Goss), Karen LeBlanc (Eve), Maxim Roy (Claire) and Peter Howitt (Trevor).

All 13 episodes from season are here including the final five episodes that were never broadcast in the United States on ABC. In Canada, CTV/SPACE aired all 13, while in the United Kingdom only the first five episodes and the last two episodes aired. Due to low ratings everywhere, the show is canceled, but this DVD is still for some reason called "the complete first season." The show is good, but at times the show seems very slow and boring. Maybe because of the flashbacks? Anyway, the memorable episodes include "Pilot," where four male and four female astronauts prepare for a six-year mission aboard the spaceship Antares. In "H2IK," the Antares crew loses control over power, heat and gravity after a series of unexplained system failures and has to face its first major crisis. In the final episode aired in the U.S., "Love, Honor, Obey," the crew of the Antares is threatened by a close solar flare and in the meantime, the mysterious element in Pod 4 sends out a siren call no one can resist. In the first unaired episode, "Eve Ate the Apple," the crew finally learns about the hidden element in Pod 4 and the true nature of their mission when the Antares draws nearer to Venus. In "Venus," it's the day of the Venus landing, an historic and dangerous event likely to alter the lives of everyone involved. And finally in the finale, "Kiss," after landing on the burning surface of Venus, Zoe walks toward a sound only she can hear, drawn by her destiny into almost certain destruction.

Packaging has a nice case with a blue and white color scheme and six of the astronauts are on the cover: Ted, Nadia, Maddux, Zoe, Paula, and Jen -- all in their astronauts suits. A shot of the Antares spaceship is on the top. The back cover has information on the series & set and a list of special features and some episodic photos, along with a cast photo just about the entire gang. Inside the case are the discs of course. But first on the left panel, we have a disc-by-disc breakdown with episode titles and list of special features. We have a little holder that holds all four discs. The first plastic holder holds discs one and two, with disc one on the front side and disc two on the back side. Then there is another holder that does the same with discs three and four. It's like flipping pages on a book. Nice and easy and nothing overlaps and there is no disc on a panel itself. Good packaging choice by 20th Century Fox. On the right panel we see a shot of the moon, I believe, As for disc artwork, disc one has a shot of the Antares in space and holds episodes 1-3. Disc two has a shot of two hands with gloves that seem to be about to touch and holds episodes 4-7. Disc three has a shot of the headgear of a spacesuit ans holds episodes 8-11, in which the latter three of this disc are unaired episodes to us in the U.S. And finally disc four has a shot of an astronaut from his right side holding his headgear and has episodes 12-13 along with all the special features.

The menu screen has Play All, Episode Selection, Language Selection, and Extras. Extras is just on disc four. Language Selection says we can have English 5.1 audio (the only choice) but we do have a choice to turn on subtitles in English, French or Espanol. It should be called Subtitles or something, since we can't change the language in audio. Episode Selection menu has episode title along with a decent size synopsis of the episode. Nicely done. The main menu is in space and we see Earth in the background as the Antares spaceship is looking down on Earth. The theme music from the series is playing in the background on the main menu. Auto previews are playing before the menu comes on disc one only such as for the Family Guy and Stargate Universe DVDs.

There are about 12 chapter stops per episode. Yes, that is a ton! Maybe a little too much. The video and audio is superb, as it should be since it is a series that just aired this summer. The video is in widescreen and for those who watched it on ABC, will like it even more this way, if you don't get ABC HD! I'm not sure how CTV did it in Canada, but I'm sure it was in HD there, too. Each episode runs approx. between 42-44 minutes. Since it is a new series, I doubt anything is edited. There is no mention on the packaging of any music replacements either, and I didn't notice anything missing, as I did watch the 8 episodes that aired on ABC. Here are the runtimes for each episode:
Disc one
1. Pilot - 44:02
2. Natual Selection - 41:56
3. Threshold - 42:15

Disc two
4. H2IK - 43:03
5. Rubicon - 42:06
6. Bacon - 42:16
7. Fear - 42:09

Disc three
8. Love, Honor, Obey - 42:03
9. Eve Ate the Apple - 42:09 (unaired)
10. Deja Vu - 43:04 (unaired)
11. Solitary - 42:11 (unaired)

Disc four
12. Venus - 43:06
13. The Kiss- 41:43

Moving on to the extras, we have them all on disc four. The first one is the best one, a nice featurette running 10:32 called "Mission Accomplished: A Look at Defying Gravity." The producers and stars talk about the series, their characters, and the plot of the show. Interviewed are Jim Parriot (creator/executive producer), Michael Edelstein, Ron Livingston, Laura Harris, Florentine Lahme, Paula Garces, Dylan Taylor, Christina Cox, Malik Yoba, Ty Olsson, Peter Howitt, Maxim Roy, Eyal Podell, Zahf Paroo, Karen LeBlanc, and Andrew Airlie. It's a good looking cast, isn't it? The next extra is "Photo Slide Show." It is split up into five categories as we get photos of Space Craft Design (0:55), Set Design (3:05), Costume & Prop Design (1:04), Production Graphics (1:47), and Promotional Photography (0:15). Then finally there are "Deleted Scenes." Every episode except one have deleted scenes. It goes by episode title. Pilot (7:48), Natural Selection (0:15), Threshold (1:15), H2IK (0:56), Rubicon (1:04), Bacon (1:49), Fear (0:38), Love Honor Obey (1:06), Deja Vu (1:52), Solitary (0:23), Venus (0:22), and Kiss (2:08). The finale (Kiss) has an alternate ending! So if you wanted to know, the only episodes that does not have deleted scenes is Eve Ate the Apple. Some just have one deleted scene, some have many.

I of course highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set, especially since it has five unaired episodes. And if you never have watched the show, I think you should pick it up and try it. It's only 13 episodes and the cast is very good looking. The series is canceled, but I really hope most of the cast goes on to other ABC series or pilots. I especially want to see Ron Livingston, Malik Yoba, Christina Cox, Laura Harris, and Paula Garces on other series! They all stood out on this show. Cox is stunning, isn't she? Perhaps she can go on Grey's Anatomy? I can totally see Livingston and Yoba on Grey's as well. Anyway, this show had a good concept but at times it felt strange and slow, which is too bad because the cast is excellent. Another problem was the constant use of flashbacks. It got confusing after a bit. I'm sure if it were given a chance of more than 13 episodes, it would have found itself. I still need to see the five unaired episodes in full, but from what I saw the last two episodes were very good. I like the nicknames the show used, too, like "Paula Puke." Pick the set up and you don't have to go on a six-year mission to do so!

-- Reviewed by Pavan
(3.5/5 stars)

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Amazon.com

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Defying Gravity TV.com Page

Friday, January 22, 2010

Second High School Reunion Episode Scores for TV Land; Steve Harvey Now Host of Family Feud; State of the Union Airs Jan. 27

Wednesday night's (Jan. 20) second episode premiere of TV Land's original series High School Reunion scored impressive, double-digit gains across key demos over last week's season premiere (Jan. 13), building momentum for the popular series.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the second episode's installment of High School Reunion posted a 0.5 A25-54 rating (532,000 viewers among A25-54), up 56% in rating and 55% in viewers 25-54 over the season premiere (Jan. 13). Among the network's core A40-54 audience, the episode posted a 0.6 rating (322,000 viewers 40-54) increasing 54% in rating and 55% in viewers 40-54 over last week. The network averaged 788,000 total viewers for the second episode, up 38% versus the season premiere, with a median age of 44.
The eight-episode season from Next Entertainment and Warner Horizon Television is set on the beautiful island of Kauai and reunites former classmates from Las Vegas, Nevada’s Chaparral High School Class of 1989. This season makes High School Reunion history with three marriage proposals and an unforgettable wedding set against a beautiful Hawaiian backdrop. Yet with all the love in the air, old rivalries lurk in the shadows and some of the classmates have come to the reunion to settle scores with their high school nemeses, reveal secrets about their past, seek acceptance from their peers and hear long-sought-after apologies from their former classmates. The season finale will air Wednesday, March 3, 2010.

Family Feud is getting yet another new host. Current host John O'Hurley will be leaving at the end of the season. O'Hurley has been host since fall 2006. O'Hurley said in a statement that he decided to focus on his role in the touring production of the musical Chicago and a variety of business ventures. Replacing O'Hurley now will be former sitcom star Steve Harvey! He will take over starting Fall 2010, the 12th season of the revival.
Harvey, one of "The Original Kings of Comedy," is perhaps best known to audiences from his time starring in The Steve Harvey Show, which aired on The WB from 1996 to 2002. Harvey also hosts The Steve Harvey Morning Show, a nationally syndicated radio program that is heard daily by more than seven million listeners in more than 64 markets nationwide. He is also a special contributor to ABC's Good Morning America.
Family Feud returned to first-run syndication in Fall 1999 with host Louie Anderson. He was fired because he was bored and was replaced by Richard Karn in 2002. Karn left the show in 2006, replaced by O'Hurley, who will leave at the end of this season. Of course the original run of the series was hosted by the great Richard Dawson from 1976-85 on ABC. Then the series was revived once again from 1988-95, with the late Ray Combs as host for CBS and also syndication. Combs was fired in 1994, so Richard Dawson was brought back to host the 94-95 season. Combs committed suicide in 1996. And that's the history of Family Feud for you! They should have Dawson guest host a few times at least in 2010-11.

We wanted to cover the State of the Union plans for the networks today, but Fox and NBC still hasn't given us the plans for Mountain and Pacific timezones, so we will hold off until Monday for our report on that. View ABC and CBS's plans though for each time zone, that we posted on our message board. Stay with us on Monday for a full report right here.
President Obama's first State of the Union airs live on Wednesday (Jan. 27) from 9-10:30pm ET/6-7:30pm PT.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Conan Officially Leaving NBC, Last Tonight Show on Friday; ION Gets Emeril Lagasse For New Series

NBC and Conan O'Brien have finally officially reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O'Brien's contract to host The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
Under terms of an agreement (at about a $45 million buyout for he and his staff) that was signed earlier today, NBC and O'Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O'Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010.
O'Brien will make his final appearance as host of The Tonight Show tomorrow night (Friday, January 22). Jay Leno will take over The Tonight Show once again starting March 1 the night after the Winter Olympics end. The primetime Jay Leno Show will end after its Thursday, February 11 airing.
From Monday, January 25 through Thursday, Feb. 11, NBC will air repeats (at least Jan. 25-29, maybe guest hosts from Feb. 1-11?) of The Tonight Show, as the Winter Olympics will take over from Feb. 12-28, before Jay Leno returns.
NBC still has not mentioned a word about Last Call with Carson Daly. Is his show still going to on at 1:35am? Who knows. It is repeats half the year anyway...seriously. Anyway, Conan will be able to return to late night television on Sept. 1. But where? Tweet us where you think he'll end up? Fox, FX, TBS, or somewhere else?

Building on its 2009 momentum, ION Television today announced its first original non-scripted series, The Emeril Lagasse Show, a new weekly, entertainment television show featuring celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. The original, primetime series will be recorded before a live studio audience and will capture Emeril's passion for people, entertainment, music, food and celebration. The hour long program will air on Sundays at 8:00pm ET/PT beginning Sunday, March 28.
The Emeril Lagasse Show will feature one of America's most popular chefs as he has never been seen before. Each week, Emeril will welcome celebrity guests, musicians and entertainers to break news and break bread as Emeril shares his world, his friends and his passions with the studio audience and viewers at home. A house band will be on set, playing live music and interacting with Emeril, guests and audience. The show also will include entertaining and surprising field pieces that will be shot in and around New York City where the show will be taped. TV veteran Karen Katz and After Five Productions, which executive produced Lagasse's long-running Food Network series, Emeril Live, will be executive producer of The Emeril Lagasse Show.
The Emeril Lagasse Show will be produced with innovative marketing opportunities that will appeal to advertisers from a broad range of categories. The show will be supported through traditional marketing and social media including Facebook where consumers can become a fan at Facebook.com/Emeril.
Stay with us in the coming weeks for our ION Television March 2010 highlights.


Don't forget the series premiere of The Deep End tonight at 8/7 central, right before Grey's Anatomy on ABC!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

TV Land March 2010 Has Return of Bewitched; Hope For Haiti Now Telethon Airs Friday Night

As we hinted a few weeks ago, TV Land has re-acquired the '60s classic sitcom Bewitched once again and will launch it again in March 2010! The sitcom will air weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm ET/PT starting March 1 replacing an hour of The Andy Griffith Show, but that show will still remain in its other hour of 8-9pm ET/PT, so not to worry. Bewitched will also get many weekend marathon blocks, replacing Married...with Children. Once again Married...with Children will be off the schedule, which is very odd since it does well. Married's Mon-Thurs slots will be replaced by M*A*S*H in the 12am hour. Yes you might say, wait Married airs right now Mon-Thurs in the 10pm and 1am hours, but come Feb. 15 it will move to the 12am hour and that's it. Roseanne will take the 10pm hour by Feb. 15. All of this is subject to change, given that Married always comes back. Will it return to sister network Spike TV again and then come back a few days later on TV Land? I bet. We'll let you know.
The other changes are all to late night on weeknights, with The Cosby Show hour moving now to 1-2am instead of 3-4am. And Roseanne late nights are now 2-4am. As mentioned earlier, Bewitched will air on most weekends in marathon blocks: weekend of March 6-7, March 20-21, and March 27. Everything else is the same as the schedule that will start Feb. 15 when Boston Legal joins the line-up.

Moving on to the highlights, High School Reunion will end its third season on Wednesday, March 3 at 10pm. Missed any episodes? Watch a marathon of the previous seven episodes of the season earlier in the day from 9am-4pm ET/PT. Right after the finale, TV Land will have a sneak peek airing of new reality series First Love, Second Chance at 11pm. The series will then air Wednesdays at 10pm starting the very next week (March 10). Remember your first love? What if the one who got away...came back? What if you could give your first love a second chance? First Love, Second Chance is the TV Land PRIME original series that reunites former flames to give them a shot at rekindling their romance. They take turns living in each other's world while reconnecting, reminiscing, sorting out what they once had and what drove them apart, and imagining a new future together. Finally, they head back to their own homes and make a decision--which each sends via a video message: Do they want to call it quits, or commit to giving their relationship a second chance? Find out on this new original series from TV Land PRIME.

Elsewhere, the weekend of March 6-7, TV Land gets ready for First Love with Roseanne's very own David and Darlene. Tune in and follow a romance like no other as we chronicle every moment of their love story from their first kiss to their breakup followed by their wedding and ending with the birth of their baby girl. This stunt is sure to have viewers wondering what happened to their first love and spark interest for TV Land PRIME's new original series First Love, Second Chance which as we mentioned will be premiering Wednesday, March 10 at 10pm!
We mentioned Bewitched will get some weekend blocks, but all of those except one is an actual marathon. The others are just regular airings with episodes going in order, but on March 20-21 Bewitched gets a marathon with themed episodes! Before Bella fell for Edward in Twilight, before Sookie swooned over Bill in True Blood, even before Buffy scored Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, everybody's favorite witch, Samantha married the mortal man of her dreams, Darrin Stephens, and started a cozy life in the suburbs. The weekend of March 20-21 TV Land welcomes back the original supernatural suburban sorceress with a two day marathon of the best episodes of Bewitched, featuring Samantha using her magic to make life a little easier by teaching bizarre relatives, nosy neighbors and boorish bosses some sorely needed life lessons.

TV Land will also have movie premieres in March. Three classic films will make their debut on TV Land PRIME on Friday nights: The Birdcage, St. Elmo's Fire and Dazed & Confused. Also encoring in March are You've Got Mail and The Brady Bunch Movie.
That's about it for TV Land March 2010. You might be wondering if Bewitched will remain on WGN America? As of now, yes it will remain on WGN America. It's always nice to have double the magic! If anything changes on WGN , we'll let you know. Coming in April 2010 to TV Land will be Everybody Loves Raymond which will join TV Land PRIME. It was originally slated for June, so TV Land will start it a few months early. Also the TV Land Awards will air its annual event in April. Stay with us in the coming weeks for TV Land April and the awards.
But for now...view the FULL TV Land March 2010 schedule and highlights, so you don't miss anything!


As you all know by, there was an earthquake in Haiti last week. There will be a telethon to raise money this Friday. Hope for Haiti Now will be the most widely distributed telethon in history, both internationally and across media platforms. The two-hour telethon will air on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, and CMT on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT. Hope for Haiti Now will also air on newly added networks including PBS, TNT, Showtime, COMEDY CENTRAL, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, and Canadian networks including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television, and MuchMusic. The event will be live streamed online globally across sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, MTV.com, VH1.com, and Rhapsody and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and FloTV.
Hope for Haiti Now will also air internationally on BET International, CNN International, National Geographic, and MTV Networks International, which is available in 640 million homes worldwide. Hope for Haiti Now will be the first U.S.-based telethon airing on MTV in China. Facebook and Twitter have signed on as official social media partners to help drive donations and tune-in to the telethon.
Hope for Haiti Now is produced by Joel Gallen and Tenth Planet Productions, in collaboration with Viacom's MTV Networks and George Clooney.

The global telethon will feature performances by Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, and Sting in New York City; Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow in Los Angeles; and Coldplay, and a group performance by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna in a newly added London location. All musical performances will be available for purchase for $.99 per song through the Apple iTunes Store beginning Saturday, January 23, with all proceeds benefiting Haiti relief funds managed by Hope for Haiti Now charities.
In addition to musical performances, Wyclef Jean in New York City, George Clooney in Los Angeles, and CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti, Hope for Haiti Now will feature more than one hundred of the biggest names in film, television, and music supporting the cause with testimonials and by answering phones during the telethon.

How will ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and The CW primetime be affected by this? ABC will preempt new episodes of Supernanny and Shark Tank, but 20/20 will remain in the 10pm hour. As of now, ABC hasn't re-scheduled those episodes. CBS will preempt new episodes of Ghost Whisperer, Medium, and NUMB3RS that were supposed to air Friday to next Friday now, when they were supposed to be repeats anyway. CBS will air a repeat of Medium at 10pm following the telethon. NBC will preempt new episodes of Law & Order and Dateline, but Jay Leno Show will of course remain at 10pm. Conan must be rolling his eyes over that. Law & Order won't be new now until March 1 when it moves to Mondays. Fox will have to move the finale of Dollhouse to next Friday at 8pm. The finale of Dollhouse will lead into the season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares next Friday. What a nightmare that lead-in will be for Kitchen Nightmares! Dollhouse finale was originally slated for this Friday at 9pm following a repeat of Bones. And finally, The CW was supposed to return Smallville with new episodes, but now that will be pushed back until next Friday at 8pm.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Retroality Interviews Little House's Alison Arngrim; TV Land Announces New Host for She's Got the Look Is... Brooke Burke

Chris Mann's Retroality.TV has a new cover story on Little House on the Prairie's "nasty Nellie Oleson," Alison Arngrim. In the two-part interview titled "Little Bitch on the Prairie" (oh how Chris has good titles!), Alison spills on Walnut Grove's real wench while prepping her wicked-fun one-woman show Confessions of a Prairie Bitch. In part two, she talks about Mackenzie Phillips (One Day at a Time) and the Diff'rent Strokes kids, as well as some hot-button issues. About Diff'rent Strokes, among the items she talks about is that Todd Bridges has a book out coming this March called Killing Willis. In that book, Todd Bridges shares the shocking but ultimately triumphant story of his struggle to find his identity after Diff'rent Strokes. Todd appeared as a guest with Alison on Little House on the Prairie in 1977.
View the full interview on the cover page.
Also linked on the site, Kim Kardashian shares her health and beauty secrets in an interview with Retroality editor Chris Mann! Check that out.

We mentioned a couple months back that TV Land has ordered a third season of reality series She's Got the Look. Now TV Land has announced a new host. TV Land announced that television personality, entrepreneur and former winner of Dancing with the Stars Brooke Burke will host the third season of TV Land's original hit reality modeling competition She's Got The Look. This season of She's Got The Look, which begins production this week in Los Angeles, CA, sets out to discover a beautiful, sophisticated and confident woman over the age of 35 who has the potential to transform herself into a model, representing some of the most high-profile brands and highly-coveted campaigns in the fashion and beauty industries.
In other casting news, the network announced that model and TV reporter Roshumba Williams is joining the series as a judge along with celebrity stylist Robert Verdi and Wilhelmina president Sean Patterson. Emmy Award-winner Allison Grodner (Big Brother) returns as executive producer and has teamed up with executive producer Rich Meehan (Big Brother) in their first project together under their new banner, Fly On The Wall Entertainment. The show has also renewed partnerships with SELF Magazine and world-renowned modeling agency, Wilhelmina Models, Inc.
No premiere date has been announced yet. It is likely to premiere in summer, but stay with us for the actual updates. TV Land PRIME just started a new season of High School Reunion last week and after that is over in March, TV Land PRIME will air the new reality series First Love, Second Chance.

Monday, January 18, 2010

TV One February 2010 Goes Way Back When With Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, What's Happening, and More; 67th Annual Golden Globe Winners

It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today and what better way to celebrate his life by telling you about TV One's Black History Month salute for February 2010!
This February TV One is excited to present a new take on Black History Month by taking a look back at dramatic, musical, and comedic portrayals of African American life from the '70s, '80s and early '90s with their "Way Black When" programming event. Beginning at 8pm each weeknight of Black History Month, TV One will spotlight a variety of black cult classics from film to television with in-depth, provocative commentary from a star-studded gathering of industry experts including actresses/actors, producers, directors and musical artists who helped create, or were influenced by these celebrated productions. Each week in February 2010, TV One focuses on one of the following four genres popular with African Americans: comedy/variety television, film soundtracks, classic sitcoms, and Blaxploitation movies.

For "Way Black When" week one (Feb. 1-7) entitled "Lords of Comedy," TV One will feature the variety shows of two legendary comic geniuses, Richard Pryor and Flip Wilson. The work of these two comedians changed the face and tone of television with their colorful characters, and irreverent brands of sketch comedy. Beginning at 8pm each night on this week, viewers will be treated to encore presentations of The Flip Wilson Show with two back-to-back episodes all week and then at 9pm, the first re-airing of The Richard Pryor Show since the 1970s. The host for the week's panel is comedian and actor/comedian Tommy Davidson. Also slated to discuss the impact that Pryor and Wilson's comedy had on television, and generations of black comedians such as themselves, are Mark Curry (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) and Doug Williams. Richard Pryor's daughter, Rain Pryor will also be a panelist. Flip Wilson episodes airing are #101 & #208; #103 & #111; #206 & #218; #307 & #306; and #324 & #408. And ALL five episodes of Richard Pryor Show are airing (I guess the first one is the special then all four episodes of the short-lived series).
Weekend Marathons: On Saturday, February 6, beginning at 12 Noon through 6pm (select encores late night 4am-6am), TV One keeps the "Way Black When" theme in full effect with an all-day marathon of the '70s hit sitcom That's My Mama! starring Clifton Davis as a Washington, DC barbershop owner who still lives with his 'mama'. Then on Sunday, February 7 (12pm-7pm) and again on Sunday, February 21 (12pm-6pm), beginning at 12 Noon on both days, TV One presents a classic "Crime-Time" marathon of the '80s private detective series A Man Called Hawk starring Avery Brooks in the title role. Hawk, the tough and streetwise private detective, moves back to his hometown of Washington, D.C. dressing fly while fighting crime -- despite the fact that he lacks the "official" credentials to do so.

During the second week of "Way Black When" (Feb. 8-14), the theme is "Soul Soundtracks," as TV One will honor the film soundtracks that underscored our lives such as the hip hop classic, Krush Groove; the quintessential coming-of-age treasure, Cooley High; and the heartwarming favorite, Claudine. TV One will take a trip back to the "blue light basement" with the host for the week, producer, rapper, and comedian Chris "Kid" Reid (House Party), who is joined by film veteran, Warrington Hudlin as well as musical artists, El DeBarge, Brian McKnight and Kurtis Blow.
Weekend Marathons: On Saturday, February 13 and Sunday, February 14 beginning at 12 Noon on both days, TV One celebrates Valentines Weekend with romance marathons of two classic sitcoms Good Times on Saturday from 12pm-10pm and Amen on Sunday from 12pm-9pm. First on Saturday, the Good Times: Men of Thelma Marathon features episodes focusing on the men in Thelma's life concluding with the one she married in a multi-part episode. Then on Sunday, the Amen: Rocky Road to Matrimony Marathon features episodes focusing on the relationship, romance, and marriage of star crossed couple Ruben and Thelma.

The third week of "Way Black When" (Feb. 15-21), the theme is "Color TV," and it focuses on classic black situation comedies that not only became a proving ground for some of Hollywood's most successful black actresses/actors, but an authentic reflection of African American life as well. These panels airing as 30 minute specials entitled "Color TV" at 8pm all week will feature actors and actresses from the week's featured sitcoms including Demond Wilson (Sanford & Son); Marla Gibbs (The Jeffersons); Ernest Thomas & Haywood Nelson (What's Happening!!); Jimmie Walker & BernNadette Stanis (Good Times); and the host for this entire week, Darryl Bell (A Different World). Sitcoms airing during "Color TV" week will air as follows (Beginning at 8:30pm to 10pm): Monday: What's Happening!!, Tuesday: Good Times, Wednesday: Sanford & Son, Thursday: The Jeffersons, and Friday: A Different World. The What's Happening!! episodes airings are #104, #112, and #204. And the movie that inspired the series, Cooley High, will re-air from 6-8pm leading into the What's Happening!! primetime event! Hey, hey, hey indeed!
Weekend Marathon: On Saturday, February 20 beginning at 12 Noon through 11pm (select encores late night from 1am-6am), TV One concludes "Way Black When: Color TV" week with The Jeffersons: To Be Continued Marathon featuring multi-part episodes of the long running classic sitcom that will give viewers, who are usually kept in suspense during multi-episode story lines, no longer reason to dread those three little words in the sitcom world -- "To Be Continued."

The fourth and final week of "Way Black When" (Feb. 22-28), features "Black Power Cinema," and it will feature Blaxploitation movies of the 1970s: The Mack, Cleopatra Jones, Foxy Brown, Three Hard Way, and Sweet Jesus Preacher Man. Mario Van Peebles is hosting this week's panel, which will be a lively dissection of the highs and lows of this uniquely African American film genre. The other film stars rounding out this panel are Michael Jai White, Fred Williamson and Anne-Marie Johnson. The 'father of Black Exploitation,' and father of the panel's host, Melvin Van Peebles will also be on hand to offer an inside look at what it took to create these iconic films, and how they changed the perspectives of black audiences as well as Hollywood executives at the time.
Weekend Marathon: And finally, on Saturday, February 27 beginning at 4pm through 11pm (select encores late night from 1am-6am), TV One closes out the "Way Black When" Black History Month celebration event with Sanford & Son: Classic Comedy Marathon featuring the late actor/comedian Redd Foxx at his perenial best as junkman Fred Sanford (the role that made him a household name).

Discuss this wonderful month long tribute to Black History Month that TV One is doing!


The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards winners were given out last night. Here are the winners for the television portion:

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
Glee (Fox)
Modern Family (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
WINNER: Glee

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Toni Collette, United States of Tara (Showtime)
Courtney Cox, Cougar Town (ABC)
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie (Showtime)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
Lea Michelle, Glee (Fox)
WINNER: Toni Collette, United States of Tara

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
David Duchovny, Californication (Showtime)
Thomas Jane, Hung (HBO)
Matthew Morrison, Glee (Fox)
WINNER: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Big Love, (HBO)
Dexter (Showtime)
House (Fox)
Mad Men (AMC)
True Blood (HBO)
WINNER: Mad Men.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Glenn Close Damages (FX)
January Jones, Mad Men (AMC)
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (CBS)
Anna Paquin, True Blood (HBO)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
WINNER: Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
Simon Baker, The Mentalist (CBS)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
Bill Paxton, Big Love (HBO)
WINNER: Michael C. Hall, Dexter

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Jane Adams, Hung (HBO)
Rose Byrne, Damages (FX)
Jane Lynch, Glee (Fox)
Janet McTeer, Into the Storm (miniseries) (HBO)
Chloe Sevigny, Big Love (HBO)
WINNER: Chloe Sevigny, Big Love

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
William Hurt, Damages (FX)
John Lithgow, Dexter (Showtime)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
WINNER: John Lithgow, Dexter

Discuss the television portion winners on our message board.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Tuesday, December 3

St. Denis Medical - "A Peanut and Caramel-Filled Miracle" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Ron and Bruce butt heads over a candy bar; Alex is forced to fire an incompetent employee; Matt seeks appreciation for saving a patient's life.

Night Court - "The Hole Truth" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When a citywide sanitation strike makes its way into the courthouse, Abby must find a way to solve it; Julianne shows Dan how to make the most out of the strike.

Tyler Perry's House of Payne - "If It Ain't Broke" (BET, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ella prepares to open a battered women's home in the church's unused classrooms, but it is shut down when C.J. cites dangerous fire code violations.

Tyler Perry's Assisted Living "Where's My Refund?" - (BET, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Jeremy and Leah can't seem to see eye-to-eye on how to spend their unexpected I.R.S. refund check; Anastasia and Vinny have their hands full trying to help Theodore study for science.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 2)

Tuesday, December 3

  • Kyle Mooney (Arrested Development/Hello Ladies) - Catch Kyle on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Fortune Feimster (Kenan/Bless the Harts/Champions) - Fortune is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also discusses her comedy special Fortune Feimster: Crushing It on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
  • Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building/Wizards of Waverly Place) - Selena appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Keri Russell (Running Wilde/Daddy's Girls) - Keri is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm/Blockbuster/The Millers/Bent/'Til Death) - JB appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He discusses his series Buy It Now on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
  • Brandon Kyle Goodman (Human Resources) - Brandon is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
  • David Alan Grier (St. Denis Medical/Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!/The Cool Kids/The Carmichael Show/Bad Teacher/Life with Bonnie/DAG) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
  • Yara Shahidi (grown-ish/black-ish) - Yara is telling Drew about the new venture she's taking on, where she's currently at with dating and more on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Bridget Everett (Somebody Somewhere) - Bridget talks about Somebody Somewhere on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
  • Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken/Community) - Ken talks about his new film, A Great Divide, and the new season of Accused on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Carlos (Big Time Rush) and Alexa PenaVega (Ruby & the Rockits) - Carlos and Alexa are guests on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 8:50am.
  • Alicia Witt (Cybill) - Alicia appears on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

Friends - The Complete Series (4K UHD) Young Sheldon - The Complete Series Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K UHD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
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)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

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

12/02 - Scripps Networks (Laff, Bounce, ION) Holiday Schedule; First Look at Watson on CBS
12/01 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of December 2, 2024)
11/30 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Desperate Housewives Creator Has Prequel Idea; Finale Date Set for The Talk
11/29 - Abbott Elementary Aces the Test on Multi-Platform; Dancing with the Stars' Resurgence
11/28 - 2024 Thanksgiving TV Marathons
11/27 - Henry Danger The Movie Premieres in January; Dexter: Original Sin Trailer
11/26 - The Way Home Returns for Season 3; Matthew Broderick and Son to Guest Star on Elsbeth
11/25 - Peacock's Laid Premieres December 19; Jon Hamm Drama Gets Season 2 Before Series Premiere
11/24 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 25, 2024)
11/23 - SitcomsOnline Digest: HBO Renews It's Florida, Man; Simpsons Voice Actor Announces Retirement
11/22 - NBC's Happy's Place Gets Full Season; HBO Renews It's Florida, Man for Another Zany Season
11/21 - The CW Midseason 2025 Schedule; Voice of Milhouse Leaving The Simpsons
11/20 - NBC Midseason 2025 Schedule; Apple TV+ Announces The Studio
11/19 - Antenna TV's Thanksgiving on the Eastside: The Jeffersons Marathon; Fox Midseason 2025 Schedule
11/18 - Conan O'Brien to Host Oscars for First Time; Celebs for Season 3 of Special Forces: World's Toughest Test
11/17 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 18, 2024)
11/16 - SitcomsOnline Digest: HBO Orders Kaley Cuoco Comedy from Hacks Creators; Reboot of Friday Night Lights in the Works
11/15 - Bookie Season 2 Premieres December 12 on Max; Apple TV+ Mythic Quest Is Back in January
11/14 - CBS Midseason 2025 Schedule; Reasonable Doubt Renewed for Season 3 on Hulu
11/13 - Harlem Season 3 Drops in January; James Acaster HBO Comedy Special
11/12 - ABC Midseason 2025 Schedule; Jim Gaffigan Gets First Hulu Comedy Special
11/11 - We Got Time Today, A New Tubi Talk Show; Bill Maher Gets 13th HBO Special
11/10 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 11, 2024)
11/09 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Two New Sitcoms in the Works at CBS; The CW Adds Bob ♥ Abishola to Lineup
11/08 - CBS Orders Full Season for Poppa's House; The CW Acquires Bob ♥ Abishola Reruns; Remembering Alan Rachins of Dharma & Greg
11/07 - A Very Merry MeTV 2024 Schedule; Stranger Things Final Season in 2025
11/06 - Outer Banks to End with Season 5; Nothing to See Here Season 2 on Netflix
11/05 - ABC Holiday Schedule for 2024; NBC Holiday Schedule for 2024
11/04 - Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas Schedule 2024; A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin at NJPAC
11/03 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 4, 2024)
11/02 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Simpsons Themed Monday Night Football Alternate Telecast in December; MeTV Planning for Christmas
11/01 - BET+ Renews Churchy for Season 2 and The Ms. Pat Show for Season 5; Remembering Teri Garr