Tuesday, December 07, 2010

ABC Family January 2011 Schedule; ABC Schedules Mid-Season Comedies Mr. Sunshine, Happy Endings, Plus More Sitcom News

ABC Family is currently airings its annual 25 Days of Christmas, but once the annual festival is over, there will be some changes to the regular schedule in January 2011 starting Monday, Dec. 27. Weekdays at 11am & 11:30am will now be back-to-back Full House replacing the morning airing of Gilmore Girls. Weekdays at 2pm & 2:30pm will have My Wife & Kids, replacing Full House, which moves to 11am-12pm. Then we get a second hour of Still Standing airing weekdays at 6pm & 6:30pm, replacing My Wife & Kids which is moving to 2-3pm. Still Standing remains in its 12 noon & 12:30pm slots as well. There will be times when an ABC Family movie starts at 7:30pm, so if that is the case Still Standing will air in the 7pm half-hour, but when that happens it won't air in the 12:30pm half-hour that day, and instead we get a third airing of 8 Simple Rules (which airs 1-2pm). The final change to weekdays is the return of Whose Line Is It Anyway? airing at 12 midnight & 12:30am, replacing the second hour of My Wife & Kids.
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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, May 8

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "Ladies Love Brunch" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Georgie tries to juggle his mom, his mother-in-law and Mandy on Mother’s Day. Meanwhile, Audrey wants to meet Connor’s girlfriend.

Ghosts - "The Devil Went Down to Woodstone" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Sam and Jay host a big party for the launch of Sam and Isaac’s vampire book. Mary Holland (Patience), Punam Patel (Bela) and Matt Walsh (Elias Woodstone) return as guest stars.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 5)

Thursday, May 8

  • Paula Poundstone (Home Movies) - Paula performs stand-up comedy on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) - Natasha appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Michelle Buteau (Survival of the Thickest/Bless the Harts/Enlisted) - Michelle talks about Netflix's Survival of the Thickest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
  • Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) and Doug Benson (You're the Worst) - Maria and Doug are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • John Benjamin Hickey (HouseBroken/The Big C/It's All Relative) - John stops by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11:15pm on Bravo.
  • Patricia Clarkson (Davis Rules) - Patricia is a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11:15pm on Bravo.
  • Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - E! News has an interview with Kerry at 11pm on E!. Kerry and Omar Sy discuss their highly anticipated new film Shadow Force on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel chats about Juliet & Romeo on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/CafĂ© Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - In A Little Bit Extra Valerie and Ross Mathews are sharing more of their conversation with Al Roker in Charleston at the Food & Wine Classic on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) and Randall Park (Young Rock/Blockbuster/Fresh Off the Boat/Veep/Supah Ninjas) - Morris and Randall talk about Watson on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.


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)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (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

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04/16 - And Just Like That... Season 3 on Max This May; MGM+ Comedy Series Adds Big Stars
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