Wednesday, October 07, 2015
ABC Family Rebranding to Freeform; Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration on PBS
ABC Family President Tom Ascheim announced that ABC Family will be renamed and rebranded as Freeform in January 2016. This evolution builds on ABC Family's existing strategy of super serving "Becomers" - a life stage that spans people who are 14-34. The name, look, feel and attitude of the network will capture the nature of the Becomer audience and the modern way this audience generates and consumes media. The name Freeform speaks to the mindset and attitude of what the channel has defined as Becomers. Traditionally, Becomers are in high school, college and the decade that follows and are navigating the wonderful, fun, exciting, and scary time in life when you experience the most firsts - first car, first apartment, first job, first love, first heartbreak - all the firsts that exists between who they are and who they want to become. Becomers represent a life stage rather than a generation. Eleven years ago, ABC Family was ahead of the curve when it began super-serving Millennials to become their entertainment staple. Today, nearly 70% of 12-34 year olds are Millennials, but in five years, Millennials will be less than half of the target. Becomers are 69 million strong in the US, with an estimated spending power in the trillions. There are two billion Becomers worldwide.
The audience's identity and experience are fluid as they explore endless possibilities and their passions take shape. Freeform personifies this fluidity and will deliver ideas, forms of content and ways of interacting with the brand. Freeform is inspired by the interconnection between content and audience, media and technology, interactive and linear, life stage and life style and the way Becomers interact with them all. The network remains committed to the critically acclaimed original series and programming stunts that have become pop-culture phenomena and made it so successful with the Becomer audience. Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, Young and Hungry and Baby Daddy will all return in early 2016 for their winter premieres alongside the world premieres of new original series Shadowhunters and Recovery Road. Freeform will also continue the programming trajectory announced this April and will double the networks original programing over the next four years. New series pick-ups and series returns will also be announced later this month.
During the 2014/15 season, ABC Family landmarked as cable TV's #1 network in Prime for the first time in the channel's 15-year history in Women 18-34 and was the #1 ad-supported cable TV network for the fourth-consecutive season in Females 12-34. In addition, ABC Family extended its streak as a Top 5 cable TV network to seven-straight seasons in Women 18-49 and placed among the Top 10 for the seventh season in a row in Adults 18-34 and Viewers 12-34.
On the eve of the 45th anniversary of the premiere of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, PBS announces a new documentary about the TV legend featuring new interviews with an array of Moore's colleagues, friends and admirers. Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration airs October 13, 2015, 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). Not only did Moore "turn the world on with her smile," as her show's theme song declared, she also influenced a generation of women to become more independent and to pursue successful and fulfilling careers. Moore's own 50-plus-year career has spanned award-winning films and Broadway shows, as well as two beloved television series that broke ground and continue to entertain viewers. Mary Tyler Moore: A Celebration includes heartfelt interviews with Dick Van Dyke, Betty White, Valerie Harper and many others who recall Moore's career highlights and underscore the importance of her television characters in shaping today's society.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Sunday, November 8
Animal Control - "Baked Chickens and Rat Dogs" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Emily and Shred host their first party as a couple.
The Simpsons - "The Kosmic Kruiser" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Bart and Lisa break into Krustyland's most notorious failed attraction, only to discover that it hasn't been completely abandoned.
Universal Basic Guys - "Princess Tammy" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
The Hoagies take a trip to Story World; Mark engineers a way to pay for the trip.
Grimsburg - "Flutey Friday" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Flute and Stan switch bodies for a day.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 2)
Friday, November 6
- Sarah Paulson (Leap of Faith) - Watch Sarah on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere/Nightcap) - Jeff appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Maz Jobrani (Superior Donuts/The Knights of Prosperity/Better Off Ted) - Maz is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Natasha Leggero (Broke/Dice/Another Period/Free Agents) and Tommy Davidson (The Varnell Hill Show/The Proud Family/Malcolm & Eddie/Between Brothers) - Natasha and Tommy will be on Funny You Should Ask at 12:37am on CBS.
- Mindy Kaling (Running Point/The Mindy Project/The Office) - ABC's Good Morning America has Deals & Steals with actress Mindy and ABC e-commerce editor Tory Johnson sometime between 7-9am.
- Bill Hader (Barry) - Bill talks about The Cat in the Hat with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Henry discusses how therapy has changed his life, the two words he lives by and his new children's book, Detective Duck: The Mystery of the Flash Flood, on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings. He also drops by to surprise Drew and talk about the fourth installment of his children's book series, Detective Duck: The Mystery of the Flash Flood, on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Hailee Steinfeld (Dickinson) - Hailee talks about Disney's Hexed on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Rob Riggle (Rob Riggle's Ski Master Academy/Golan the Insatiable/Gary Unmarried) - NBC's Today catches up with Rob in the 9am hour.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Cafe Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Nora Singley is joining Pilar Valdes and Valerie for some cooking with Drew and Ross at the tasting table on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Andy Richter (Andy Barker, P.I./Quintuplets/Andy Richter Controls the Universe) - Andy can be heard on the Morning Mashup on SiriusXM.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
08/25/26 - Perfect Strangers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/08/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Vault - Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
09/22/26 - Bridget Loves Bernie - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/29/26 - Happy's Place - Season Two (Blu-ray) (DVD)
10/20/26 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Fifth Season (DVD)
10/20/26 - The Brady Bunch - The Complete Original Series (2026 Release) (DVD)
10/20/26 - The Quick Draw McGraw Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
10/20/26 - Shrinking - The Complete First and Second Seasons (DVD)
10/20/26 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Seventh and Twenty-Eighth Seasons (DVD)
11/03/26 - Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete Second Season (DVD)
11/03/26 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Ninth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/03/26 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Sixteenth Season (DVD)
11/03/26 - Superstore - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/24/26 - The Yogi Bear Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts










Contact Us