Tuesday, November 16, 2010

NBC Mid-Season 2011 Schedule; Spike TV, TV Land Acquire The King of Queens

NBC is making wholesale changes to its mid-season 2011 schedule that will make every night change, similar to a fall schedule. The changes happen starting in early January, 2011.
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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Saturday, October 18

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 13)

Friday, October 17

  • Charlie Hunnam (Undeclared) - Watch Charlie on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Chelsea Frei (The Paper/The Moodys) - Chelsea appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Maz Jobrani (Superior Donuts/The Knights of Prosperity/Better Off Ted) - Maz is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Kristin Chenoweth (Trial & Error/Kristin) - Kristin talks about Queen of Versailles on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Zachary Quinto (Big Mouth/So Notorious) - Zachary talks about Brilliant Minds on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
  • Tony Shalhoub (We Are Men/Stark Raving Mad/Wings) - NBC's Today catches up with Tony in the 9am hour.
  • Aziz Ansari (Master of None/Parks and Recreation) - Aziz talks about Good Fortune on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Penn Badgley (Do Over) - Penn talks about Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Mira Sorvino (Shining Vale) - Mira joins Sherri to talk about starring in Chicago the Musical on Broadway on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Cristela Alonzo (Cristela) - Cristela stops by Sherri's Laugh Lounge on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Penn Badgley (Do Over) - Penn talks about podcast Podcrushed on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger (FUBAR) - Real Time with Bill Maher features a one-on-one interview with Arnold on HBO at 10pm.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

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) Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season

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)
10/07 - Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season

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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