SOAPnet Acquires Veronica Mars; Recent Television Writer and Actor Deaths

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

SOAPnet Acquires Veronica Mars; Recent Television Writer and Actor Deaths

Veronica Mars will begin airing on SOAPnet, starting Saturday, April 7, Saturdays from 1PM-4PM (ET/PT). The series will also air on Sundays from 10AM-1PM. Veronica Mars is a drama about a wealthy seaside community where the rich and powerful make the rules, own the town, and desperately try to keep their dirty little secrets just that...secret. Unfortunately for them, there's Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell, House of Lies) a smart, fearless 17-year-old high school student looking after her father and helping with his struggling new private investigator business. By sneaking through back alleys and scoping out no-tell motels with a telescopic-lens camera and her math book, Veronica attempts to uncover the California beach town’s darkest secrets, including who killed her best friend, and created a scandal that cost her father his job, his home and his wife. What she finds may tear the town of Neptune apart at the seams. Also stars Enrico Colantoni (Just Shoot Me!), Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring and Francis Capra. Produced by Joel Silver and Rob Thomas.
In addition to daytime soaps, SOAPnet also airs favorite primetime series Brothers & Sisters, Gilmore Girls, The O.C., One Tree Hill and Beverly Hills 90210 Many of you won't be able to see these shows and Veronica Mars it seems starting March 23. Disney-ABC of course announced that SOAPnet is expected to cease all operations on March 22, 2012, with new network Disney Junior to replace it in its channel space. The schedule will continue for providers who have not yet made carriage agreements for Disney Junior after that date, and will continue to be offered until all providers have been signed for the new network, Variety reports.
There will be other changes to the schedule beginning in April, so please check that out.

We have a few recent deaths to report. Television writer and producer Bob Colleary died on January 8, in Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara, after a brief illness. Colleary was the head writer on Captain Kangaroo for more than 20 years. His sitcom writing credits included Barney Miller (for which he won the Best Writing Emmy in 1980), M*A*S*H, Love, Sidney, Gimme a Break!, Benson, The Golden Girls, It's a Living, Night Court, The Facts of Life and The Hogan Family. He also worked as an executive producer on Benson and It's a Living. His son, R.J. Colleary, has also worked as a writer and producer. Mr. Colleary was 82.

Laurie Main on Get Smart

Australian actor Laurie Main, best known as host and narrator of the Disney Channel's Welcome to Pooh Corner, died in Los Angeles on February 8. Main's many sitcom guest appearances included Bachelor Father, Ichabod and Me, Get Smart, The Andy Griffith Show, That Girl, The Monkees, Hogan's Heroes, Mayberry R.F.D., The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Family Affair, Bewitched, The Doris Day Show, The Partridge Family and The Facts of Life Goes to Paris (TV movie). Mr. Main was 89.

Hazel Medina on I Spy

Hazel Medina, who acted for more than four decades in films and on television, died due to complications from multiple myeloma in New York on February 14. She played Crazy Alice on Sanford and Son in the episode Chinese Torture. Her other television credits included I Spy, Gunsmoke, Medical Center, Baretta, The Rockford Files, Lou Grant, The White Shadow, The Cosby Show and Law & Order. Ms. Medina was 74.

Trinidadian actor Sullivan Walker, who played numerous small and recurring roles on television shows from the early 1980s onwards, died on February 20 in California. He had a recurring role on The Cosby Show from 1988-91 as Bill Cosby's physician friend, Dr. James Harmon. His most regular television roles were as James St. Martin on the 1993 ABC TGIF sitcom Where I Live and as Yale on Earth 2 in 1994-95. Walker's other television credits included The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Lush Life, Living Single, The Sentinel, The Jamie Foxx Show and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Mr. Walker was 68.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, June 19

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "Typhoid Georgie" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Georgie worries he’s letting his family down when he’s forced to stay home with a cold, and Mandy worries about how her career will affect her marriage.

Ghosts - "Alexander Hamilton and the Ruffle Kerfuffle" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Jay becomes obsessed with the success of a fellow chef, Isaac serves up a cautionary tale about his own rivalry with Alexander Hamilton (Nat Faxon). Also, Elias Woodstone (Matt Walsh) returns from hell with a limited-time offer for the ghosts.

Bob's Burgers - "The Lost City of Atlantic" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The Belchers have a wild night at a casino and Linda learns more about her late grandfather than she wanted to know.

Grimsburg - "Evidence Locker" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Memories are sparked when Grimsburg PD cleans an evidence locker.

The Great North - "Super Smash Lovers Adventure" / "Serendipi-Beef Adventure" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Honeybee and Wolf renovate the guest cabin; after an extreme experience, Ham, Judy and Moon get whole new outlooks on life; on a field trip to view Curlew's Kissin' Comets, Beef rushes to stop his kids from suffering a terrible fate.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 16)

Thursday, June 19

Seth Rogen (The Studio/Platonic/Undeclared) - Catch Seth on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Ramy Youssef (#1 Happy Family USA/Ramy/See Dad Run) - Ramy is a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Lionel Boyce (The Bear) - Lionel appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Keke Palmer (Scream Queens/True Jackson, VP) - Keke stops by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Kurt Braunohler (Bob's Burgers) and Brendan Scannell (Bonding/Heathers) - Kurt and Brendan are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Jodie Sweetin (Fuller House/Hollywood Darlings/Full House) - Jodie talks about Dateless to Dangerous: My Son's Secret Life on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Owen Wilson (Stick) - Owen talks about Stick on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Michelle Buteau (Survival of the Thickest/Bless the Harts/Enlisted) - Michelle guest co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Chris Perfetti (Abbott Elementary) - Chris talks about Abbott Elementary on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Jennie Garth (Mystery Girls/What I Like About You) - In a DAYTIME EXCLUSIVE with actress Jennie Garth, she shares her formula for fulfillment and how she created the “I Choose Me” movement on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men/Togetherness) and Lauren Ambrose (The Return of Jezebel James) - Drew is chatting with Yellowjackets cast Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress and Lauren Ambrose about working as cast of women in their forties, supporting each other as working moms and the newest season of their thrilling show on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Plus, they're playing a rousing round of confession session and Drew is trying to match their fun revealing facts to the right person.