Tuesday, November 16, 2010
NBC Mid-Season 2011 Schedule; Spike TV, TV Land Acquire The King of Queens
The mid-season schedule kicks-off with the season premiere of The Biggest Loser: Couples on Tuesday, Jan. 4 from 8-10pm followed by an all-new Parenthood. This night remains the same in January, but changes will be made come February, as Law & Order: Los Angeles moves from Wednesdays at 10 to Tuesdays at 10 starting Tuesday, Feb. 8, replacing Parenthood. So, L&O: LA will not air in January at all. We will have more on Parenthood's new night in a bit.
Then on Wednesdays, Minute to Win It has its official season premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 8pm, after airing holiday specials on Tuesdays in December (along with encores on Wednesdays at 8 on Dec. 22 and Dec. 29). Law & Order: SVU will air two episodes on Jan. 5 from 9-11pm, before moving to its new timeslot of 10pm starting January 12. Struggling drama Chase moves from Mondays at 10 to Wednesdays at 9 starting Jan. 12 through March 9, in a very competitive timeslot. Starting March 16, new unscripted series America's Next Great Restaurant airs at 9pm through May 11.
Fridays will have Minute to Win It encores on Jan. 7 and 14 at 8pm leading into two-hour episodes of Dateline from 9-11. The return of Who Do You Think You Are is on Jan. 21 through April 1, airing eight episodes. It is unclear what will air Fridays at 8 starting April 8.
Moving on to Sundays, the NFL ends the regular season on Sunday, Jan. 2, so NBC will have a big hole to fill obviously, since the NFL saves them every week in the fall. Dateline returns to the 7pm hour starting Jan. 9. Special programming airs in January and February on this night due to all of the awards and the Super Bowl. On January 9, NBC previews the new drama The Cape from 9-11pm, before it moves to its regular night of Mondays starting Jan. 17. NBC will have The 68th Annual Golden Globes on Jan. 16 from 8-11pm ET, with a red carpet special at 7pm ET. Other specials include a 35th Anniversary SNL special on Sunday, Feb. 20. A regular schedule from 8-11pm will begin on Sunday, March 6 with the season premiere of comedic reality series The Marriage Ref at 8pm and the season premiere of Celebrity Apprentice from 9-11pm. I wonder if the latter will be way lower this year as the regular edition has bombed this fall?
Moving on to Mondays, we mentioned new drama The Cape gets a special preview on Sunday, Jan. 9, and NBC for some reason will encore the two-hour preview the next night on Monday, Jan. 10 from 9-11pm. Chuck remains at 8pm and will start new episodes starting Jan. 17. The Cape airs at 9pm for 6 weeks, benching The Event. At 10pm, new drama Harry's Law airs for 6 weeks. Mondays will get a makeover again after these 6 weeks are over. The Event returns on Monday, Feb. 28 with a two-hour return from 9-11pm, with a clip show airing at 8pm, as NBC tries to relaunch the struggling drama. Then it will move to its regular time of 9pm leading into the return of Parenthood, on its new night of Mondays starting March 7. Parenthood is off the schedule for the month of February. It is unclear what is airing on Monday, Jan. 3.
And finally the most un-confusing part of the changes will be made to Thursdays. Comedy will air three hours now starting Thursday, Jan. 20. Community and The Office remain in their 8pm and 9pm half-hours, but the rest of the night is changing. New comedy Perfect Couples starring Oliva Munn airs at 8:30pm for 13 episodes, while a full season of Parks & Recreation will air at 9:30pm. Then the 10pm hour will now be comedies, something the broadcast networks never do. 30 Rock moves from 8:30pm to 10pm and new comedy Outsourced moves from 9:30 to the tough 10:30pm slot. I can see 30 Rock doing OK here, but Outsourced is going to struggle. Still, it should be a better average for the hour than what The Apprentice is doing now (1.4 18-49 rating). It is expected that comedy encores will air on Thursday, Jan. 6 and 13.
Wow! That is a lot of changes and quite confusing. So all of NBC's new series they launched this fall will be moving, benched or canceled. The Event goes to the bench in January and February, Chase moves to Wednesdays at 9, Undercovers & Outlaw are canceled, Law & Order: Los Angeles is benched in January then it is moving to Tuesdays at 10 starting in February, Outsourced is moved to Thursdays at 10:30, and School of Pride is not expected to return after terrible ratings. And still three more new series are to come: comedy-drama Love Bites and comedies Friends with Benefits and The Paul Reiser Show. The latter two will probably be mixed in on Thursdays sometime later this season, and Love Bites could possibly be Fridays at 8 starting April 8...but that's just a guess.
It is A LOT of changes, so view the press release and schedule so you're not confused. Also view our day-by-day schedule for NBC, so you don't miss anything more.
The hit sitcom, The King of Queens, will have a new prime-time cable television home at MTV Networks and will start airing on Spike TV beginning in October 2011. Then the popular series will move to sister network TV Land in 2013.
Spike TV will telecast two back-to-back episodes of The King of Queens in primetime twice per week when the network's run begins in October 2011 before TV Land airs it daily in the evenings starting in 2013.
The sitcom currently airs on TBS on cable, since Fall 2006, and will continue to do so until at least 2019 as they have renewed it. So, TBS will be sharing the rights with Spike TV/TV Land, as TBS will have the daytime rights and Spike/TV Land will have the primetime/late night rights. The King of Queens currently airs on TBS from Mon-Sat at 6pm & 6:30pm ET. Stay tuned for updates on The King of Queens on Spike TV as we get closer to next fall (2011).
Set in the working-class suburb of Queens, New York, the show follows Doug Heffernan (Kevin James, Paul Blart: Mall Cop), an amiable deliveryman, and his wife, spitfire legal secretary Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini, The Talk), as they explore the everyday challenges of love, life, family and marriage. Doug and Carrie also have to deal with the third, high-maintenance member of the Heffernan household. Carrie's twice-widowed father, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller, Seinfeld), lives in their basement. His constant presence and often-bizarre behavior add to their daily adventures. Doug often finds refuge in the little alone time he has with Carrie, best friend and co-worker, Deacon (Victor Williams), buddy Spence (Patton Oswalt) and his cousin Danny (Gary Valentine).
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Saturday, December 2
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 27)
Friday, December 1
- Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Watch Henry on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Brie Larson (United States of Tara/Raising Dad) - Brie is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Eric Idle (Suddenly Susan/Nearly Departed) - Eric appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) - Maria is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Ms. Pat (The Ms. Pat Show) - Ms. Pat appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Angela Means (Cousin Skeeter) - Angela is a guest on repeats of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
- Kelsey Grammer (Frasier/Partners/Hank/Back to You/Cheers) - NBC's Today catches up with Kelsey in the 9am hour.
- Brandy Norwood (Zoe Ever After/The Game/Moesha/Thea) - Brandy chats and performs on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Patrick Stewart (Blunt Talk) - Patrick sits down with to chat about his book Making It So on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Marcus Scribner (grown-ish/black-ish) - Marcus tells Sherri about his coming-of-age film, How I Learned to Fly, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Chris Redd (Bust Down/Kenan/Disjointed) - Chris discusses his upcoming film Candy Cane Lane on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Tiffani Thiessen (Saved by the Bell/Alexa & Katie/Good Morning, Miami/Saved by the Bell: The College Years) - Tiffani discusses her latest cookbook, Here We Go Again: Recipes and Inspiration to Level Up Your Leftovers, and cooks on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)
09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
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