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

Monday, October 13

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the new Normals" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The Johnsons and Butlers face big changes and unexpected challenges as Tina discovers a new passion, Malcolm navigates work and family boundaries and Courtney takes a major step with Marty. Meanwhile, Dave’s tech experiment backfires and Gemma’s parenting plan goes awry.

DMV - "Pilot" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
East Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) driving examiner Colette pines for her coworker Noa while enduring teasing from colleagues Gregg, Vic and Ceci. Also, new manager Barb rallies the crew to save their branch from government shutdown.

TV We Love - "I Love Lucy" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT)
A deep dive into "I Love Lucy," widely regarded as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time; exploring the groundbreaking partnership of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, whose comedic brilliance and bold business moves forever changed television.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 13)

Monday, October 13

Kat Dennings (Shifting Gears/Dollface/2 Broke Girls/Raising Dad) - Watch Kat on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building), Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building/Mulaney/I'm a Big Girl Now/The Associates) and Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building/Wizards of Waverly Place) - Steve, Martin and Selena are guests on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Keanu Reaves (Swedish Dicks) - Keanu and Alex Winter are guests on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/George and Leo/Chicago Sons/Simon/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons) - Jason appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Laverne Cox (Clean Slate) - Andy Cohen intervews Laverne on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9pm on Bravo.
Patricia Arquette (High Desert) - Patricia talks about Murdaugh: Death in the Family on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Bradley Whitford (Perfect Harmony/Trophy Wife) - Bradley talks about The Diplomat on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Colin Hanks (Life in Pieces) - Colin chats with the hosts about John Candy: I Like Me on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Michael J. Fox (Family Ties/Spin City/The Michael J. Fox Show) - Michael discusses his new book Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth/The Bear) - Co-host Gayle King sits down with Ayo and Julia Roberts on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Tim Meadows (DMV/Schooled/No Activity/Son of Zorn/Mr. Box Office/The Bill Engvall Show) - Tim talks about DMV on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour.
Brian Baumgartner (The Office) - Brian talks about the We Need A Fourth podcast on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Sherri Shepherd (Mr. Iglesias/Trial & Error/Sherri/Less Than Perfect/Suddenly Susan) - Sherri talks about The Sunshine Queens on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Jaleel White (Family Matters/Grown Ups) - Jaleel joins Sherri to talk about the new season of his hit game show Flip Side on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Vanessa Lachey (Truth Be Told/Dads) - Vanessa and Nick Lachey talk about Netflix's Love is Blind on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Cristela Alonzo (Cristela) - Cristela talks about Netflix's Stay Classy on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Cafe Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie is showing Drew how to make the perfect pumpkin spice meatballs on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.