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
Thursday, July 10
Ghosts - "Smooching and Smushing" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Jay, Sam and the ghosts attempt to fix the ghost trap in hopes of getting Sasappis across the ghost boundary to visit his longtime crush, Shiki.
Bob's Burgers - "Wild Steal-ions" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Tina's lost book of semi-erotic horse-torical fiction lands in the hands of a mysterious stranger with nefarious intentions.
Grimsburg - "How to Lose an Ankle Monitor in 10 Days" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When the criminals of Grimsburg go on strike, the police force gets furloughed.
Family Guy - "Karenheit 451" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Lois becomes the leader of a group of mothers who want to ban books from schools.
The Great North - "Bust a Moon Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Moon makes a big decision after clashing with Beef; Judy and Ham hatch a plot to make some extra cash.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 7)
Thursday, July 10
- Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons) - Anthony guest hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Keke Palmer (Scream Queens/True Jackson, VP) - Keke is a musical guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Rhys Darby (Wrecked/How to Be a Gentleman/Flight of the Conchords), Rory Scovel (Grace and Frankie/Robbie/Ground Floor) and Baron Vaughn (Corporate/Grace and Frankie) - Rhys, Rory and Baron are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Oliver Hudson (Splitting Up Together/Rules of Engagement/My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star) - Oliver is a guest on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie appears on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Jessica Lowe (Wrecked) - Jessica talks about Elixir's Red Flag Green Flag on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
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)
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