Monday, March 14, 2011
Hallmark Channel April 2011 Has Frasier; TV Rebels Vol. 2 Released, Excerpt from Dick Clark Essay
How about weekends? There continues to be stunts on most Saturdays. A Touched by an Angel 24-hour marathon will air on Saturday, April 9 starting at 6am. The following week will have a "Love" movies marathon starting at 7am leading into the premiere of new movie Beverly Lewis' The Shunning from 9pm-11pm with an immediate encore 11pm-1am. And on Saturday, April 23, Hallmark will have a 24-hour marathon of Little House on the Prairie beginning at 6am. As for the weekend schedule, I Love Lucy remains from 6am-8am. Empty Nest will now air for an hour at 8am leading into a block of The Golden Girls from 9am-11am. One daytime movie has been pulled for a block of Frasier from 11am-1pm. The movies now start at 1pm and will last through 11pm. Another Frasier block replaces a movie from 11pm-1am. As weeknights, The Golden Girls will air from 1am-3am, Empty Nest from 3-5am and I Love Lucy in the 5am hour.
Now, this schedule was made prior to the launch of Empty Nest on March 8 (weekdays 3pm-5pm), so this schedule is subject to change. Also, Hallmark has announced that they have acquired The Waltons to air starting Monday, March 21...but as of now, it isn't scheduled. As soon as it is, we will let you know and what this will mean for April 2011. So come on back.
View the Hallmark Channel April 2011 schedule and stunts.
TV Rebels is back with another book! We posted 12 exclusive excerpts from the book previously and reviewed the first volume, but now another volume is here! TV Rebels: People and Programs that Shaped the Medium, Volume 2 has been released as the second in a series of chapbooks by The Last Automat Press. Innovators like Stephen J. Cannell, Nancy Dickerson, Dick Clark, and Jack Webb and series such as An American Family, Perry Mason, The Heidi Game, and That Girl are honored in this collection of essays as significant contributors to the growth of television.
To achieve "rebel" status is to have presented something new, innovative, and thought provoking. It was to have set a standard that those who followed were inspired by and in turn looked to emulate. The people and programs in this volume as in the previous TV Rebels collection have done just that. In so doing they have become part of our collective pop culture consciousness. We quote them, we laugh at them, we cry for them, and here, we remember them.
Contributing authors to this volume are Oscar De Los Santos, Brett Glatman, Kelly Goodridge, Mark Misercola, Lou Orfanella, JJ Sargent, and William Suesholtz. Copies may be ordered for $10 each, plus $1 shipping per order.
The Last Automat Press
P.O. Box 35
Patterson, NY 12563.
Mention SitcomsOnline.com and your copies will be signed by at least two of the contributing authors!
We will post one excerpt from the book today as a sample:
Dick Clark: Perennial Teenager and Media Mogul
by Lou Orfanella
Who would want to watch a bunch of teenagers dancing on television while a radio disc jockey hawked pimple cream? That no doubt is a question that dogged executives and critics alike. American Bandstand premiered on Philadelphia's local ABC station in 1952 with Bob Horn hosting but he had been replaced by young clean-cut disc jockey Dick Clark by the time the show went national in 1957. Though originally conceived as little more than an inexpensive afternoon time filler it went on to become a phenomenon and the linchpin in Dick Clark's massive production empire. "The Bandstand show was originally created because it was less expensive than old English movies for daytime programming, but its rapid ascent brought prestige and a host of imitators (Diehl 165)."
The premise of American Bandstand was simple and changed little through the decades. Guest musicians would lip sync to their hit records while teenagers danced on stage and Clark oversaw the proceedings with his genial style and ever youthful persona. Bandstand ran until 1989, mostly on ABC but with syndicated and USA (cable) Network versions toward the end, with Clark hosting all but the final year. To Clark, the simplicity with a nod to human nature is what made the show work. "People-watching. You just can't beat it. It's been going on since folks just sat in the railroad station. All it needs is a personality to head it up who will subjugate himself to the audience, and that's me." The emcee told TV Guide in 1970 (Lasswell 25). Bandstand was a veritable who's who of recording stars and in the pre-MTV years, exposure on the show was a valuable marketing tool for record companies. While the stars certainly helped attract viewers, "it was the teenagers' insatiable urge to study one another's personal style with an anthropological intensity-while the benign chaperon Clark looked on-that made Bandstand classic viewing for more than 30 years (Lasswell 25)."
American Bandstand wove its way into the fabric of Americana largely by reflecting and presenting the music that was popular at the time, but in other subtle ways as well. It brought rock and roll music into the mainstream and in so doing helped integrate the black music and culture from which much of it was derived into the mainstream as well. In 1957, years prior to Bill Cosby and Diahann Carroll playing lead roles on weekly network series Bandstand was integrating the races from coast to coast. "Up until that time, the dancers on Bandstand had one thing in common-they were all white. You didn't see a lot of black people on TV in the fifties, or other minorities, either...So in 1957, we were charting new territory. I don't think of myself as a hero or civil rights activist for integrating the show; it was simply the right thing to do (Clark 19)."
While Clark's legacy will likely always include a reference to his being "the world's oldest teenager" his list of television hosting and producing credits is one of the longest in the business. From award shows like The American Music Awards to TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes to numerous versions of his Pyramid game show to decades of ringing in the new year on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, he was a ubiquitous presence and force in television from the 1950s through the turn of the century, for a time even hosting shows on all three networks and in syndication simultaneously.
Works Cited
Clark, Dick with Fred Bronson. Dick Clark's American Bandstand. New York: Collins, 1997.
Diehl, Digby. "The Oldest Living Teen-ager." TV Guide: The First 25 Years. Ed. Jay S. Harris. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978. 164-166.
Laswell, , Mark. TV Guide: Fifty Years of Television. New York: Crown, 2002
We will review Volume 2 at a later date, so stay with us!
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Tuesday, December 3
St. Denis Medical - "A Peanut and Caramel-Filled Miracle" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Ron and Bruce butt heads over a candy bar; Alex is forced to fire an incompetent employee; Matt seeks appreciation for saving a patient's life.
Night Court - "The Hole Truth" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When a citywide sanitation strike makes its way into the courthouse, Abby must find a way to solve it; Julianne shows Dan how to make the most out of the strike.
Tyler Perry's House of Payne - "If It Ain't Broke" (BET, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ella prepares to open a battered women's home in the church's unused classrooms, but it is shut down when C.J. cites dangerous fire code violations.
Tyler Perry's Assisted Living "Where's My Refund?" - (BET, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Jeremy and Leah can't seem to see eye-to-eye on how to spend their unexpected I.R.S. refund check; Anastasia and Vinny have their hands full trying to help Theodore study for science.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 2)
Tuesday, December 3
- Kyle Mooney (Arrested Development/Hello Ladies) - Catch Kyle on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Fortune Feimster (Kenan/Bless the Harts/Champions) - Fortune is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also discusses her comedy special Fortune Feimster: Crushing It on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building/Wizards of Waverly Place) - Selena appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Keri Russell (Running Wilde/Daddy's Girls) - Keri is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm/Blockbuster/The Millers/Bent/'Til Death) - JB appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He discusses his series Buy It Now on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Brandon Kyle Goodman (Human Resources) - Brandon is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- David Alan Grier (St. Denis Medical/Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!/The Cool Kids/The Carmichael Show/Bad Teacher/Life with Bonnie/DAG) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
- Yara Shahidi (grown-ish/black-ish) - Yara is telling Drew about the new venture she's taking on, where she's currently at with dating and more on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Bridget Everett (Somebody Somewhere) - Bridget talks about Somebody Somewhere on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken/Community) - Ken talks about his new film, A Great Divide, and the new season of Accused on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Carlos (Big Time Rush) and Alexa PenaVega (Ruby & the Rockits) - Carlos and Alexa are guests on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 8:50am.
- Alicia Witt (Cybill) - Alicia appears on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K UHD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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