Antenna TV's 4th of July Gidget Marathon; Nick at Nite Adds All That, Kenan & Kel, Drops Brady Bunch

Monday, June 25, 2012

Antenna TV's 4th of July Gidget Marathon; Nick at Nite Adds All That, Kenan & Kel, Drops Brady Bunch

Celebrate the 4th of July with Gidget as she celebrates Independence Day with life, liberty and the pursuit of boys. Antenna TV, which airs on 65 affiliates across the U.S. reaching 60% of TV households, will air a "Gidget Independence Day" marathon beginning at 7am ET on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 and running through 7am ET on Thursday, July 5. The 24-hour marathon will feature all 32 episodes from the 1965-66 series starring Sally Field from 11am-3am ET, as well as feature films, Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) at 7am & 3am ET and Gidget Goes to Rome (1963) at 9am & 5am ET. The films do not star Sally Field, as the Hawaiian one stars Deborah Walley and the Rome one stars Cindy Carol. Both films were sequels to the original 1959 film starring Sandra Dee. All three films were before the TV series. After the TV series ended, there were two ABC TV movies - Gidget Grows Up (1969) and Gidget Gets Married (1972) - and a new syndicated series - The New Gidget (1985), which was spun-off of the TV movie Gidget's Summer Reunion (1985) - but Antenna TV will not be airing any of those.
The 1965-66 series only lasted one season on ABC but it has still popped-up in syndication, often paired with Sally Field's other comedy, The Flying Nun. In fact Antenna TV airs both series every Saturday afternoons from 1-3pm ET.

In a last minute schedule change, Nick at Nite has added All That and Kenan & Kel to its line-up beginning tonight. The two classic '90s Nickelodeon comedies will air in the 8pm hour to try and give a better lead-in to Nick at Nite's new original telenovela Hollywood Heights, which airs weeknights at 9pm. The original series has struggled in the ratings thus far and Nick at Nite is trying to give it a more compatible lead-in than Friends, which was airing in the 8pm hour. Friends was airing 8-9pm and 11pm-12am, but now it will air in a two-hour block from 11pm-1am. This means George Lopez is out of the midnight hour and only air approx. 4am & 4:30am. Yes, Dear remains in the 10pm hour out of Hollywood Heights. Also of note, Nick at Nite will remove the '70s classic sitcom The Brady Bunch effective tonight after a month of airing and replace it with The Nanny, which returns to weeknights on Nick at Nite during the 5am hour.
Stay tuned for further updates, as I just don't see George Lopez being out of primetime for long.