SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Family Matters and Cosby Show Time Switch on Nick at Nite; Casting News on George Segal TV Land Pilot; TV One Details on Original Sitcom

We mentioned before about the late night change on Nick at Nite that started the night of Dec. 31, but now since last night (Jan. 4), they have switched timeslots for Family Matters and Cosby Show. The Family Matters 5-6am hour now moves to 3-4am right after an hour of Everybody Hates Chris. The Cosby Show two-hour block is now 4-6am instead of 3-5am. The second Family Matters hour remains 6-7am.
So why the change? I think there could be times that sister network TV Land airs The Cosby Show in the 3am hour, so Nick at Nite moved it to 4am so they don't conflict each other and air at the same time.
View the update schedule for Nick at Nite January 2010.

We have mentioned a few times about TV Land developing a few sitcom pilots. The George Segal sitcom titled Retired at 35 now has a cast. Johnathan McClain, Casey Wilson, Jessica Walter and Christine Ebersole have landed starring roles opposite George Segal. The pilot follows David (McClain), a successful young businessman who decides to leave the New York rat race behind and move into his father Alan's (Segal) Florida retirement home. Wilson will play David's sister, while Walter will play David's mom, and Ebersole will play a potential love interest for Alan. Also cast in the pilot are Josh McDermott as David's best friend, Ryan Michelle Bathe as David's love interest, George Wyner as Alan's best friend, as well as Matt Champagne, Jere Burns and Faye DeWitt.
We normally don't give pilot casting news, since not all pilots make it on air, but TV Land only has a few in development so the chances are pretty good. The other TV Land sitcom pilot Hot in Cleveland is still casting.
Stay with us if Retired at 35 ever gets a series order and also stay with us if we have casting news for Hot in Cleveland.

A few weeks ago we gave you TV One's January 2010 highlights and were the first ones to mention that an original sitcom (Love That Girl) was ordered for four episodes on TV One airing Jan. 19-21. Now we have more details. THR is reporting that without so much as a pilot order, writer-director Bentley Kyle Evans (Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show) shot four episodes of Love That Girl! The comedy stars Tatyana Ali (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and is also being produced by Martin Lawrence. The sitcom was made on a shoestring budget, with Evans calling in favors from friends and colleagues to shoot four episodes over a five-day period in a converted warehouse. Although self-financing a pilot has become more common as producers struggle to break though an increasingly consolidated studio landscape, producing four entire episodes is rare. Producers managed to deliver the package on a total budget of roughly $1.2 million.
As we previously mentioned, TV One will show the four episodes over a three-night period starting Jan. 19 at 9pm. This will mark the first original scripted program to air on TV One, which is available in roughly 50 million homes and typically features specials and syndicated programming, including repeats of Martin, one of the network's top-rated shows. If the episodes hit a certain rating, the network will pick up 13-26 additional half-hours. Who knows it could be TV One's version of House of Payne and Meet the Browns?
In addition to Lawrence & Evans, Jeff Franklin (Full House) is an executive producer, as are Raphael Saadiq and Trenten Gumbs. The sitcom also stars Phil Morris, as we mentioned last month.