Antenna TV Acquires Johnny Carson for January 2016; Adult Swim Orders 3rd Season of Rick and Morty

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Antenna TV Acquires Johnny Carson for January 2016; Adult Swim Orders 3rd Season of Rick and Morty

"Here's Johnny!" Tribune Broadcasting today announced a multi-year agreement with Carson Entertainment Group to broadcast Johnny Carson on Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's multicast network, beginning January 1, 2016. Antenna TV airs in 102 markets across the United States, reaching 78% of all television households. Antenna TV, available in all of the country's Top 20 TV markets, will tuck America in each weeknight, with a 60-minute classic Carson episode airing at 11pm ET/8pm PT, with a rebroadcast at 2am ET/11pm PT. On weekends, Antenna TV will run 90-minute episodes at 10pm ET/7pm PT, with a rebroadcast at 1:30am/ET 10:30pm PT. This is the first time the Carson episodes will air in a strip since he went off the air in 1992. These will NOT be clip shows, as they will be full length episodes!

Twenty-three years after retiring from The Tonight Show -- and a decade after his death -- Johnny Carson remains TV's most popular late-night talk show host, the gold-standard for late-night television. In his three decades as host, he interviewed some 25,000 guests; celebrities like David Letterman, Jay Leno, Eddie Murphy and Jim Carrey; and comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Tim Allen and Drew Carey, all of whom got their start on Carson's stage. Antenna TV will unlock the vaults to bring viewers the most popular full-length episodes from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, which have not aired on television since, including Jackie Gleason's only appearance on the show, a joint appearance by Don Rickles and Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Myrtle the Potato Chip Lady and Barney Odum and his tree-climbing dog. You'll also see stars of Antenna TV like John Ritter (Three's Company). Beginning January 1, 2016, "Carnac the Magnificent," "Art Fern," "Aunt Blabby" and all of Carson's classic characters will return to late night television via Antenna TV. We will have much more info on this to come, but this is HUGE news and it will be great to see interviews with these stars again!

Rick and Morty

Adult Swim has announced that they are ordering more intergalactic adventures with the season three pickup of the original hit animated comedy series, Rick and Morty. New episodes of the series air Sundays at 11:30pm ET/PT. The series' season two premiere on Sunday, July 26, ranked #1 in its time period among all key adults and men and charted triple-digit delivery gains over its prior season premiere (P18-24 +154%, P18-34 +117%, P18-49 +121%). The television audience continued to grow in the series' second week, charting week-over-week gains of up to 27% among all key demos. The season two premiere of Rick and Morty fueled Adult Swim's video streams in July'15, with an overall total of 29.7M streams, up +12% month-to-month. (Source: Nielsen Media Research Data, Omniture and YouTube Analytics)

Created and executive produced by Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland (Adventure Time), the half-hour animated series airing on Sundays at 11:30pm ET/PT follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe. In season two, Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland) is still living with his daughter Beth's (Sarah Chalke) family and causing more trouble than ever. This season the rest of the family, his son-in-law Jerry (Chris Parnell), grand-daughter Summer (Spencer Grammer) and grand-son Morty (Justin Roiland) are dragged into Rick's intergalactic adventures, as he faces new threats and mysteries of his secret past are revealed. Can the family survive Rick's insanity and all the chaos the universe throws at them?

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Tuesday, July 23

The Conners - "O Sister, Where Art Thou?" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Becky helps Harris keep a secret from Darlene, it opens up a can of worms that causes a rift between the two sisters. Jackie supports Peter with his Nordic history project, and Dan reunites with an old friend.

American Housewife - "Insta-Friends" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Katie feels left out and slightly jealous when Greg becomes fast friends with the newest member of the Westport Historical Guild. Meanwhile, Oliver fears Cooper is ditching him when he sees on social media that Cooper lied about his weekend plans.

Modern Family - "Whanex?" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
While preparing a presentation for his students about their future goals, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) must also contend with a bully at the school and Jay (Ed O’Neil) is having a little technical trouble during his video conference. Meanwhile, the local mall is holding a photo shoot for its new ad campaign and Gloria tricks Phil and Joe into participating.

black-ish - "Under the Influence" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Jack is going through an experimental phase and getting himself into trouble, so Dre chaperones the twins’ school dance to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile, Junior fights with his girlfriend, Niecy, after she thinks he spends too much time taking care of Devante.

Modern Family - "We Need to Talk About Lily" (ABC, 10:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Phil may have conquered his biggest real estate challenge when he thinks he found Pepper his dream home. Meanwhile, in an attempt to connect with Lily, Mitch and Cam get invited to an exclusive event for her favorite vlogger.

black-ish - "Each One, Teach One" (ABC, 10:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dre feels like he has made a difference with the diversity at Stevens & Lido as the head of the Urban Division, but when Junior tells him that Josh is his mentor, Dre flips out. Meanwhile, Jack and Diane show their friends a video of Bow dancing and now she’s become the hot mom.

The Detour - "The Game Show" (TBS, 10:30PM ET/PT)
The Parkers are contestants on a Japanese game show.

Sydney to the Max - "Dancin' the Vida Loca" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When Sydney struggles with ballet, something her mom was great at, she starts to feel like she's losing touch of her mom.

Sydney to the Max - "How Sydney Got Her Phone Back" (Disney Channel, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When a cell phone ban policy during school hours goes up for a vote, Sydney is sure that her dad, who's on the Parent School Committee, will vote against it.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 22)

Tuesday, July 23

Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever) - Catch Fred on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
Tony Hale (Veep/Arrested Development) - Tony appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Eva Longoria (Telenovela) - Eva stops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Thomas Lennon (The Odd Couple/Sean Saves the World/Reno 911!) - Thomas visits The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Charlie Hunnam (Undeclared) - Charlie is a guest on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
Rami Malek (The War at Home) - Rami appears on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
David Spade (Rules of Engagement/8 Simple Rules/Just Shoot Me!) - David drops by Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
Lisa Kudrow (Friends/The Comeback/Web Therapy) - Lisa is a guest on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Kyle Richards (Down to Earth) - Kyle visits Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo.
Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons) - Anthony visits The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Idris Elba (Turn Up Charlie) - Idris appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings. He also talks about Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Jason Priestley (Call Me Fitz) - Jason talks about the Casteel Family Movie Series on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Billy Eichner (Friends from College/Difficult People/Parks and Recreation) - Billy talks about The Lion King on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
David Spade (Rules of Engagement/8 Simple Rules/Just Shoot Me!) - David talks about Lights Out with David Spade on the BUILD Series at 2pm.