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

Friday, December 13

Happy's Place - "Dear Jack" (NBC, 9:15PM ET/PT)
When Bobbie catches Isabella doing a slow-fade breakup with her long-distance boyfriend, she convinces her to send a Dear John letter; Steve brings in a review praising Chef Emmett's cooking and acknowledging the tavern's bartender, "Abby."

Lopez vs Lopez - "Lopez vs Dateline" (NBC, 9:45PM ET/PT)
When George's controversial new appliance turns up dead, he mounts a true-crime investigation; Chance tests the bounds of honesty with his family.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Splitting the Hairs" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Bob, Douglas and Christina try to get Dottie to make a will; Abishola and Kemi's friendship is tested after Abishola catches Kemi in a lie.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "There's My Nigerians" (The CW, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
While Bob and Abishola struggle to pull Dottie out of her depression, Auntie Olu and Uncle Tunde come over to lift her spirits.

Children Ruin Everything - "Bedtime" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT)
When James finds an old game console, he and Astrid attempt to find free time to play; but a bedtime routine threatens to eat up all the time between when the kids are supposed to be in bed and when Astrid and James have to go to bed themselves.

Children Ruin Everything - "Drama" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Astrid and James struggle to hold onto their identities while raising their two young children in the city.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 9)

Friday, December 13

Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Watch Kerry on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Jimmy O. Yang (Interior Chinatown/Space Force/Silicon Valley) - Jimmy appears on repeats of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC and on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Kristin Chenoweth (Trial & Error/Kristin) - Kristin is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Milana Vayntrub (Other Space), Jessica Lowe (Wrecked) and Jason Ritter (Another Period/The Class) - Milana, Jessica and Jason are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Richard Kind (Curb Your Enthusiasm/Spin City/Mad About You) and Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever/Final Space) - NBC's Today catches up with Richard and Fred in the 9am hour.
Zosia Mamet (Laid/Girls) - Zosia talks about Laid on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Christian Slater (Breaking In) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) - Christian and Sarah are sitting down with Drew to talk all about working together on Dexter: Original Sin on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Lisa Kudrow (No Good Deed/HouseBroken/Web Therapy/The Comeback/Friends/Mad About You) - Lisa talks about chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Tom Selleck (The Closer) and Donnie Wahlberg (Return of the Mac) - Tom and Donnie discuss the series finale of Blue Bloods on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Nancy McKeon (The Facts of Life/Can't Hurry Love) - Nancy will be on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.