Perry Mason Returns To Hallmark Movie Channel; Leverage Heads To Syndication In Fall 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Perry Mason Returns To Hallmark Movie Channel; Leverage Heads To Syndication In Fall 2012

Hallmark Channel's movie network The Hallmark Movie Channel will bring back reruns of Perry Mason starting President's Day! The classic Raymond Burr series will start off with a 24-hour President's Day Marathon on Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 starting bright and early at 6am! Perry Mason will then start airing every weekday as well starting Tuesday, Feb. 21 and will air weekdays at 12 noon ET and 1pm ET, replacing Matlock. It seems Matlock will be off the schedule, but the two-hour movies will still pop-up on weekends from time to time. No word on when the regular Matlock airings will return, but you can still catch it on WGN America and in local syndication (if your market airs it). Perry Mason will be the lead-in to Murder, She Wrote, which remains weekdays at 2pm & 3pm ET. The Angela Lansbury drama will also still air at 12am & 1am, but Perry Mason will not get an encore. As you know, Murder, She Wrote also airs on TV Land, while Perry Mason can also be seen on MeTV Network and the two-hour movies pop-up from time to time on Encore Suspense.
No other series airs on The Hallmark Movie Channel and rightfully so, since it is a movie network. Stay with us for any further updates and we'll let you know if Matlock does indeed return at some point, but for now the verdict is in and Perry Mason is in!

Trifecta Entertainment & Media announced a two year deal to bring Leverage, the hit TNT television drama from Dean Devlin's Electric Entertainment, to the CBS-owned stations in 13 markets, beginning in Fall 2012. The fast-paced, light hearted caper series, recently picked up for its fifth season on TNT, will air on weekends on WCBS in New York, KCAL/KCBS in Los Angeles, WBBM in Chicago, KYW/WPSG in Philadelphia, KTVT/KTXA in Dallas, KPIX/KBCW in San Francisco, WBZ/WSBK in Boston, WUPA in Atlanta, WWJ/WKBD in Detroit, KSTW in Seattle, WCCO in Minneapolis, WPCW in Pittsburgh and WJZ in Baltimore.
Leverage follows a five-person team: a grifter, a hacker, a thief, a retrieval specialist, and their leader, former insurance investigator Nathan Ford (Hutton), who use their skills to right corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens. In its fourth season, Leverage averaged more than 4.8 million viewers, up 10% over season three.

Speaking of syndication, the annual NATPE conference is Jan. 23-25 from Miami and we will bring you some news from that next week. We promise some classic TV sitcom news will come out of this as well. What will it be? Stay with us next week and find out!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, December 15

St. Denis Medical - "A Waste of Time and Marble" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
With the threat of a nurse walkout, Alex is caught between her colleagues and Joyce; Ron and Bruce go above and beyond to help an unexpected patient.

The Paper - "Churnalism" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Ned takes over Esmeralda's advertorials and assigns the staff to test products themselves, but Esmeralda retaliates and covers one of Ned's stories and finds a scandal; Ken turns Adam into a lab rat; Oscar and Adelola compare pain tolerances.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 15)

Monday, December 15

Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience) - Watch Simu on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. He also talks about The Copenhagen Test on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am and in the 10am hour.
Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Paul appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) - Maria is a guest on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Andy Cohen interviews Kerry on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11pm on Bravo.
Odessa A'zion (I Love LA/Fam) - Odessa talks about Marty Supreme on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Patti LaBelle (Out All Night) - Patti treats us to an EXCLUSIVE festive performance of It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Kate Hudson (Running Point) - Kate talks about Song Sung Blue on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Rosie Perez (Human Resources/Search Party) - Rosie co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Hank Azaria (The Simpsons/Brockmire/Free Agents/Herman's Head) - Hank and The EZ Street Band stop by for a chat and performance on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Ana Gasteyer (American Auto/People of Earth/Lady Dynamite/Suburgatory) - NBC's Today catches up with Ana in the 10am hour.
Connie Britton (SMILF/Lost at Home/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Spin City) - Connie tells Sherri about starring in The Family McMullen, the sequel to The Brothers McMullen, on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
Ashley Park (Emily in Paris/Only Murders in the Building/Girls5eva/Nightcap) - Ashley talks about the highly-anticipated fifth season of Emily in Paris on Netflix on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
Glen Powell (Chad Powers/Scream Queens) - Glen talks about The Running Man on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
William H. Macy (Sports Night) - William talks about Netflix's Train Dreams on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Andy Richter (Andy Barker, P.I./Quintuplets/Andy Richter Controls the Universe) - Andy talks about ABC's Dancing with the Stars on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.