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BREAKING: Rue McClanahan Passes Away at 76; ION Television Edits June

We have another sad story to report. Rue McClanahan has passed away. Rue passed away at 1am this morning (Thursday, June 3, 2010) after a massive stroke, People Magazine reports. Earlier this year, she suffered a minor stroke while recovering from bypass surgery. She also had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997.
One of her first memorable appearances on television was appearing on an episode of Norman Lear's All in the Family. She was in the classic episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers" playing a swinger. That guest appearance made Lear cast her on Maude, one of the spin-offs of All in the Family. On Maude she played Vivian Cavender Harmon for 6 years, from 1972-1978. Following her run on the CBS hit, she had a short-lived sitcom for ABC in 1978 called Apple Pie, based on the play Nourish the Beast. Then in 1983, she recurred on the popular sitcom Mama's Family, playing Aunt Fran Crowley. After her stint on that series, she was one the four stars on the popular NBC comedy The Golden Girls that ran from 1985-1992. This is the sitcom that probably made her a name and has given her a cult status. That character of Blanche Devereaux is among the most famous sitcom characters of all-time. She won an Emmy in the category Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987 for this role. She was also nominated three other times. She was even nominated three times for a Golden Globe. After the run of that series, a follow-up series titled The Golden Palace, aired for one season in 1992-93. Everyone returned to that series but Bea Arthur, though she did guest star once. Her other TV starring credits include The WB drama Safe Harbor, which only lasted 10 episodes in 1999.
Rue has appeared on so many other TV series over the years in guest roles such as the aforementioned All in the Family, Grandpa Goes to Washington, Mannix, Supertrain, Lou Grant, Here's Boomer, Trapper John, M.D., Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Small & Frye, Alice, Newhart, Gimme a Break!, Charles in Charge, Crazy Like a Fox, Cover Up, Murder She Wrote, Nurses, Boy Meets World, Burke's Law, Promised Land, Murphy Brown, Columbo, Ladies Man, Touched by an Angel, Wonderfalls, Whoopie, Hope & Faith, King of the Hill, Law & Order, and most recently on Meets the Browns. Wow!
Rue's death now means that only Betty White is the only one living from the cast of The Golden Girls. Bea Arthur passed away in 2009 and Estelle Getty in 2008. In fact, Betty White was the oldest of the four, too. Rue McClanahan was the youngest of the four. Rue will be DEEPLY missed.
UPDATE: WE tv will air a Golden Girls marathon titled "Best of Blanche" on Friday (June 4) from 5pm-1am ET/PT. View Episode info for the marathon. Check out the WE tv tribute page. WE tv regularly airs the sitcom weekdays from 5-7pm & 11pm-1am, with a Monday night marathon from 8pm-11pm mixed in.
The Hallmark Channel will air Blanche themed episodes of The Golden Girls all next week (June 7-11) in its regular slots of weekdays 9am-11am & 11pm-1am. View Episode info for these.
Me-TV in Chicago will air a Maude marathon in memory of Rue on Sunday (June 6) from 4pm-7pm CT. View Episode info for Me-TV's stunt. Too bad we don't have Maude airing nationally!
Ms. McClanahan was 76.

It was just last Friday when we gave you the highlights for ION Television June 2010 and now they have changed their schedule a bit. Since CBS has canceled Ghost Whisperer and it is off their schedule, ION Television will air it 5 days a week now starting Monday (June 7). The drama will air weekdays at 6pm and 7pm, replacing an hour of Family Feud and Criminal Minds. This means Family Feud will slide from 5-7pm to 4-6pm, as M*A*S*H is now off of the weekday line-up, but will remain on weekend afternoons. Everything else is pretty much the same as it is now, but Wednesdays and Fridays at 11pm will now be Criminal Minds instead of Ghost Whisperer, so Minds airs now every weekday at 11 (in addition to all of its other slots). And finally movies will air in primetime on Saturdays, as Ghost Whisperer 3-hour block moves to late afternoons/early evenings, with times varying.
View the FULL and UPDATED schedule for ION Television June 2010.