More on TV Land Sitcom Pilots; ION Television's January 2011 Ratings Is Best Month Ever; 2011 Valentine's Day Weekend TV Marathons

Thursday, February 10, 2011

More on TV Land Sitcom Pilots; ION Television's January 2011 Ratings Is Best Month Ever; 2011 Valentine's Day Weekend TV Marathons

Last Thursday we gave details on TV Land's three sitcom pilot they are taping, this week TV Land has officially announced them. They are not picked-up to series yet, but full details on the pilots were released.
Furthering TV Land's expansion into the original sitcom landscape, the network announced that it has signed several popular television and film actors to star in its three upcoming pilots. Fran Drescher (The Nanny), Tichina Arnold (Everybody Hates Chris), John Michael Higgins (Kath & Kim), D.W. Moffett (Friday Night Lights), Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Valente Rodriguez (George Lopez) and Robert Walden (All The President's Men) will star in Happily Divorced based on Drescher's life.
Donald Faison (Scrubs), Wayne Knight (Seinfeld, Hot in Cleveland), David Alan Basche (The Starter Wife) and Kristen Johnston (3rd Rock From The Sun) will headline an untitled Mark Reisman sitcom.
And Christine Taylor (Arrested Development), Barry Watson (Samantha Who?, 7th Heaven) and Sherri Shepherd (The View) will star in a comedy pilot by Terri Minsky tentatively titled Rip City. Anne Meara (The King of Queens) will guest star in Minsky's pilot. All three pilots, which were previously announced in January, will be multi-camera and will tape in front of live audiences in February.
View more on these pilots and stay with us for any details on if these pilots are picked-up to series. I could imagine at least one of these being picked-up for air.

ION Television kicked off 2011 with continued ratings growth, celebrating January as its best month ever, according to Nielsen Media Research. ION's growing mix of TV series and movies, presented under its "Positively Entertaining" consumer tagline, posted growth across key demos during the month, and, for the first time, ranked among the top 10 cable entertainment networks in A25-54, households and total viewers in the 7pm-12am sales prime time period. Shows airings weeknights from 7pm-12am are Without a Trace and Criminal Minds blocks. Movies air on weekends in this time frame.
ION Television closed out January with double-digit growth in household viewers, up 15% (1,002,000) and up 13% (1,315,000) in total viewers, compared to January 2010, representing new network highs. The network also registered record high numbers in the A18-49 demo (493,000).
Additionally in January, ION Television ranked #9 among cable entertainment networks in A25-54, households and total viewers -- marking the first time ION is positioned among the top 10 nets. January also registered ION's best week ever (1/3/11) in A18-49 (545,000) and total viewers (1,455,000).
ION's 11pm hour (Criminal Minds on weeknights/movies on weekends) also became a driving force for the network's ratings last month as viewers turned to ION as an alternative destination to late night talk and cable reality reruns -- making it the most viewed hour in the 7pm-12am daypart for the network among A25-54 and A18-49. During the 11pm hour in January, ION's rankings also saw a boost, positioning at:
· #3 in total viewers as the most watched network among all cable entertainment nets (1,669,000)
· #5 in A25-54 as the most watched network among all cable entertainment nets (690,000)
· #6 in households as the most watched network among all cable entertainment nets (1,092,000)
· #8 in A18-49 as the most watched network among all cable entertainment nets (645,000)
January's record ratings generates momentum for the general entertainment network as ION Television recently celebrated 2010 as its most watched year ever in its key demos.

Looking for new ways to celebrate Valentine's Day Weekend? Last night ABC had hilarious all-new Valentine's Day episodes The Middle, Better With You and Modern Family that did well in the ratings and tonight NBC's comedy line-up celebrates Valentine's Day and romance. ABC delivers the classic Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown on Friday at 8pm with the newer classic A Charlie Brown Valentine following. All weekend long you can fall in love all over again during Hallmark's Countdown to Valentine's Day, which includes the world premiere of the movie Accidentally in Love starring Jennie Garth on Saturday.
For more V-Day options, you should check out these 195 TV Series & Movie Marathons and Specials at TVTango that air during this coming week, including the long Valentine's Day weekend.
And more love will be discussed tomorrow during our pilot review of the upcoming CBS comedy Mad Love, which premieres on Monday--Valentine's Day!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, September 20

American Housewife - "The Dance" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
With the kids away at the school dance, Katie and Greg look forward to a romantic evening alone; but Anna-Kat is crushed when the boy she likes doesn’t ask her to the dance, and Oliver begins to panic when the town psychic’s predictions begin to come true.

Fresh Off the Boat - "No Apology Necessary" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Just as the Huangs are settling into life without Eddie, an international incident catapults him not only to Taiwanese fame but also right back to America. In order to fix Eddie’s mess, the family gets a new “daughter”; but when things go awry, Jessica must add a new word to her vocabulary. Meanwhile, master babysitter Evan watches Maria for Honey and Marvin and ends up learning more about himself than he expected.

Raven's Home - "School House Trap" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The kids make it to the next round in the Radio Eclipse music competition, but Raven threatens to take away their band when Booker gets a bad grade.

Just Roll with It - "General Nuisance" (Disney Channel, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Rachel's old army buddy, Caleb, comes to stay with the family for a few days, his exhausting G.I. Joe-like personality irritates Blair, while Byron starts to feel inadequate.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 16)

Friday, September 20

Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Watch Chelsea on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Diallo Riddle (Marlon) - Diallo appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Josh Gad (The Comedians/1600 Penn/Back to You) - Josh visits The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Michaela Watkins (The Unicorn/Casual/Trophy Wife) - Michaela is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish/Girlfriends) - Tracee appears on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Dove Cameron (Liv and Maddie) - Dove stops by The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine/Wanda at Large) - Wanda drops by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish/Girlfriends) - Tracee appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar (mixed-ish/Truth Be Told/Saved by the Bell) and Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/The Game) - Mark-Paul and Tika talk about mixed-ish on Tamron Hall (check your local listings) and on the BUILD Series at 3pm. Mark-Paul will also be on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) - Mary-Louise talks about Weeds on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood/The Soul Man/The Steve Harvey Show) - Cedric talks about The Neighborhood on ABC's Strahan, Sara & Keke at 1pm.
Glenn Howerton (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia/A.P. Bio/That '80s Show) - Glenn talks about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
John Michael Higgins (Great News/Happily Divorced/Kath & Kim) - John is a guest on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.
Iain Armitage (Young Sheldon) - Ian talks about Young Sheldon and his role in HBO's Big Little Lies on the BUILD Series at 4pm.
Donald Faison (Scrubs/The Exes) - Donald talks about Emergence on the the BUILD Series at 5pm.