Tuesday, October 14, 2014
ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas 2014; Fox Picks Up Gotham for Full Season
ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas," cable's biggest programming event of the year, returns with 25-continuous days of holiday-themed entertainment for the whole family. From December 1 – 25, viewers can ring in the holidays with new holiday episodes of original series, holiday specials and returning favorites. This year, "25 Days of Christmas" will feature original holiday episodes of comedy series Melissa and Joey, and Baby Daddy. And for the first time, holiday episodes of drama series Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, and Chasing Life will also make their debut during the week of December 8. The holiday cheer continues with the network-television premiere of the delightful holiday movie Arthur Christmas, featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie and Jim Broadbent as Santa, on Saturday, December 6 from 9:00-11:00 PM ET/PT and the ABC Family debut of the new Christmas special Toy Story That Time Forgot on Sunday, December 7 from 8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT.
On Sunday, December 21, the network will air a Rankin Bass holiday classics marathon, featuring such beloved programs as The Little Drummer Boy at 1:00PM ET/PT, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town at 3:00PM ET/PT, and The Year Without a Santa Claus at 4:00PM ET/PT. Other returning favorites include National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Monday, December 1 from 6:00–8:00 PM, holiday classic Elf on Monday, December 1 from 8:00–10:00 PM ET/PT, and a The Santa Clause & The Santa Clause 3 double feature begins Tuesday, December 2, at 8:00 PM ET/PT. Other highlights for the month include A Very Brady Christmas, The Polar Express, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Holiday in Handcuffs, Prep & Landing, Home Alone, Christmas Cupid and Santa Baby.
Fox has ordered six more episodes of this fall's breakout new drama series, Gotham. The announcement raises the series order to 22 episodes. According to Fox, Gotham is tied as Monday night's No. 1 drama among Adults 18-49 and is this season's No. 1 broadcast drama overall among Men 18-49 - a full rating point ahead of the No. 2 drama in that demographic. The debut episode, which exploded into Premiere Week with a 6.0/18 rating among Adults 18-49 (Live+7), outperformed Blacklist and Scorpion and delivered Fox's highest-rated fall drama debut in 14 years. This Live +7 rating reflects the largest post-three-day ratings gain (+0.9) of any broadcast drama, ever. In addition, Gotham's premiere drew 14.1 million viewers in the first seven days and has been streamed more than two million times to date on FOX NOW and Hulu. The show's second and third episodes continued this positive trend, each delivering a 4.0 rating or higher in just the first three days, making it one of the Top Three dramas overall on broadcast television this season. The series is an origin story of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist, Rome), Gotham follows one cop's rise through a dangerously corrupt city teetering between good and evil, and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time. The entirely new, untold chapter stars Ben McKenzie (Southland, The O.C.), Donal Logue (Vikings, Sons of Anarchy) and Jada Pinkett Smith (Hawthorne, Collateral).
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, December 8
CBS announced the new entertainment special Norman Lear: A Life on Television, to air tonight - Friday, Dec. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs). Presented by Entertainment Tonight, this one-hour special features new interviews with stars of the long-running comedies Lear created, including Jimmie Walker from Good Times and Mackenzie Phillips from One Day at a Time, in addition to never-before-seen interviews from the ET vault. Also included with this new footage and interviews is an in-depth sit-down interview with Lear that ET host Kevin Frazier conducted when Lear celebrated his 100th birthday, in which he reflected on his lengthy, groundbreaking career.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 4)
Friday, December 8
- Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Watch Eddie on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- John Caponera (The Good Life) - John is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
- Robert Smigel (Let's Be Real) - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog aka Robert Smigel chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Noah Galvin (The Real O'Neals) and Molly Gordon (Ramy) - Noah and Molly talk about Theater Camp on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
- Eric Stonestreet (The Santa Clauses/Modern Family) - Eric talks about The Santa Clauses on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan sits down with Sherri to talk about his new book, When I Was Your Age, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)
09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
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