Monday, January 27, 2014
Hallmark Removes Home Improvement; USA Network Orders New Comedy Benched Starring Eliza Coupe, Jay Harrington
Hallmark Channel will be making some more changes to its line-up this week. Starting Wednesday, January 29, afternoons and evenings will have some changes. From 2-4pm, Hallmark will cut out Home Improvement and move The Brady Bunch to this block. Little House on the Prairie will now occupy the 4-6pm block where The Brady Bunch was. Hallmark will keep the 6pm hour of Little House, so now the series will air from 4-7pm, gaining an additional hour. Its 7pm airing will be replaced by another Waltons airing, so that series will get an extra hour as well and will air from 7-10pm in primetime. So the odd show out is Home Improvement, as it is no longer on the schedule starting Jan. 29. The series was not airing on the weekends, so it will not be added to weekends. We'll let you know if and when it returns, but as of now, Hallmark has removed the show from its line-up totally. Stay with us for continued updates for Tim "The Toolman" Taylor and family.
USA Network has picked-up the ABC Signature and The Mark Gordon Company produced courtroom comedy Benched. The series stars Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings) and Jay Harrington (Better Off Ted) and marks the first series out of ABC Signature, the boutique division of ABC Studios. Benched is USA's first series pick-up of the year. They have already picked-up two other comedies: Sirens and Playing House. The latter was ordered to series but is still waiting for a premiere date. Sirens premieres March 6. The network also has several drama pilots in the pipeline including Complications, The Novice, Rush and The Untitled Jablonski Project. In November, USA picked up the event series Dig, an action adventure drama from co-creators and executive producers Tim Kring (Heroes) and Gideon Raff (Homeland). Benched is a single-camera half-hour courtroom comedy that focuses on Nina (Coupe), a dedicated, career-driven corporate attorney who has a very public nervous breakdown after getting passed up for an expected promotion, and finds herself working as a public defender. Her personal and professional worlds are turned upside down when she joins the ranks of the legal world's underdogs and very quickly realizes that the law isn't quite as fair as she once thought. Jay Harrington stars as Nina's new colleague, Phil, a tall, dark and handsome, if not a little scruffy, public defender and avid gambler. 12 episodes have been ordered. Stay with us for a premiere date and time.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Saturday, August 30
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 25)
Friday, August 29
- Nicole Byer (Grand Crew/Loosely Exactly Nicole) - Nicole guest hosts a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Timothy Olyphant (Stick/Santa Clarita Diet) - Watch Timothy on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Austin Butler (Ruby & the Rockits/Zoey 101/Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide) - Austin is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Jenna Ortega (Stuck in the Middle/Richie Rich) - Jenna appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Clifton Davis (Amen/That's My Mama) - Clifton makes a special appearance on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) - Co-host Gayle King sits down with Sabrina on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Danielle Pinnock (Ghosts/Young Sheldon) - Danielle talks about Ghosts on a repeat on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
- David Zayas (The Bear) - David talks about The Bear and Paramount+'s Dexter: Resurrection on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour.
- Regina King (The Boondocks/Leap of Faith/227) - Regina talks about Caught Stealing on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
- Kel Mitchell (Game Shakers/Kenan & Kel) - NBC's Today catches up with Kel in the 9am hour. He will also be on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:15am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
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