Thursday, October 13, 2011
ABC Family's 2011 Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas Schedule; The CW Picks Up Full Seasons For All 3 New Dramas, Including Ringer
We know it isn't even Halloween yet, but we like to look ahead and Christmas, believe it or not, is right around the corner! ABC Family will kick off the holiday season with 36 days of festive, family-friendly programming starting with the annual "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas" from November 20-30, 2011, and then the actual "25 Days of Christmas" from December 1-25, 2011. The highly-anticipated annual programming event will include all-new original Christmas-themed movies, as well as the return of holiday favorites. On-air and online, viewers can enjoy the best time of the year with "25 Days of Christmas" exclusives, such as an original theme song and video from hit country music artists, The Band Perry; two holly, jolly sweepstakes; and many other very merry digital treats.
This year, "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas" will feature the ABC Family original movie premiere of Desperately Seeking Santa on Sunday, November 27 (8:00–10:00 PM ET/PT). Laura Vandervoort (V) stars as an ambitious young marketing executive who dreams up the ticket to Christmas sales: a sexy Santa contest. Teenage girls and their moms flock to her mall when the gorgeous winner of the contest becomes a local hero, sending sales through the roof. She counted on this new Santa to win her a promotion - not win her heart, complicate her life and question everything she ever wanted. In addition, ABC Family is proud to bring the wooftastic holiday movie The Search for Santa Paws to television for the first time on Monday, November 21 (9:00–11:00 PM ET/PT). Triple platinum artists, The Band Perry, who are currently nominated for three AMA and a total of five CMA Awards, have written and recorded an original holiday song for "25 Days of Christmas" and will shoot a music video for the song, which will be part of the network's on-air and online campaign. Viewers will get an exclusive 60-second sneak peek of the music video during the November 20 (8:00–10:00 PM ET/PT) airing of the ABC Family movie Holiday in Handcuffs starring Melissa Joan Hart & Mario Lopez, and the entire video will be available immediately afterward online at ABCFamily.com/25Days.
The rest of the "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas" will have movies such as Santa Baby, Once Upon a Christmas, Christmas Cupid, Richie Rich's Christmas Wish, Home Alone 2, and the premiere of Surf's Up. As for the actual "25 Days of Christmas," it is the biggest cable programming event of the year, and ABC Family delivers the gift of holiday cheer with the world premiere of the original movie, 12 Dates of Christmas, starring Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Premiering Sunday, December 11 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), 12 Dates of Christmas follows a young woman who re-lives the same first date on Christmas Eve over and over again until she learns to open up her world to new things and stop living in the past. "25 Days of Christmas" also brings the basic cable premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Sunday, December 4, 8:30 PM – 12:00 AM ET/PT), which headlines the network's annual Harry Potter movie marathon running on Saturday, December 3 and Sunday, December 4. The marathon also includes the first five installments of the Harry Potter film franchise. Viewers can also ring in the holidays with the television premiere of the Pink Panther animated short A Very Pink Christmas, on Wednesday, December 7 (6:00 – 6:30 PM ET/PT) and the network premiere broadcasts of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, on Wednesday, December 7 (9:00 – 11:00 PM ET/PT), and Disney∙Pixar's Up on Friday, December 16 (9:00–11:00 PM ET/PT). More details on the specials and movies will come soon.
View the full Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas schedule (Nov. 20-30). We will have the full schedule for the actual 25 Days of Christmas (Dec. 1-25) in the coming weeks, so come on back!
The CW Network gave full season orders to its three freshmen drama series Hart of Dixie, Ringer and The Secret Circle. Hart of Dixie airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET , while Ringer airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET and The Secret Circle airs Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. All three series have done decently in the ratings for The CW, but not great. All three series received nine extra episodes, for a total of 22 episodes each. The fate of all of the new CW series have now been revealed, as they canceled reality entry H8R already. The three CW dramas join previous new series picked-up for the full season on other networks: New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, Up All Night and Whitney. Full season pick-ups are expected for series like Suburgatory, Revenge and Person of Interest. A few others are in contention as well, but nothing concrete yet. New comedy Last Man Standing had a strong series debut and is likely for a pick-up if it can stay close to those numbers. We will keep you up to date what has been picked-up or canceled, so as always, stay with us!
This year, "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas" will feature the ABC Family original movie premiere of Desperately Seeking Santa on Sunday, November 27 (8:00–10:00 PM ET/PT). Laura Vandervoort (V) stars as an ambitious young marketing executive who dreams up the ticket to Christmas sales: a sexy Santa contest. Teenage girls and their moms flock to her mall when the gorgeous winner of the contest becomes a local hero, sending sales through the roof. She counted on this new Santa to win her a promotion - not win her heart, complicate her life and question everything she ever wanted. In addition, ABC Family is proud to bring the wooftastic holiday movie The Search for Santa Paws to television for the first time on Monday, November 21 (9:00–11:00 PM ET/PT). Triple platinum artists, The Band Perry, who are currently nominated for three AMA and a total of five CMA Awards, have written and recorded an original holiday song for "25 Days of Christmas" and will shoot a music video for the song, which will be part of the network's on-air and online campaign. Viewers will get an exclusive 60-second sneak peek of the music video during the November 20 (8:00–10:00 PM ET/PT) airing of the ABC Family movie Holiday in Handcuffs starring Melissa Joan Hart & Mario Lopez, and the entire video will be available immediately afterward online at ABCFamily.com/25Days.
The rest of the "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas" will have movies such as Santa Baby, Once Upon a Christmas, Christmas Cupid, Richie Rich's Christmas Wish, Home Alone 2, and the premiere of Surf's Up. As for the actual "25 Days of Christmas," it is the biggest cable programming event of the year, and ABC Family delivers the gift of holiday cheer with the world premiere of the original movie, 12 Dates of Christmas, starring Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Premiering Sunday, December 11 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), 12 Dates of Christmas follows a young woman who re-lives the same first date on Christmas Eve over and over again until she learns to open up her world to new things and stop living in the past. "25 Days of Christmas" also brings the basic cable premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Sunday, December 4, 8:30 PM – 12:00 AM ET/PT), which headlines the network's annual Harry Potter movie marathon running on Saturday, December 3 and Sunday, December 4. The marathon also includes the first five installments of the Harry Potter film franchise. Viewers can also ring in the holidays with the television premiere of the Pink Panther animated short A Very Pink Christmas, on Wednesday, December 7 (6:00 – 6:30 PM ET/PT) and the network premiere broadcasts of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, on Wednesday, December 7 (9:00 – 11:00 PM ET/PT), and Disney∙Pixar's Up on Friday, December 16 (9:00–11:00 PM ET/PT). More details on the specials and movies will come soon.
View the full Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas schedule (Nov. 20-30). We will have the full schedule for the actual 25 Days of Christmas (Dec. 1-25) in the coming weeks, so come on back!
The CW Network gave full season orders to its three freshmen drama series Hart of Dixie, Ringer and The Secret Circle. Hart of Dixie airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET , while Ringer airs Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET and The Secret Circle airs Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. All three series have done decently in the ratings for The CW, but not great. All three series received nine extra episodes, for a total of 22 episodes each. The fate of all of the new CW series have now been revealed, as they canceled reality entry H8R already. The three CW dramas join previous new series picked-up for the full season on other networks: New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, Up All Night and Whitney. Full season pick-ups are expected for series like Suburgatory, Revenge and Person of Interest. A few others are in contention as well, but nothing concrete yet. New comedy Last Man Standing had a strong series debut and is likely for a pick-up if it can stay close to those numbers. We will keep you up to date what has been picked-up or canceled, so as always, stay with us!
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Sunday, September 7
The Great North - "Jude-night Run Adventure" (Fox, 7:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Wolf has to track down Judy before they miss their dinner at a fancy French restaurant; Honeybee looks for a replacement diner to join them.
Krapopolis - "Baby Boom" (Fox, 7:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Aphrodite's Fertility Fest is here and baby fever is at an all time high; Ty tries to relax at a bathhouse but it's proving difficult to let loose.
The Simpsons - "The Man Who Flew Too Much" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The new and improved Pin Pals travel to Capital City for their first ever state bowling championship.
Krapopolis - "Ty Big Fat Greek Wedding" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ty plots to skip out on his own wedding day; Stupe bonds with her future uncle-in-law; Shlub puts on his dancing horseshoes.
Animal Control - "Goats, Snakes, and Dogs" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Frank is tasked with taking a dog to "the farm," but instead jailbreaks the pup to find it a new forever home; Victoria tries to teach Shred how to break the rules; Patel has a life-changing encounter with a therapy goat.
The Great North - "Cakeleration of Judedependence" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Judy fights to save the family's summer trip.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 1)
Friday, September 5
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family/The Class) - Watch Jesse on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Pete Davidson (Bupkis) - Pete appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Caitlin Reilly (Hacks) and Rickey Thompson (Foursome) - Caitlin and Rickey are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Charlie Sheen (Anger Management/Two and a Half Men) - Charlie discusses his new book The Book of Sheen on ABC's >Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Mariska Hargitay (Can't Hurry Love) - Mariska talks about My Mom Jayne on a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Ruby Cruz (The Sex Lives of College Girls) - Ruby talks about The Threesome on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Issa Rae (Insecure) - Issa talks about Seen & Heard on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Lamorne Morris (Woke/New Girl) - Drew is chatting with Emmy-winning Lamorne on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
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