SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

The classic sitcom Room 222 is now on ASPiRE, airing every weekday morning at 7:00am & 7:30am. The sitcom is leading into another classic late '60s comedy, Julia, from 8-9am. ASPiRE also airs The Flip Wilson Show, Soul Food and The Mod Squad. In Room 222, Pete Dixon is a dedicated and popular history teacher who fights the good fight on the side of his students. Joining him in his idealistic approach to education are guidance counselor Liz McIntyre and student teacher Alice Johnson. Experienced and slightly world-weary principal Seymour Kaufman provides a balance to the youthful idealism of the 60s cultural revolution but at the end of the day everyone is on the side of the students.

Actor Mike Minor, who starred as Steve Elliott in Petticoat Junction, has died. He died in New York City on January 28. Mr. Minor was 75.

Minor appeared as Steve Elliott in over 100 episodes of Petticoat Junction from 1966-1970. He joined the cast in the second episode of the fourth season. His character was a pilot who crashed his airplane in Hooterville when he is distracted by the sight of the Bradley sisters swimming in the Hooterville Cannonball's water tower. After being nursed back to health by the Bradley girls, he became romantically involved with Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning). The characters were married in in the fifth season. They had a daughter, Kathy Jo Elliott, in the sixth season. Minor was married to Linda Kaye Henning in real life from 1968-1973. He was interviewed for the "The History of Hooterville" and the "Paul Henning & The Hillbillies" DVD special features in 2005.

His sitcom guest appearances included eight episodes of My Three Sons (he was the son of executive producer Don Fedderson) and eight episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. Some of his other television guest appearances included The Lieutenant, CHiPs, Vega$ and L.A. Law. He performed the theme song, "Primrose Lane," on the first season of Henry Fonda'a The Smith Family in 1971.

He was later known for his work on daytime television. He appeared as Brandon Kingsley on All My Children from 1980-1981 and as Dr. Royal Dunning on Another World from 1983-1984. He also had brief roles on The Edge of Night and As the World Turns.

Survivors include his wife, Marilyn Minor, and a son, John, with his first wife Monyeen Rae Martini.

Mr. Minor was a talented actor and a fine singer. His singing skills were showcased in many Petticoat Junction episodes. He will be greatly missed.

Share your memories on our Petticoat Junction message board. View photos in our galleries.

The MeTV Network will be running a tribute to Mike Minor the rest of this week, during the regular Petticoat Junction airing at 6:30am. Here's the list of episodes airing:

Tuesday: How Bugged Was My Valley
Wednesday: Love Rears Its Ugly Head
Thursday: Steve, The Apple Polisher
Friday: Steve's Ol' Buddy

ASPiRE has acquired all five seasons (124 episodes) of cool crime drama series The Mod Squad. The series will debut Monday, January 4, launching "Mod Squad Mondays" from 2 to 8pm EST. All three members of The Mod Squad were on probation when they were recruited for a special "Youth Squad" to infiltrate the counterculture and ferret out criminals. The series stars Michael Cole (Mr. Brooks) as Pete Cochran, Peggy Lipton (Psych) as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III (Lee Daniels' The Butler, American Gangster) as Linc Hayes and the late Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. Cole, Lipton and Williams were billed as the hippest cops on TV. The series premiered on ABC in 1968 and earned six Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe nominations (including one win). A 1970 episode, "Mother of Sorrow," was ranked #95 on TV Guide's "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time."

ASPiRE also announced it has acquired all five seasons (74 episodes) of the critically acclaimed family drama series Soul Food. The award-winning series reunites the Joseph family and a talented, eclectic ensemble cast starring Malinda Williams (UP's A Baby for Christmas, Girlfriend's Getaway) as Tracy "Bird" Van Adams, Vanessa Williams (UP's Raising Izzie), as Maxine Chadway, Nicole Ari Parker (Rosewood, Murder in the First) as Teri Joseph, Rockmond Dunbar (Sons of Anarchy, The Mentalist) as Kenny Chadway, Darrin Dewitt Henson (UP's In the Meantime) as Lem Van Adams, Boris Kodjoe (Real Husbands of Hollywood, The Last Man on Earth) as Damon Carter and Aaron Meeks (Crossing Jordan) as Ahmad Chadway. Soul Food will premiere on ASPiRE with a three day New Years weekend marathon beginning at noon EST on Friday, January 1.

ASPiRE will support the premiere of Soul Food with a multi-level social media campaign that will include a family photo contest, pop-up facts and trivia about the series, Facebook ads, #FoodfortheSoul countdown menus, a special pre-holiday email blast, "Soul Food Sunday Recipes" shared weekly on the network's social media platforms, and a Soul Food countdown clock and quiz on ASPiRE.tv.

Syfy will take viewers into a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity during its 21st annual New Year's Eve The Twilight Zone marathon, which will air all 156 episodes of Rod Serling's legendary TV series in chronological order and in HD for the first time ever on the channel. The 87-hour marathon will begin Wednesday, December 30 at 7PM (ET/PT), concluding Sunday, January 3 at 12PM. The only interruption will be the telecast of WWE SmackDown(R) on Thursday, December 31 from 8-10PM. Among The Twilight Zone fan favorites will be Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (starring William Shatner); The Encounter (starring George Takei); Time Enough At Last; Living Doll; To Serve Man and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

Television's favorite alien life form is back with all-new material, when the comedic pop-culture icon ALF makes a special return to television for "ALF Week" (July 16-19, from 7:30-10pm) on The Hub TV Network, a destination for kids and their families. The beloved, wise-cracking alien will host the network's primetime programming lineup for the week-long event, featuring ALF's brow-raising, sense of humor as he gives his take on favorite episodes of his own series and classic shows on The Hub primetime, which are Mork & Mindy, Happy Days and The Facts of Life. Viewers can learn what ALF has to say about life since his popular series was produced in the late 1980's as he was living with the Tanner clan. ALF will lead into these three comedies starting at 7:30pm for this special week.
The week will kick-off changes to the schedule in primetime. ALF will air in the 7:30pm half-hour the week of July 16, as the sitcom marathon blocks move up to 8-10pm, rather than 9-11pm. ALF was airing at 8:30pm since it launched, but for this week only it will air at 7:30pm. The 10pm hour every weeknight will now have the return of The Wonder Years to weeknights, since the marathons are 8-10pm now! Mork & Mindy will remain on Mondays, but from 8-10pm, while Happy Days remains on Tuesday shifting to 8-10pm, and The Facts of Life stays on Wednesdays but with the change to 8-10pm. On Thursdays, the block will now be ALF from 8-10pm, replacing Sabrina the Teenage Witch. What will happen to Sabrina now? We don't know just yet, but it is still on the schedule in late nights on weekends (Fri-Sun, 3-4am). ALF will not air at 7:30pm starting July 23, so perhaps Sabrina will move there? We'll let you know soon. But the new primetime schedule from 8-10pm and The Wonder Years hour at 10 will remain after the ALF Week as well, as it is their new primetime schedule. Laverne & Shirley and Batman remain at 11pm. After an animation break, the primetime block will encore late night still as well beginning at 2am ET (1:30am for ALF the week of July 16). On weekends, Lois & Clark is doing well and will remain airing 8-11pm in primetime on Sundays, with an immediate encore from 11pm-2pm.
Stay with us for further updates on The Hub schedule, as we will confirm Sabrina's timeslots soon.

We mentioned a while back about the new network from NBA legend Magic Johnson coming soon, now it has launched. ASPiRE, the new television network from Magic Johnson Enterprises, launched Wednesday, June 27 at 8:00 pm ET with a unique mix of original and groundbreaking programming aimed at African-American viewers. The network launched with inaugural distribution partners Comcast and Time Warner Cable. At launch, ASPiRE is available in approximately seven million homes and in 16 of the top 25 African-American markets including New York City, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, DC. ASPiRE also launched on FAVE TV and with five charter brand partners: The Chrysler Group, L'Oréal USA, Nationwide Insurance, Coca-Cola and Walmart. ASPiRE celebrated its historic kickoff on June 27 with a private, star-studded event at Cipriani Dolci in New York City.
ASPiRE's mission is to entertain, enlighten and inspire. It will shine a light on the positive contributions African-Americans have made to American culture and be a window through which we can experience the next generation of ground breakers and game changers. ASPiRE offers a diverse slate of programming spanning five categories: movies (including features, documentaries and short films); music; comedy (vintage sitcoms); visual and performing arts; and faith and inspirational shows. The network's initial schedule has many programming blocks. Of note for us is: Groundbreaking Comedies (Tuesdays, 2pm, 8pm & 11pm) – Hosted by actor and comedian Jonathan Slocumb (Meet the Browns, The Steve Harvey Show), ASPiRE's Groundbreaking Comedies will celebrate trailblazing Black funnymen and women with iconic TV series including The Bill Cosby Show (Chet Kincaid), The Flip Wilson Show and more. Slocumb will share with audiences the known and not-so-known facts about the shows, their stars, and their enduring influence on popular culture.
Besides The Bill Cosby Show and The Flip Wilson Show, which also airs weekdays, the network is also airing the '60s sitcom Julia every weekday from 1-2pm and 7-8pm. In addition to Tuesdays, The Bill Cosby Show airs weekdays 12-1pm, 6-7pm and 2-3am, while The Flip Wilson Show airs weekdays 10-11pm. Also on the schedule is I Spy weekdays 11am, 5pm and 1am and Soul Train weekdays 10am and 4pm.
View the ASPiRE website and see if it is available in your area! Stay with us for further updates and we hope more vintage comedies are coming!