Spike TV Acquires Walker Texas Ranger, More Changes to July 2010; Denver's RTV Adds More Classic Series

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Spike TV Acquires Walker Texas Ranger, More Changes to July 2010; Denver's RTV Adds More Classic Series

Spike TV has acquired the cable rights to the Chuck Norris action series Walker, Texas Ranger. The series will start airing on Spike TV starting Tuesday, July 6, 2010. The series aired on CBS from 1993-2001 and has a cult following today due to Chuck and the campy nature of the show. It was an action series, police show, and a western all in one. Only Chuck Norris can pull that off!
The series will get a four-day marathon airing 9am-6pm from July 6-9. After the marathon, Chuck Norris and company will air weekdays from 3-6pm. This means the schedule will change for the rest of the day, too. CSI will no longer air all day in daytime, instead CSI will now be weekdays 9am-12pm. From 12pm-3pm will now be The Unit, which returns to the weekday line-up. From 6pm-1am there will be a mix of originals & movies and Entourage on Monday nights from 10pm-12am. In the late night there will be CSI at 1am, along with sporadic airings of Star Trek: Voyager, Unsolved Mysteries, Disorderly Conduct: Video on Patrol, and The Shield sometime between 2-4am.
On weekends, returning to Spike TV will be the sitcom Married...with Children! Al Bundy and the Bundy family will only air Sundays, though. Sunday mornings from 9am-11am starting Sunday, July 11. Married...with Children last aired on a Viacom network on Comedy Central. In fact, Comedy Central has scheduled a filler airing of the show on Saturday, June 26 at 8am.
Back to Walker, Texas Ranger, the series will continue to air on Universal owned-networks USA Network and Sleuth. USA doesn't have it on the schedule in July, but Sleuth will continue to air it in July in marathon blocks. Currently, USA Network is only airing it on Wednesday mornings. USA Network has aired the series since Aug. 1997, so that is almost 13 years! The Spike TV deal is happening because Hallmark Channel lost rights to the series. Hallmark obtained the series in Fall 2004 and shared it with USA Network, now Spike TV will share it with them. Hallmark last aired the series on weekends this past fall through end of December 2009.
And if you want even more Walker, Texas Ranger, another cable network will start airing it in September. Does this mean USA/Sleuth will lose rights by then? We're not sure, but we'll find out. Stay with us starting next month for all the cable network fall schedules!

KCDO in Denver is adding more classic TV to its line-up! They are a Retro Television affiliate, but will even expand on RTV's line-up by adding more classic series! Effective Monday, June 28, 2010, KCDO, which can be seen by OTA, Comcast, Dish, DirecTV in the Denver area, will a few of their own shows to mix in with the RTV lineup. KCDO's own purchases includes Get Smart, Hawaii Five-0, Streets of San Francisco, The Beverly Hillbillies and Mission: Impossible. It seems KCDO has a deal with CBS Paramount, as all of those are owned by Paramount. RTV's series are mostly owned by Universal, which include series like McHale's Navy, The Rockford Files, Quincy, Magnum P.I., and Emergency!
This is a good move by KDCO to add even more classic TV to a classic TV line-up. Hopefully more RTV stations follow. Maybe RTV will get the idea to acquire more series from other libraries.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Tuesday, April 1

St. Denis Medical - "Anything to Push Zaluva" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Ron's teasing makes Joyce question whether her friendship with a pharmaceutical rep is genuine; Alex has trouble letting Serena take on a new task; Matt finds a mentor in Bruce.

Night Court - "Hot to Trot" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Abby's friendship with her ex-boyfriend's mother leads to romantic complications; when Julianne's wealthy aunt passes away, the gang vies for a piece of her inheritance.

Tyler Perry's House of Payne - "Love At First Swipe" (BET, 9:00PM ET/PT)
C.J. and Janine receive marital advice from an unlikely source; Peanut seeks help with his newfound online lover.

Tyler Perry's Assisted Living - "Failure 2 Launch" (BET, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Assisted Living is the new situation comedy by Tyler Perry about three generations who must make a new start in the rural backwoods of Georgia.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 31)

Tuesday, April 1

Adam Scott (Ghosted/Veep/Parks and Recreation/Party Down) - Catch Adam on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Kevin Bacon (I Love Dick) - Kevin is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Amanda Peet (Brockmire/Togetherness/Bent) - Amanda appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Paul stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Ike Barinholtz (The Studio/The Afterparty/Bless the Harts/The Mindy Project/Eastbound & Down) - Ike appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He will also be on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9:30pm on Bravo.
Vinny Thomas (Platonic), Paul F. Tompkins (The Great North/BoJack Horseman/DAG) and Aparna Nancherla (The Great North/Lopez vs Lopez/Corporate) - Vinny, Paul and Aparna are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Chase Sui Wonders (The Studio/Bupkis) and Kathryn Hahn (The Studio/Tiny Beautiful Things/Central Park/Happyish/Transparent/Free Agents) - Chase and Kathryn are guests on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9:30pm on Bravo.
Will Ferrell (The Office) and Jennifer Coolidge (2 Broke Girls/Joey) - E! News has interviews with Will and Jennifer at 11pm on E!.
Román Zaragoza (Ghosts) - Román talks about Ghosts on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Jenny Slate (The Great North/Big Mouth/Married/Bob's Burgers) - Jenny talks about Dying for Sex on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Michael Angarano (Laid/I'm Dying Up Here/Will & Grace) and Michael Cera (Life & Beth/Arrested Development/I Was a Sixth Grade Alien) - Michael and Michael talk about Sacramento with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Olivia Munn (Perfect Couples) - Olivia guest co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) - Hannah talks about Hacks on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Tasha Smith (Survival of the Thickest/Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse/The Tom Show/Boston Common) and Tone Bell (Survival of the Thickest/Fam/Disjointed/Truth Be Told/Bad Judge/Whitney) - Tasha and Tone talk about the new season of Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Kathryn Hahn (The Studio/Tiny Beautiful Things/Central Park/Happyish/Transparent/Free Agents) - Kathryn is dishing on her new comedy series The Studio on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Wilmer and Freddy Rodriguez chat about their podcast Dos Amigos on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Brenda Song (Running Point/Dollface/Dads/The Suite Life on Deck/The Suite Life of Zack & Cody) - Brenda talks about Netflix's Running Point on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Paul Walter Hauser (The Afterparty) - Paul is a guest on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.