SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

ION Television May 2010; BET Upfront 2010: The Game Returns; Sí TV Acquires Prison Break and In Living Color

ION Television will make some schedule changes in May 2010! It is nothing major or nothing really new, but it is a change nevertheless. First up, weekends will have a switcharoo. Saturday nights at 11pm will now be Ghost Whisperer starting May 1, while Sunday nights at 11pm will now be My Name is Earl. In April they both were the other way around with Ghost on Sundays and Earl on Saturdays. Now that is just a minor change, but the real change is in primetime on weeknights. Criminal Minds will replace Ghost Whisperer Mon-Thurs in the 7pm and 8pm hours starting May 3. However, Ghost Whisperer will remain on Wednesday nights in an extended block now from 7pm-12am. Criminal Minds airs Mon-Tues 7pm-12am and Thurs 7-9pm & 11pm (NCIS remains Thursdays 9-11pm). What about Fridays? Criminal Minds will replace a movie and air from 7-9pm and Ghost Whisperer replaces Criminal Minds from 9pm-12am. ION sure has a lot of Criminal Minds now.
The Emeril Lagasse Show, which launches this Sunday, will remain airing Sundays at 8pm in May with an encore from previous week leading in at 7pm. Movies will air in the daytime on weekends and also in primetime on Sunday nights. Movies include Die Hard: With a Vengeance, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III, Rudy, Lethal Weapon 3 and Lethal Weapon 4.
And finally it's going to be a marathon-filled Memorial Day weekend on ION Television with marathons and movies! The fun begins on Friday, May 28 with a marathon of Ghost Whisperer from 4pm-12am. On Saturday, May 29, spend the day with two classic films from 4pm-11pm: The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. Then it is back to series TV with a marathon of Shark from 4pm-11pm on Sunday, May 30. Shark has been replaced from the Sunday night weekly schedule recently. And finally on Memorial Day (Monday, May 31) itself, ION will air a marathon of its number one show--Criminal Minds--from 4pm-12am!
View the full schedule and details for ION Television May 2010.

During its annual Upfront presentation to the advertising community, BET Networks revealed its new consumer research, new programming strategy including scripted programs and original movies, and the reinvigorated direction for the company at New York City's Nokia Theatre. Touting the Network's unique understanding of black consumers through its "African Americans Revealed" study, BET reinforced its position as the world's #1 provider of black content with unprecedented reach to all types of African American consumers across all demographics and genres.
The big news from the BET upfront was that the sitcom The Game will go back into production and move to BET! By popular demand, BET answers the prayers of Sabres fans everywhere. New episodes of The Game will be produced by and air exclusively on BET. After enjoying record ratings in syndication, The Game, created by Mara Brock Akil and executive produced by Kelsey Grammer and Salim Akil, will follow the lives of the fictitious San Diego Sabres–and the women who love them. The Game is scheduled to return for its fourth season in Fall 2010 on BET. The previous three seasons aired on The CW from 2006-2009. The CW canceled the series after 64 episodes. It is still unclear how many episodes BET has picked-up for the fourth season.
Other notable items from BET's upfront was Steve Harvey's morning radio show headed to Centric. Award-winning comedian and author, Steve Harvey, and his co-hosts light up weekday mornings with The Steve Harvey Morning Show. The show features the latest in news, entertainment, and celebrity interviews and the offers dating advice through the popular Strawberry Letter segments and is coming to TV via Centric. The series will start on Centric in Fall 2010.
View the full BET upfront press release.

Sí TV has announced the breakout arrival of the acclaimed series Prison Break to the network. The Golden Globe-nominated series will premiere on Sí TV on Monday, April 19, its first airing anywhere since its first-run on Fox. Prison Break will air Monday-Friday nights on Sí TV at 10PM ET/PT (encores at 1am ET/PT).
The 81-episode series ran on the Fox Network from 2005-2009 and continues to have a huge on-line following as evidenced by its 1.5+ million fans on Facebook. In support of the series launch on Sí TV, the network has built a robust, interactive site featuring video extras, games, photos and much more at www.sitv.com/prison-break.
Also joining the Sí TV line-up on Monday (April 19) will be reruns of sketch comedy In Living Color! The series will air weeknights at 9:30PM ET/PT (encores at 12:30am ET/PT) leading into Prison Break. Sí TV also will still air reruns of New York Undercover weeknights at 11pm ET/PT. Other series they have aired includes the short-lived ABC sitcom Freddie starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. They recently stopped airing the series, but hopefully it returns.
Sí TV is available nationwide on Dish Network, and in more than 200 cities and communities across the United States, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco / Bay Area, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Denver, San Antonio and Las Vegas. For more information about Sí TV, please visit http://www.sitv.com/. The network launched in 2004 and was the first media company to reach the millions of 18–34-year-old Latinos who prefer their content in English and seek it across all platforms—including linear television, the Internet, video-on-demand and wireless devices.