Home Improvement Returns To TBS; Network Notes Includes More Happy Endings

Monday, May 02, 2011

Home Improvement Returns To TBS; Network Notes Includes More Happy Endings

TBS is bringing back Home Improvement out of its hiatus starting TODAY. The series returned to the cable network this morning airing in the 7am hour. The series will air weekdays at 7:00am & 7:30am replacing an hour of Saved by the Bell. Not to worry Saved by the Bell fans, "its alright" because the series will remain in the 8am hour airing back-to-back. Home Improvement has not aired on TBS since the fall when it aired once a week.
Both Home Improvement and Saved by the Bell are shared with other networks, as you know. Home Improvement airs on TV Land and Nick at Nite (both in the late night, with Nick at Nite airing it just once a week), while Saved by the Bell will be returning to TeenNick, after a hiatus as we announced.

The new comedy Happy Endings has a happy ending to the season! The new comedy will be aired back-to-back now for the rest of the season gaining 10:30pm after positive buzz and a ratings climb last week. We first announced this news on Thursday night. The comedy will air back-to-back at 10:00pm & 10:30pm with all-new episodes through May 18 and the season finale will air at 10:30pm on Wednesday, May 25 (after the one-hour Cougar Town Hawaii season finale from 9:30-10:30pm). Happy Endings produced 13 episodes, but as of now 12 are scheduled. Not sure yet if that one left-over episode will be aired this season or saved for next season. The only slot open is Wednesday, May 25 at 8:30pm, but that could be very well be a repeat of The Middle, like it will be on May 18 (Better With You has its season finale on May 11). As of now, chances for a second season are good. Happy endings, indeed!
Moving on to some NBC scheduling news, a whole bunch of updates were announced on Friday. The new reality competition series The Voice got off to a hot start for its two-hour premiere last week and it will still be two-hours this week (May 3) as well, as planned. The Voice will not move to the planned 8pm hour starting Tuesday, May 10 until after sweeps and The Biggest Loser isn't moving to 9-11pm for the final three weeks now. This means starting next Tuesday (May 10), The Biggest Loser will air from 8-10pm and The Voice at 10pm. Will that hurt the new series airing in a later hour? We shall see. The Voice at 10pm is just for three weeks, because in its summer airings it will move to 8pm to make room for America's Got Talent starting May 31. The other NBC change of note is in summer with repeats of 30 Rock moving to 8:30pm starting Thursday, June 2, as the one-hour comedy Love Bites will finally air, airing Thursdays at 10pm. It's just a burn-off, though. Becki Newton stars.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Thursday, February 20

Young Sheldon - "Pasadena" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Sheldon visits CalTech for the very first time. Also, Georgie is furious when Mary listens in on a phone call with his girlfriend, and Meemaw tries to cheer up a jealous Missy.

The Unicorn - "The Client" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Wade lands a job for Denny (Donal Logue), a newly divorced, wealthy client, he realizes Denny is only interested in using Wade to meet women. Also, Meg (Nicole Byer) applies her expertise as an accountant to get Wade’s finances on track, and Forrest and Delia attempt to clear the tension between them by having an argument.

Mom - "Judy Garland and a Sexy Troll Doll" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Bonnie helps Christy gain perspective as she considers a life-changing decision. Also, Jill fears she’s running out of time to have a baby and consults a fertility doctor.

Carol's Second Act - "Carol's Crush" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After Carol’s patient’s transplant surgery is deemed a success, the interns tease her mercilessly about her obvious crush on the surgeon, Dr. Lewis (Patrick Fabian).

Last Man Standing - "Baked Sale" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Mike's offer to help Jen with her school's bake sale goes up in smoke; Kyle finds unlikely advice from Joe on where he should enroll in college.

Outmatched - "Dating" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Nicole invites a boy over who isn't ideal boyfriend material, Kay tries to make sure her daughter doesn't end up with a broken heart; Mike attempts to understand Marc's strange crush.

Superstore - "Employee App" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Cloud 9 employees experience unforeseen problems with the new Zephra app. Dina's texts lead to animosity, Glenn struggles to deal with a teen craze, and Jonah attempts to prank Garrett to teach him a lesson.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - "The Jimmy Jab Games II" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Competitive juices are flowing as Jake and the squad compete in the second Jimmy Jab Games.

Will & Grace - "Accidentally on Porpoise" (NBC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Despite her history of transgressions, Grace and her neighbor, James (guest star Matt Letscher), decide to give their relationship one more shot. But when James invites Grace to his job at the aquarium, she endangers his job and a species. In order to help Will deal with his anxiety about becoming a father, Jack takes him to an unexpected place to blow off steam – church. Karen finds herself in a confessional booth, and a visit from Smitty (guest star Charles C. Stevenson, Jr.) makes her reconsider their entire relationship.

Indebted - "Everybody's Talking About the Mental Load" (NBC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After Rebecca tells Dave she carries the emotional labor, aka the “mental load” of the family, he tries to prove otherwise by having her take care of just Deb and Stew for a few days. They both realize they’ve bit off more than they can chew, especially when Dave enlists his mom to help with Rebecca’s mental load.

grown-ish - "Real Life S**t" (Freeform, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Aaron's student loan troubles come to a head when he looks for a job at the Cal U job fair, prompting him to ask Zoey for help; Sky struggles to come to terms with her recent discovery about Rodney; Jillian tries to bond with Zoey.

Everything's Gonna Be Okay - "Blue Death-Feigning Beetles" (Freeform, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Matilda's whole life forks between success and obscurity on the most important night of her life; Nicholas juggles a house full of people and Penny on screen from her hospital bed in Australia.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 17)

Thursday, February 20

Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Catch Will on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Are We There Yet?/Everybody Hates Chris) - Terry appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Scott Bakula (Murphy Brown/Eisenhower and Lutz/Gung Ho) - Scott stops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana is a guest on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Jenny Slate (Big Mouth/Married/Bob's Burgers) - Jenny appears on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Oliver Hudson (Splitting Up Together/Rules of Engagement) - Oliver and his sister Kate are guests on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine visits The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Nick Kroll (The League/Cavemen) - Nick appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Jane Levy (Suburgatory) - Jane talks about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) - Edie talks about Tommy on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Emeril Lagasse (Emeril) - Emeril gives a cooking lesson to a culinary student who fought back after having a stroke on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine talks about High Fidelity on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.