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.

Don Taffner

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

Sunday, December 10

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 4)

Friday, December 8

  • Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Watch Eddie on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • John Caponera (The Good Life) - John is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
  • Robert Smigel (Let's Be Real) - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog aka Robert Smigel chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Noah Galvin (The Real O'Neals) and Molly Gordon (Ramy) - Noah and Molly talk about Theater Camp on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
  • Eric Stonestreet (The Santa Clauses/Modern Family) - Eric talks about The Santa Clauses on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan sits down with Sherri to talk about his new book, When I Was Your Age, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)

Family Matters - The Complete Series Step by Step - The Complete Series ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

That Girl - The Complete Series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

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