Cheers Comes To USA Network, As Wings & Becker Leave; FX Midseason Has New Animated Comedy, Plus New Season of Archer

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Cheers Comes To USA Network, As Wings & Becker Leave; FX Midseason Has New Animated Comedy, Plus New Season of Archer

USA Network has acquired an off-network sitcom! The popular sitcom Cheers will be joining the USA Network line-up this January replacing Becker and Wings. The sitcom will air regularly Saturdays at 3am & 3:30am, but as with Wings & Becker, it will fill some half-hour during early morning slots on any given day as dictated by movie lengths. Cheers' first actual airing will be Wednesday, January 4 at 6am. Hopefully Cheers gets a more of a regular slot soon, or at least on another Universal-owned network like Universal HD. Cheers will continue airing on cable on Hallmark Channel, WGN America and ReelzChannel TV as well. As for Becker, since it will be leaving USA Network, the only place to catch it will be on ReelzChannel TV. Also as of January, Universal HD will remove Becker (maybe Universal networks are losing rights?), as well as Hogan's Heroes, so you might want to watch both of these sitcoms on Universal HD in December before they leave in January. And with it leaving USA Network, Wings will not be seen anywhere now.
In other Universal-owned cable network news, Cloo (formerly known as Sleuth) will have some cool Old School Saturday marathons in 2012 that they usually do once a month. We'll reveal to you what some are soon, so stay tuned for that. And yes, Universal HD is removing Becker and Hogan's Heroes in January, but they will continue to air Charlie's Angels and TJ Hooker, so don't worry classic TV fans. Unfortunately, the Friday night Universal Rediscovered TV block (the short lived series block from 9-11pm) will also be removed in January for a classic series block featuring an episode each of Charlie's Angels and TJ Hooker.

FX has announced release dates for two of its returning hits, as well as a brand new animated comedy series. FX opens the new year with the return of the Emmy Award®-winning hit drama Justified on January 17, and will continue to run Tuesdays at 10 PM ET/PT. Starring Timothy Olyphant. FX's acclaimed animated comedy series Archer returns for its third season starting January 19 and will air Thursdays at 10 PM ET/PT. Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy that revolves around the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) and the lives of its employees. Archer's three part series "Heart of Archness," which aired this past September, gained 26% in P18-49 (1.37 vs. 1.08 million), 34% in M18-49 (1.04 million vs. 775,000) and 12% in Total Viewers (1.72 vs. 1.53 million) over its second season. And finally, FX will premiere its newest series with the animated comedy Unsupervised, which will premiere on January 19 at 10:30 ET/PT and will air immediately following Archer. This series is a comedy about optimistic best friends "Gary" and "Joel" navigating the harsh landscape of teenage life and trying to do what's right without any parental guidance whatsoever. The series was created by and is executive produced by Rob Rosell, Scott Marder and David Hornsby, all who currently serve as writer/producers on FX's hit comedy series It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It features an outstanding voice cast including Justin Long, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen, Romany Malco, Kaitlin Olson and Alexa Vega, along with Rosell and Hornsby.

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.

Complete TV Listings

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.