Wednesday, June 30, 2010

USA Network Buys Modern Family Repeats Starting Fall 2013, Oxygen Buys Glee Repeats; Futurama Returns Scores for Comedy Central

USA Network has reached an agreement with Twentieth Television, acquiring the exclusive syndication rights to the critically acclaimed ratings ABC comedy hit Modern Family. Under the agreement, USA Network will strip the series Monday through Sunday beginning Fall 2013. It is by far the most significant sitcom acquisition they have ever made. Modern Family is the hottest new sitcom that premiered during the 2009-2010 TV season and it's a perfect fit for USA Network. The terrific writing, incredible ensemble cast and the 'cool' cultural relevance align perfectly with USA Network's "Characters Welcome" brand.
Modern Family stars Ed O'Neill as Jay, Julie Bowen as Claire, Ty Burrell as Phil, SofĂ­a Vergara as Gloria, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley, Nolan Gould as Luke, Ariel Winter as Alex and Rico Rodriguez as Manny. The series is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television in association with Levitan Lloyd Productions. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd are executive producers/creators.
Modern Family is the biggest sitcom acquisition by USA Network since Wings in 1995. Wings aired on USA Network from 1995-2002 to good numbers. It returned to early morning in June 2008 and is sill airing. Financially, Modern Family is their biggest sitcom acquisition ever. Some of the past sitcoms they have aired were all in the morning hours such as Coach, Becker, Perfect Strangers, Gimme a Break!, Webster, The Facts of Life, Major Dad, Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Martin and Living Single. USA Network was also famous for airing short-lived sitcoms in the mornings in their USAM block, such as Hearts Afire, Veronica's Closet, Jesse, and Something So Right. They also had original comedies such as Weird Science and USA High in the '90s.
By Fall 2013, Modern Family will be entering its fifth season on ABC. Currently, USA Network has no other comedies to pair Modern Family with, so they will either buy another comedy or pair it with original programming.

Meanwhile, Oxygen Media and Twentieth Television have reached an exclusive agreement for the basic cable syndication rights to Twentieth Century Fox's critically-acclaimed television hit series Glee. The hour-long Glee will join the Oxygen line-up with a weekend marathon of the second season in January 2011. This will be followed by a companion unscripted reality competition series to discover the next Glee star scheduled to premiere in June 2011 to appear on the third season of the series in Fall 2011. Oxygen will retain exclusive basic cable rights to telecast all seasons throughout the Oxygen schedule beginning in Fall 2013.
Entering its second season this fall and renewed already for a third season on Fox, Glee is a biting musical comedy that has quickly become a pop-culture phenomenon. This is by far the biggest acquisition for the 10-year-old network. Past acquisitions have mainly been sitcoms such as Roseanne, Living Single, Mad About You, Grace Under Fire, Ellen, Kate & Allie, and A Different World. Non-sitcoms included Xena, America's Next Top Model, and The Tyra Banks Show. As with most cable network, Oxygen is focused primarily on original programming.

The Emmy(R) Award-winning animated sci-fi comedy Futurama, resurrected by Comedy Central, made an out-of-this-world return and, with 2.92 million total viewers, became the highest-rated and most-watched season premiere for an animated series on cable with the exception of South Park.
Airing its first original episode in almost seven years, the sixth season premiere of Futurama titled "Rebirth" (Thursday, 10:00-10:30 p.m.) averaged a 2.0 HH rating, 1.9 Adults 18-49 rating, 4.5 Men 18-24 rating and 3.5 Men 18-34 rating, finishing the night as the most-watched and highest-rated show in all of television for Thursday Prime among M18-24 and M18-34, as well as the highest-rated show in all of television among Adults 18-49 (tie).
With 2.92 million total viewers tuning in to watch the next chapter in the lives of Leela, Fry and Bender, the premiere powered Comedy Central to its highest-rated and most-watched night of 2010 among total viewers (1.7 million total viewers) and A18-49 (1.1 rating) and the highest-rated and most-watched Thursday night in the network's history among M18-24 (2.4 rating) and M18-34 (1.9 rating).
The second of two all-new, back-to-back premiere episodes of Futurama (Thursday, 10:30 p.m.-10:59 p.m.), averaged a 2.1 HH rating, 1.7 A18-49 rating, 4.2 M18-24 rating, 3.2 M18-34 rating and 2.78 million total viewers to rank as the #2 program of the night in all of television among M18-34 and M18-24, and the #1 cable show in its timeslot with A18-49 (tie), M18-34 and M18-24.
Encore presentations of the season premiere of Futurama air Sunday at 12:00 a.m., Monday at 12:30 a.m., Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. and Thursday at 9:30 p.m. (all times ET/PT). And the series airs new episodes Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.

Laugh On all summer long with Modern Family tonight at 9/8 on ABC:


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Saturday, October 31

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 26)

Friday, October 30

  • Kate Berlant (Ghosted/Search Party) - Watch Kate on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Kristen Bell (Nobody Wants This/Central Park/The Good Place) - Kristen appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Joe Manganiello (Mythic Quest/How I Met Your Mother) - Joe is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) - Quinta appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Natasha Leggero (Broke/Dice/Another Period/Free Agents) and Tommy Davidson (The Varnell Hill Show/The Proud Family/Malcolm & Eddie/Between Brothers) - Natasha and Tommy will be on a repeat of Funny You Should Ask at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep/The New Adventures of Old Christine/Watching Ellie/Seinfeld/Day by Day) and Allison Janney (Mom/Mr. Sunshine) - Julia and Allison talk about Broadway's Other Desert Cities on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Jerry O'Connell (We Are Men/Do Not Disturb/Carpoolers/My Secret Identity) - Jerry appears on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Sophia Bush (Partners) - Sophia talks about And I Will Tell You Mine: Notes from a Life in Progress on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
  • Sherri Shepherd (Mr. Iglesias/Trial & Error/Sherri/Less Than Perfect/Suddenly Susan) - Sherri talks about Broadway's Aladdin on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Karyn Parsons (The Job/Lush Life/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Karyn discusses her new novel, Blue Beach, and her iconic role as Hilary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
  • Marilu Henner (Taxi/Evening Shade) - Marilu is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

Abbott Elementary - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD) The Office - The Complete Series - Superfan Extended Episodes (Blu-ray) The Bill Dana Show - The Complete Series (DVD) I Love Lucy - The Complete Series - 75th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) Perfect Strangers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

01/20/26 - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Golden Age Collection (Blu-ray)
01/27/26 - The New Fred and Barney Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/11/26 - Tom and Jerry - The Complete CinemaScope Collection (Blu-ray)
03/24/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Vault - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
04/11/26 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD)
04/21/26 - Famous Studios Champion Collection (Blu-ray) (DVD)
05/19/26 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series - 75th Anniversary Edition (DVD)
05/19/26 - Looney Tunes Cartoons - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (DVD)
06/16/26 - Difficult People - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
06/30/26 - Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
07/14/26 - The Office - The Complete Series - Superfan Extended Episodes (Blu-ray)
07/28/26 - The Bill Dana Show - The Complete Series (DVD)
07/28/26 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series - 75th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)
07/28/26 - The Paper - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
08/25/26 - Perfect Strangers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/08/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Vault - Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
09/22/26 - Bridget Loves Bernie - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
10/20/26 - The Quick Draw McGraw Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


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