Thursday, October 28, 2010

ION Television November/December 2010 Schedule, New Movie Deals; Halloween 2010 Specials and Marathons on TV

This November and December on ION Television, the regular schedule will of course remain the same, but there will be a few stunts and lots of holiday movies in time for the holidays! The regular weekday schedule remains intact with a mix of Ghost Whisperer, Without a Trace and Criminal Minds every weekday from 3pm-1am. With these series, ION Television delivered its best season ever, growing faster year-over-year than any other broadcast or cable network, according to Nielsen Media Research. Propelled by crime dramas Criminal Minds and Without a Trace, ION has posted growth across all key demos, including A25-54, W25-54, A18-49 and W18-49. ION's ratings success, from October 2009 through September 2010, registered record triple and double-digit growth in sales prime, with a 72% increase in total viewers (1,011,000 vs. 588,000).
Back to November and December 2010, we get a few marathons in time for the holidays. On Black Friday, Friday, November 26, ION Television presents a full-day marathon of Criminal Minds from 3pm-1am. We get another Criminal Minds marathon on Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24 from 3pm-1am. The following week, on Friday, December 31, we close out 2010 with a full-day marathon of Without a Trace from 3pm-1am.
Weekends have movies mainly from 1pm-1am, with some filler airings of My Name is Earl and/or M*A*S*H kicking it off. Movie premieres for November and December are: Under Siege, The Quick and the Dead, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Troy, My Dog Skip, and Gridiron Gang. We also get some encore airings of Scarface, Another 48 Hours, The Negotiator, Courage Under Fire, Point Break, Pay it Forward, The Family Stone, When Harry Met Sally, In Her Shoes, Blood Work, and The Fugitive. The holiday movies kick-off Sunday, November 28 with movies A Golden Christmas, Christmas Town, and The Christmas Clause airing throughout December.

In other ION Television updates, part of the network's commitment to expand its schedule with high profile, 'positively entertaining' programming, ION Television has inked multiple deals this month to acquire over 85 feature films. The deals are with leading Hollywood studios including Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, and Sony Pictures Television - making it the network's largest movie buy to date. The newly acquired theatrical titles begin airing this month and will continue to roll out on ION Television's schedule through 2012.
ION Television's largest studio deal is with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution with 44 films. Highlights of the premier package include comedy Starsky & Hutch, with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson; the sea-faring film The Perfect Storm starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg; The Guardian starring Kevin Costner; and Analyze This and its sequel Analyze That with Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro.
The movie titles acquired from Twentieth Century Fox include the critically acclaimed and Academy Award® winning movie for Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire with Dev Patel and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, starring award-winning actor Russell Crowe.
The Sony Pictures Television package includes 16 film titles and features Ali, the biographical film of boxing icon Muhammad Ali; the political action thriller Vantage Point starring Dennis Quaid and LOST's Matthew Fox; and the crime drama We Own the Night, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg.
ION Television also acquires over a dozen titles from MGM including top films such as Be Cool, starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman; romantic comedy A Guy Thing starring My Name is Earl's Jason Lee; and Into the Blue, starring Paul Walker and Jessica Alba.
The theatrical acquisitions will be part of ION Television's new expanded daypart and late night schedule, now airing from 1PM-1AM on weekends. Additionally, the new titles will build upon network's thriving Big Movie Weekend, which has seen +48% ratings growth from last season.

Halloween is coming upon us this weekend and we need to let you know of any specials or marathons airing. Last night of course featured Halloween episodes of ABC's Laugh On Wednesday with spooky episodes of The Middle, Better With You, Modern Family, and Cougar Town. The prelim ratings for all four were great reaching season or series highs in either total viewers and/or 18-49.
We have mentioned some of these items already in past blog posts, but of course you have the 13 Nights of Halloween continuing on ABC Family, the classic Halloween special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airing tonight (and tomorrow) at 8pm on ABC, and the new special Scared Shrekless airing tonight at 8 on NBC. They also have Halloween episodes of Community, The Office and Outsourced following the all-new special. Classic sitcom wise, The Hub has Halloween episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D., Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley tonight starting at 9:30pm. As we mentioned, Nick at Nite has a Halloween episode of Glenn Martin, DDS tomorrow at 10pm and a Halloween episodes stunt on Saturday featuring George Lopez, Everybody Hates Chris, Home Improvement, and Family Matters. TV Land has Roseanne Halloween episodes airing Saturday night from 2-4am and more on Halloween Sunday from 12am-3am. WE tv sees ghosts with Ghost Whisperer on Saturday from 10pm-4am
Our friends at TV Tango has your FULL guide to Halloween hauntings on TV for entire month of October, including marathons, specials, TV movies, episodes, and anything else we could find that might scare you or make you want to carve a pumpkin. Head on over to TVTango as always for your holiday listings!


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, September 8

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Sting" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Calvin and Marty send Courtney on a mission to find out information about Fuse Box’s impressive new rival. Meanwhile, Malcolm attends an event for his creative writing program at USC, where he scores a meeting with a book agent, Lisa (Angelique Cabral).

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Your Own Medicine" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After Dave’s disastrous attempt to dunk a basketball, Calvin takes care of his injured neighbor. Also, Gemma befriends a cool mom group while babysitting Daphne.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 8)

Monday, September 8

  • Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel (Family Tree/Morton & Hayes), Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins (Laverne & Shirley), Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls (The Simpsons) and Rob Reiner as Marty DiBergi (All in the Family/Morton & Hayes) - Watch Spinal Tap on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever/Final Space) - Fred appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Langston Kerman (English Teacher/Bust Down/South Side/Bless This Mess) - Langston is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building) and Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building/Mulaney/I'm a Big Girl Now/The Associates) - Steve and Martin are guests on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Charlie Sheen (Anger Management/Two and a Half Men) - ABC's Good Morning America has part two of Michael Strahan's interview with Charlie sometime between 7-9am.
  • Marilu Henner (Evening Shade/Taxi) - Marilu talks about A Husband to Die For: The Lisa Aguilar Story on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
  • Katie Lowes (How We Roll) - Katie and Jamie Ray Newman talk about the summer's most talked about show The Hunting Wives on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
  • Rainn Wilson (The Office) - Rainn talks about Code 3 on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
  • Drew Barrymore (Santa Clarita Diet) - Drew will be on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Oscar Nuñez (The Paper/The Office), Alex Edelman (The Paper) and Gbemisola Ikumelo (The Paper) - Oscar, Alex and Gbemisola talk about Peacock's The Paper on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
  • Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love/Like Family/Love, Inc.) - NBC's Today catches up with Holly in the 9am hour.
  • Malin Akerman (Dollface/Sin City Saints/Trophy Wife/Childrens Hospital) - Malin talks about Netflix's The Hunting Wives on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/One Day at a Time) - Valerie appears on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Halle is celebrating aging helping a viewer over 50 achieve a glow up look on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original 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


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

09/08 - The Paper Renewed for Season 2, NYC Event on Tuesday; Final Season of Bel-Air
09/07 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of September 8, 2025)
09/06 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Shifting Gears Picked Up for Three Additional Episodes; The Paper Renewed for Season Two
09/05 - Crutch Premieres November 3 on Paramount+; Trailer for Season 2 of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place
09/04 - Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween 2025 Schedule; Dancing with the Stars Season 34 Cast
09/03 - Live Staged Reading of Three's Company Episode; Freeform Acquires According to Jim for October
09/02 - Hulu's Chad Powers Trailer; BET's The Hospital Premieres September 10
09/01 - TV Marathons on Labor Day 2025 Include Archie Bunker's Place and George Lopez
08/31 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of September 1, 2025)
08/30 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Saturday Night Live Cast Changes Loom; NBC Renews Password for Third Season
08/29 - HBO's Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television; Adult Swim Slates Two Series for October
08/28 - NBC's Password Renewed for Season 3 for 2026; Pluto TV Streaming CBS Shows Ahead of Fall Season
08/27 - Hulu's Deli Boys Renewed for Season 2 with Fred Armisen; HBO's I Love LA Premieres November 2
08/26 - English Teacher Returns on FX for Season 2; Jesse Williams Prime Video Series Trailer
08/25 - Doc Season 2 Trailer for Fox; Remembering David Ketchum and Jerry Adler
08/24 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 25, 2025)
08/23 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Home Improvement Cast Members to Reunite on Shifting Gears; The Paper to Have Binge Drop
08/22 - Hulu's Futurama Season 13 Trailer; A Man on the Inside Returns November 20 on Netflix
08/21 - George Lopez Coming to COZI TV; The Morning Show Season 4 Trailer
08/20 - Welcome Back, Kotter 50th Anniversary Marathon on Rewind TV; Apple TV+ Palm Royale Season 2 Premieres November 12
08/19 - Antenna TV's Archie Bunker's Place Labor Day Marathon; Larry the Cable Guy Prime Video Special
08/18 - Nobody Wants This Season 2 Premieres October 23; HGTV and Retta Continue Partnership
08/17 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 18, 2025)
08/16 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Paramount Plans Retool of Cable Networks; King of the Hill Revival Scores Big Ratings
08/15 - Catchy Comedy Acquires Hot in Cleveland; Netflix's Animated Comedy Strip Law Premieres in 2026
08/14 - Dan Levy's Netflix Comedy Series Cast; Betty la Fea: La Historia ContinĂșa Season 2 Premieres Friday
08/13 - Remembering Danielle Spencer of What's Happening!!; Trailer for Season 5 of Only Murders in the Building
08/12 - Netflix's Comedy Kiss or Die Premieres September 9; Lori Harvey Joins Reasonable Doubt
08/11 - Roku Originals Books a Return Trip with Season 2 Renewal of Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross; Netflix's Fixed Trailer
08/10 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 11, 2025)
08/09 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Trailer Released for The Paper; ABC Gives Pilot Order to Do You Want Kids?
08/08 - Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Season 2 Premieres September 12; The Paper Trailer for Peacock