Fox To Air Married...with Children Pilot; Hallmark Pulls Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart On Weekends

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Fox To Air Married...with Children Pilot; Hallmark Pulls Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart On Weekends

In celebration of its 25th anniversary, Fox is giving viewers a chance to look back at a show that defined the network and created one of television's most iconic characters: Al Bundy. On Sunday, April 22, the premiere episode of Married... With Children will air at 7:00 PM ET/PT followed by an encore of The Simpsons' 500th episode at 7:30 PM ET/PT, kicking off an historic evening on Fox. Married... With Children premiered Sunday, April 5, 1987 on Fox, with three half-hour broadcasts (7:00 PM, 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM) of the show's "Pilot" episode. In the pilot, Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) gets front row seats to a basketball game, but Peggy (Katey Sagal) makes him stay home and meet their new neighbors, Marcy (Amanda Bearse) and Steve Rhoades (David Garrison). The Simpsons officially launched as a full-fledged series on January 14, 1990, but Springfield's most famous family had appeared on Fox for several years in a number of animated "shorts" as part of The Tracey Ullman Show. So, to celebrate The Simpsons' continuing impact on popular culture, Fox will encore the series' 500th episode, "At Long Last Leave," in which the Simpsons are evicted from Springfield and join an off-the-grid community outside of town.
Of course immediately following these rebroadcasts, Fox's 25th Anniversary Special will air from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT (as we have mentioned many times) and will take an entertaining look back at the groundbreaking and irreverent shows that have come to define the network. The star-studded special will pay tribute to Fox's most memorable moments with appearances by Fox talent, highlights from iconic series and specials and reunions with cast members from some of the network's fan-favorite series, including Married... With Children, In Living Color and That '70s Show, among other surprises.

The Hallmark Channel has made a last minute minor schedule change. It's not that big of a deal, but we still want to make a note of it for you classic TV fans out there. Starting this weekend, the Saturday and Sunday 2-6am block of The Bob Newhart Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show will be removed. Two hours each of Frasier and I Love Lucy will air instead on weekend mornings. Not to fret fans of The Bob Newhart Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, because both classic sitcoms will remain in this block on weekdays from 2-6am. It's just that they won't be seven days a week anymore. No reason for this weekend change, but perhaps ratings had a lot to do with it. Usually that is the culprit for a quick leash, especially on Hallmark.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered 12 days ago on April 1 on Hallmark with a marathon that did OK in the ratings, while The Bob Newhart Show has been airing on the cable network since January, but it has moved timeslots already--going from 8-10am to 2-4am. With Mary Tyler Moore starting at 4-6am, there is no other place to go for a bad timeslot, other than out of the line-up completely. So let's hope it does well in this early morning block, so at the very least it can remain there. We're gonna make it after all!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Thursday, March 30

Young Sheldon - "A Stolen Truck and Going on the Lam" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Missy steals her dad’s truck and hits the road with her friend Paige (Mckenna Grace).

Ghosts - "Alberta's Descendant" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Alberta is thrilled when a living relative, Alicia (Ashley D. Kelley), visits Woodstone to learn more about her, but things take a turn when she hits it off with Todd (Rodrigo Fernandez Stoll), Sam’s podcast co-host. Also, Nigel uses his knowledge of Trevor and Hetty’s secret tryst to try to blackmail Hetty.

Animal Control - "Peacocks and Pumas" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Frank and Victoria stake out a squawking peacock; Emily and Patel attend to Shred.

Call Me Kat - "Call Me Not Okurrr" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
In the heat of the moment, Zoey kisses Kat at karaoke night; when Randi discovers a secret hideaway in the condo, she hides it from Carter and makes it a place for her to unwind.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 27)

Thursday, March 30

Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso) - Catch Brett on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever/Final Space) - Fred sits-in with the 8G Band on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Kyra Sedgwick (Call Your Mother) - Kyra and Kevin Bacon are guests on The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS. Kyra will also be on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan (check your local listings) and chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
John Leguizamo (The Brothers Garcia) - John guest hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Animal Practice/Better with You/Reba) and Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - JoAnna and Morris guest co-host The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Katie Lowes (How We Roll) - Katie guest co-hosts LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Ike Barinholtz (History of the World, Part II/The Afterparty/Bless the Harts/The Mindy Project) - Ike appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Julie Bowen (Modern Family/Ed) - Julie is a guest on The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
Method Man (Method & Red) - Method Man will be on The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
Larenz Tate (South Central/The Royal Family) - Larenz appears on The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.