SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

The Hallmark Channel will be adding two classic sitcoms to its line-up in the new year! We mentioned that The Hallmark Channel has acquired the rights to groovy '70s sitcom The Brady Bunch, but they have also acquired another coolamundo sitcom... Happy Days! Currently The Hallmark Channel is in their holiday mode with the sitcoms/TV series on a little break for holiday movies but come Wednesday, January 2, 2013, all of your favorite Hallmark Channel sitcoms and dramas return with these two sitcom added! The Brady Bunch will air weekdays in a two-hour block from 6-8pm, while Happy Days will air Mon-Thurs in primetime in a two-hour block from 8-10pm! Whooah! As for the rest of the schedule, I Love Lucy returns weekdays from 5-8am leading into an encore of talk show Marie at 8am. Then the two-hour original series Home & Family airs at 9am leading into a new Marie at 11am. Then its back to sitcoms and dramas for the rest of the day! Spend lunchtime with The Waltons at 12 noon and 1pm, followed by a double dose of Little House on the Prairie at 2pm & 3pm. In the afternoon, Hallmark will thank you for being a friend with America's favorite ladies, The Golden Girls from 4-6pm leading into The Brady Bunch from 6-8pm.

In primetime, as mentioned we are morphed back into the '50s with the '70s sitcom Happy Days from 8-10pm (Mon-Thurs). NUMB3RS has migrated over to Hallmark Movie Channel on Mondays nights from 10pm-12am, as that did not work on Mondays in primetime on Hallmark. Frasier Crane is back in late primetime with a two-hour block of Frasier every weeknight from 10pm-12am. An encore of The Golden Girls will follow in late night from 12am-2am, leading into an hour of Cheers at 2am. Norm! And finally for weeknights, Frasier encores from 3-5am. One other note, Fridays 8-10pm will be a movie instead of Happy Days. Onto weekends, I Love Lucy will air from 5-9am followed by The Golden Girls from 9am-11am. A lot of movies then follow from 11am-1am (on Sundays it is 11am-11pm, as a two-hour Frasier block airs from 11pm-1am). The Golden Girls will air in late night from 1am-3am, followed by Frasier from 3-5am.

Currently The Brady Bunch is airing on cable on INSP every weekday and also on digital broadcast on The MeTV Network every Sunday in a two-hour block in midday. Happy Days currently can be seen on cable on INSP every weekday and was also recently on The Hub. Discuss this Hallmark schedule on our message board and to view the full Hallmark Channel January 2013 schedule. Keep it right here for continued updates on both sitcoms and Hallmark Channel in general!

Television writer and producer Reinhold Weege, who created the hit sitcom Night Court, has died. He died December 1 in La Jolla, California of natural causes. Mr. Weege was 62.

Weege's television career began in 1976 as a writer for Barney Miller. He wrote 34 episodes of the series from 1976-1979. He also worked as the story editor for 22 episodes. In 1978-1979, he was the co-producer of the series. He received an Emmy nomination in 1979 for Outstanding Comedy Series. Weege's other sitcom writing credits included M*A*S*H, Fish and Semi-Tough. He created, executive produced and wrote Park Place in 1981. The short-lived CBS sitcom, which starred Harold Gould and Alice Drummond, ran for only four episodes.

In 1984, he created the popular NBC sitcom Night Court. The successful series ran for nine seasons from 1984-1992. He owned Starry Night Productions, which produced the series until he left in 1989 after six seasons. In addition to writing and producing the series, he directed two episodes in 1985. Weege received three Emmy nominations for Night Court as Outstanding Comedy Series in 1985, 1987 and 1988. He did an audio commentary for the "Pilot" episode and an interview for the 2005 DVD release of Night Court - The Complete First Season.

Survivors include his ex-wife Shelley, daughters Tez and Alix, and granddaughter Zoe. John Larroquette, who won four consecutive Emmys from 1985-1988 for best supporting actor as Dan Fielding in Night Court, had this to say on Twitter: "In life there are those who impact us with such force everything changes. Reinhold Weege was that in mine. May he truly rest in peace." We thank him for creating the underrated classic sitcom and bringing us many laughs. He will be greatly missed.

Discuss Night Court on our message board. View photos in our galleries.