The Hub Fall 2011 Schedule; Remembering Don Taffner of DLT Entertainment

Thursday, September 08, 2011

The Hub Fall 2011 Schedule; Remembering Don Taffner of DLT Entertainment

The Hub will be making some changes to the fall 2011 schedule, with some changes already in effect as of Tuesday (Sept. 6). Before we turn our focus to the sitcom line-up, we want to mention that they added the animated '90s series Batman: The Animated Series, airing weekdays at 5pm, followed by the wildly popular series Goosebumps at 5:30pm. Batman: The Animated Series is also airing weekdays at 7pm and 1am, while Goosebumps will also air on Saturdays at 12 noon starting this Saturday. And as we already announced, The Hub has acquired the cable rights to the popular game show, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? and will launch it on Monday, Sept. 19, airing it Mon-Thurs at 8:00pm & 8:30pm with an encore at 2:00am & 2:30am. This means the sitcom line-up will change a bit. Family Ties will move from 8-9pm to the 9:30pm half-hour. The Keaton family will also encore at 3:30am. The Wonder Years will remain at 9pm, as will the encore at 3am, but Doogie Howser M.D. will go from 9:30pm to 11pm, with an encore at 5am. From 10-11pm, instead of back-to-back Happy Days, we now get an episode each of Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, since Doogie is moving to 11pm (Laverne & Shirley's old timeslot). The duo will encore in the 4am hour Mon-Thurs nights. And remaining at 11:30pm with an encore at 5:30am is classic Batman starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Holy Consistency Batman!
As of now, the sitcom line-up on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights will remain intact, but this is not official yet. We will let you know if it isn't. So in addition to Mon-Thurs weeknights, you can still enjoy the comedies on Friday nights from 2-6am, Saturday nights from 1am-4am and Sunday nights from 12am-4am that are currently airing. Other notable non-sitcom stuff on weekdays has classic Transformers Sun-Fri at 7am and Mon-Thurs at 12am; G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Mon-Thurs at 12:30am and Sundays at 6:30am; Jem Sun-Fri at 7:30am and weekdays at 2pm & 6pm; Fraggle Rock weekdays at 9am; and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show weekdays at 10am.
Discuss The Hub Fall 2011 schedule. As I mentioned, keep it with us for continued updates, but none of the sitcoms are leaving the schedule as of now this fall even with the addition of 5th Grader! Stay with us.

Donald Taffner Sr., a 40-year veteran of the television industry and an inventive executive who helped bring Three's Company, Too Close for Comfort and The Benny Hill Show to the American public, died on September 6 after a brief illness. His daughter, Karen Butler, spoke to the St. John's University newspaper The Torch and said that the doctors believe the cause of death was a "cataclysmic heart event, like an aneurysm or clot.” Mr. Taffner was 80.

Taffner and his wife, Eleanor, founded D.L. Taffner Ltd. in 1963. The couple later changed the name to Taffner Enterprises before it became known as DLT Entertainment. The company was originally formed to help international broadcasters looking for American television shows for their schedules, but they later started to sell overseas shows to the U.S. networks. They helped bring the ABC sitcoms Three's Company, its spinoff Three's a Crowd and Too Close for Comfort to American audiences. DLT Entertainment also brought us the 1985-88 Canadian sitcom Check It Out! which starred Don Adams; the BBC sitcoms My Family and As Time Goes By; and various cartoons that featured the Beatles, Crazy Cat, Barney Google and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. In 1986, he received the International Emmy Founders Award "for setting new levels of creativity in the worldwide exchange of television programs."

You can read more about his career and view a video interview at the Archive of American Television. Mr. Taffner's wife, Eleanor, passed away from natural causes on September 15, 2010 in New York. He is survived by a son, producer Donald L. Taffner Jr.; two daughters, Karen Butler and Rhonda Taffner Cantor; and three grandchildren, John, Henry and Tom Butler. We thank him for bringing us Three's Company and Too Close for Comfort. He will be missed.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Sunday, May 4

The Simpsons - "Stew Lies" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Homer reinvigorates a celebrity chef's lost passion for food -- with some help from the mob.

Family Guy - "China Doll" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Stewie sees a tag on Rupert reading "Made in China," he heads off to China to meet Rupert's family.

Krapopolis - "Love Week" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Ty gets a second chance at romance with Tina; Hippo and Stupe let love come between them; Shlub finds a new love -- winning.

The Great North - "Dungeon Aunt Dragons Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Aunt Dirt's interest in a role-playing game leads to a quest for vengeance; Beef is overtaken by a fascination in bead crafts.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 28)

Friday, May 2

Jon Hamm (Grimsburg/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) - Watch Jon on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Tim Robinson (Detroiters) - Tim appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Sunita Mani (Government Cheese/No Activity/GLOW) - Sunita is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Cheech Marin (Rob/The Golden Palace) and Tommy Chong (That '90s Show/That '70s Show) - Cheech and Tommy are guests on Real Time with Bill Maher at 10pm on HBO.
Kelsey Grammer (Frasier/Partners/Hank/Back to You/Cheers) - Kelsey talks about his new book Karen: A Brother Remembers on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about Shadow Force on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Connie Britton (SMILF/Lost at Home/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Spin City) - Connie talks about The Motherhood on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am. NBC's Today catches up with Connie in the 9am hour.
Liza Lapira (9JKL/Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life/Super Fun Night/Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23/Traffic Light) - Liza talks about The Equalizer on CBS Mornings Plus sometime between 7-9am.
Adam DeVine (The Righteous Gemstones/Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin/Workaholics/Modern Family) - Adam talks about The Righteous Gemstones on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Wilmer discusses the NCIS finale on CBS and his memoir, An American Story: Everyone's Invited, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Denis Leary (Going Dutch/No Good Deed/Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll/The Job) - Denis is telling Drew about his new comedy Going Dutch and working with his son on it on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Drew also has a surprise for Denis in celebration of 25 years of his organization, The Leary Firefighters Foundation.
Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken/Community) - Ken co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.