Black History Month Closes with Cosby Show, 227 Marathons; ivi TV Shuts Down?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Black History Month Closes with Cosby Show, 227 Marathons; ivi TV Shuts Down?

While our pick of this weekend is Saturday's Empty Nest premiere marathon on The Hallmark Channel, there are other options for marathon viewing as well. This weekend will close out February, which is of course Black History Month, and Centric and GMC will showcase marathons of The Cosby Show and 227! Both series air regularly on the networks, but it is still good to have a marathon. The Cosby Show has its marathon on Saturday, Feb. 26 from 11am-10pm followed by the Centric premiere of the two-hour retrospective The Cosby Show: A Look Back from 10pm-12am. The marathon episodes are going in order with episodes 33-54 airing. Those are classic episodes! View the episode titles and times.
GMC will have a 227 marathon on Sunday, February 27 from 10am-1am on Oscar Sunday! And it's also 2-27, get it? The episodes won't go in order, but will indeed start with the premiere episode "Honesty" and will feature many guest stars again as well such as LaWanda Page, Benard Ighner, John Houseman, Mary Wilson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Florence Griffith Joyner, Willie Amakye, Ray Combs, Gene Wood, Cuba Gooding Jr., Johnny Gilbert, Joan Rivers and Gary Coleman. Select episodes from all five seasons will air. View the episode titles and times. The day before on Saturday, Feb. 26, GMC premieres the World Premiere Original Gospel Stage Play Movie The Ideal Husband at 7pm that stars 227's Jackee Harry, Clifton Powell, Darrin Henson, Shanti Lowry, Shirley Murdock and Ginuwine. A couple is joyously expecting their first child, but a secret from the husband's past threatens to destroy their happiness. Tracey, soon to be a new mother, is overjoyed at finally being able to have a child and prepares for a visit from her family for a big celebration. Her husband Devin, sidelined from the NFL due to a football injury, is also elated while physically working to build up his strength to return to the game. Their world, despite their financial hardships, is a happy one until Tracey receives a visitor at her beauty shop that reveals a past indiscretion that makes her question, if her world is as happy and stable as she believes. Leading into the movie will be regularly scheduled airings of Jackee's TV series: Sister, Sister from 10am-2pm and 227 from 2pm-7pm.

ivi TV, the online cable system, was forced to shutdown. Don't know what ivi is? Read our story from December. On Tuesday, February 22, 2011 the Southern District Court of New York granted a preliminary injunction in the case 1:10-cv-07415-NRB. ivi TV will be appealing the decision in the second circuit but in the interim they must shut-down most of their broadcast channel offerings.
They believe the court made an error in the ruling and will be appealing the decision supported by many public interest groups. But they cannot do it alone. In return, they ask that you support them. If you can, visit Public Knowledge and/or EFF to leave a donation.
In the interim they are suspending invoicing for ivi Air and ivi Pro, so it is not necessary to cancel subscriptions. As soon as they can restore the channels they will resume the subscriptions from that point forward.
They will continue to carry a number of channels and will be adding channels from broadcasters and content providers as they grow. Stay tuned for further updates.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Friday, December 13

Happy's Place - "Dear Jack" (NBC, 9:15PM ET/PT)
When Bobbie catches Isabella doing a slow-fade breakup with her long-distance boyfriend, she convinces her to send a Dear John letter; Steve brings in a review praising Chef Emmett's cooking and acknowledging the tavern's bartender, "Abby."

Lopez vs Lopez - "Lopez vs Dateline" (NBC, 9:45PM ET/PT)
When George's controversial new appliance turns up dead, he mounts a true-crime investigation; Chance tests the bounds of honesty with his family.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Splitting the Hairs" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Bob, Douglas and Christina try to get Dottie to make a will; Abishola and Kemi's friendship is tested after Abishola catches Kemi in a lie.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "There's My Nigerians" (The CW, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
While Bob and Abishola struggle to pull Dottie out of her depression, Auntie Olu and Uncle Tunde come over to lift her spirits.

Children Ruin Everything - "Bedtime" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT)
When James finds an old game console, he and Astrid attempt to find free time to play; but a bedtime routine threatens to eat up all the time between when the kids are supposed to be in bed and when Astrid and James have to go to bed themselves.

Children Ruin Everything - "Drama" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Astrid and James struggle to hold onto their identities while raising their two young children in the city.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 9)

Friday, December 13

Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Watch Kerry on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Jimmy O. Yang (Interior Chinatown/Space Force/Silicon Valley) - Jimmy appears on repeats of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC and on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Kristin Chenoweth (Trial & Error/Kristin) - Kristin is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Milana Vayntrub (Other Space), Jessica Lowe (Wrecked) and Jason Ritter (Another Period/The Class) - Milana, Jessica and Jason are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Richard Kind (Curb Your Enthusiasm/Spin City/Mad About You) and Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever/Final Space) - NBC's Today catches up with Richard and Fred in the 9am hour.
Zosia Mamet (Laid/Girls) - Zosia talks about Laid on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Christian Slater (Breaking In) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) - Christian and Sarah are sitting down with Drew to talk all about working together on Dexter: Original Sin on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Lisa Kudrow (No Good Deed/HouseBroken/Web Therapy/The Comeback/Friends/Mad About You) - Lisa talks about chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Tom Selleck (The Closer) and Donnie Wahlberg (Return of the Mac) - Tom and Donnie discuss the series finale of Blue Bloods on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Nancy McKeon (The Facts of Life/Can't Hurry Love) - Nancy will be on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.