Tuesday, December 07, 2010
ABC Family January 2011 Schedule; ABC Schedules Mid-Season Comedies Mr. Sunshine, Happy Endings, Plus More Sitcom News
As for ABC Family January 2011 stunts and highlights, Pretty Little Liars returns for its second half of the first season on Monday, Jan. 3 at 7:58pm for 12 weeks (season finale is slated for March 21, bitches). A marathon will air from 11am-7:58pm leading into the premiere on Jan. 3. Then at 9pm, Greek has its fourth season premiere with 10 all-new episodes (through March 7). A few days prior, on Saturday, Jan. 1, ABC Family will have a New Year's Day marathon of America's Funniest Home Videos from 7am-1am. What I Like About You will be preempted for two weeks, the week of Jan 17 and 24, for special 700 Club programming from 9am-11am. The sitcom airs in the 9am half-hour. There will also be a marathon of The 700 Club on Sunday, Jan. 30 from 12 noon to 12 midnight.
Movie wise, ABC Family will premiere the original movie Mean Girls 2 on Sunday, Jan. 23 at 8pm (encores at 10pm). The original feature film from 2004 will air right before at 6pm. This sequel stars Meaghan Martin (10 Things I Hate About You), Maiara Walsh (Desperate Housewives), Jennifer Stone, Nicole Gale Anderson, Claire Holt and Diego Boneta (Pretty Little Liars) in a classic high school story about good versus plastic. When new girl Jo (Martin) arrives at North Shore High School, her main goal is to skate under the radar to survive her senior year and definitely not get involved in any of the typical high school trappings. But her plan goes awry quickly when she meets Abby (Stone), a girl stuck at the low end of the high school food chain and favorite target of "The Plastics" (Walsh, Holt and Anderson). After defending Abby against the queen bee of the school and lead Plastic, Mandi (Walsh), Jo is dragged into the very same girl drama she was hoping to avoid. Tim Meadows returns as the school's principal, Mr. Duvall. ABC Family will also premiere the big screen movies Enchanted, Bruce Almighty, and The Game Plan for the first time, while encores of movies include Mean Girls, The Notebook, Evan Almighty, The Flintstones, Dennis the Menace, Cheaper by the Dozen, Liar Liar, Along Came Polly, Aladdin, and Freaky Friday.
And we will have a special ABC Family contest giveaway starting tomorrow at 12am ET (early Thursday) on our Facebook page. So stay tuned for information on how three very lucky winners will win an ABC Family gift bag filled with goodies just in time for the holidays! Also, if you haven't entered already, enter our Boy Meets World Season 4 DVD Contest, because the giveaway ends at 11:59:59pm ET tomorrow (Wednesday). Who will be the lucky two winners?
ABC has announced premiere dates for new comedies Mr. Sunshine and Happy Endings, representing the final mid-season scripted dates for ABC. Matthew Perry returns to series television in Mr. Sunshine, also starring four-time Emmy winner Allison Janney (The West Wing), on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 9:30 p.m., ET, and Happy Endings, an all-new ensemble comedy including Elisha Cuthbert (24), will premiere Wednesday, April 13 in the new 10:00 p.m. ET comedy half-hour. ABC's upcoming medical drama Off the Map, will finish its 13 episode run on Wednesday, April. 6.
With the addition of Mr. Sunshine on Feb. 9, ABC's critically acclaimed comedy Cougar Town will take a two-month break and return to the schedule in its regular time slot of 9:30 p.m, ET following Modern Family on Wednesday, April 13 leading into the premiere of Happy Endings at 10. And the Emmy-winning Modern Family will air "Fan Favorites" episodes beginning that same evening at 10:30 p.m. out of Happy Endings, to try a new comedy hour in the 10 p.m. hour for the final 7 weeks of the season.
As of now, ABC has scheduled 9 episodes of Mr. Sunshine to air for 9 consecutive weeks from February 9 to April 6. The series will still have four episodes left in its 13 episode order after these nine weeks, but no word as of this writing on if and when they will air those this season (or next season). ABC has scheduled Happy Endings to air for the final 7 weeks of the season (April 13 to May 25). This series also has 13 episode order, so ABC will have seven still left to air. Perhaps for a week or two ABC could double-up on both Mr. Sunshine and Happy Endings to cut down repeats of other ABC Wednesday comedies. We'll let you know if that is the case. ABC's The Middle and Modern Family will each have 24 episodes each this season, with Better With You and Cougar Town having 22 episodes each. By taking Feb. 9 to April 6 off, Cougar Town is avoiding American Idol (except the two-hour premiere on Jan. 19), where it had a bit trouble last winter/spring. Mr. Sunshine will be facing Idol every week except its first week (Feb. 9, season finale of Human Target is airing) and its last week (April 6, series premiere of Breaking In is airing).
Yes, ABC is trying comedies in the 10 p.m. hour starting April 13, which is still months away, but ABC will try comedy repeats in the hour starting this week through the end of the month! ABC has pulled the burn-off episodes of canceled legal drama The Whole Truth effective immediately. So, now comedy repeats will air. This Wednesday (Dec. 8), following new episodes from 8-10pm, ABC will air a repeat each of Modern Family and Cougar Town in the 10pm hour. Next week (Dec. 15), ABC will air a Modern Family repeat at 9:30pm, followed by two repeats of Cougar Town in the 10pm hour. Wednesday, Dec. 22 will see an encore of CMA Country Christmas from 9:30-11pm, but on Wednesday, Dec. 29 we once again see a Modern Family repeat at 9:30pm, followed by two repeats of Cougar Town in the 10pm hour. ABC's comedies are all-new tonight and after that won't be new until Wednesday, Jan. 5...so enjoy the holiday episodes tonight!
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, December 1
The Villains of Valley View - "A Very Villain Christmas" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The Madden family celebrates their first Christmas in Valley View; while trying to score their most wanted gift, Amy and Jake learn the true meaning of Christmas.
Bunk'd: Learning the Ropes - "Friends in Snow Places" (Disney Channel, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Santa's famous reindeer Comet and Cupid visit the ranch; Lou, Parker and Jake travel to a lodge in the mountains, but soon find themselves trapped in the cold.
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 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
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