SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

The MeTV Network will welcome one of television's most beloved families to its daytime lineup this January. The Waltons will air weekdays, premiering on Wednesday, January 1, 2020 at 12PM | 11C. Additionally, two classic cop dramas will join the weekday schedule when Adam-12 and Dragnet report for duty starting New Year's Day, with Adam-12 weekdays at 5:00pm & 5:30pm and Dragnet in the mornings at 5:30am & 6am. Other weekday changes are I Love Lucy at 6:30am and In the Heat of the Night now at 11am. That's not all! Sunday night has a new look, beginning with the early 90-minute episodes of Columbo (1971–1978) at 8PM | 7C. That leads into an all-new season of Collector's Call at 9:30PM | 8:30C (premiering January 12). Host Lisa Whelchel (The Facts of Life) returns to uncover even more stunning collections — and some surprising guest stars from The Brady Bunch, the Winter Olympics and beyond! Then, MeTV is pairing up The Flintstones with The Honeymooners — the sitcom that inspired the cartoon — at 10PM & 10:30PM. You can still catch The Flintstones weekdays 6-7P and Sundays 10A-12N. View the full MeTV Network Winter 2020 schedule.

IFC announced that the fourth and final season of its critically-acclaimed series Brockmire starring Hank Azaria will premiere in March 2020. Returning for the series' final season are Amanda Peet, Tyrel Jackson Williams and Katie Finneran. Additionally, Reina Hardesty (The Flash) has joined the series' line-up for the final eight episodes. Brockmire Seasons 1-3 are currently available to watch on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and XBOX. Season 1 and 2 are also available on Hulu, with Season 3 joining Wednesday, January 1, 2020.

Brockmire follows Jim Brockmire (Azaria), a famed major league baseball announcer who suffered a notorious public breakdown after stumbling upon his wife's (Finneran) infidelity – a breakdown so bad that "Brutal Brockmire" became a viral internet meme. Season 1 began a decade later, as Brockmire looked to reclaim his career and reputation by calling games for the Morristown Frackers, an underdog minor league baseball team. Despite finding happiness in Morristown alongside his girlfriend/team owner Jules (Peet), Season 2 began with a newly-single Brockmire calling games in New Orleans and living with his co-dependent friend Charles (Williams)...while fully indulging in the city's booze-riddled sins. When a drug-fueled night of partying with a stranger ends with a near-death experience, Brockmire realizes it's time to get sober once and for all. Season 3 took place one year after a stint in rehab, with Brockmire doing play-by-play in the radio booth for the major leagues in central Florida while maintaining his brazen and narcissistic tendencies, despite actually being on the wagon.

As we mentioned, The Office is coming to COZI TV starting January 1, but now we can share the full COZI TV January 2019 lineup. The Office will air Sunday through Fridays from 10pm-12am. The Nanny remains from 12-2am on M-F, while Will & Grace moves to 2-4am. Will & Grace airs 12-2am on Sunday nights. Among the series returning from hiatus are Dragnet, Lassie, The Lone Ranger and Quantum Leap. With the addition of The Office and these series coming back, the series off the lineup now are The Munsters, Miami Vice, Quincy M.E., The Virginian, Wyatt Earp, The Real McCoys, Murdoch Mysteries and Alias Smith & Jones.

The weekday schedule has now detective series from 8am-1pm, leading into Cozi staple Murder, She Wrote from 1-4pm. Detective series are Magnum P.I., The Rockford Files, two-hour Columbo, and Hart to Hart. Following Murder, Little House on the Prairie is now 4-7pm leading into Frasier from 7-10pm. As mentioned earlier, Dragnet is returning to the lineup, to compliment the new Saturday '70s lineup of Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency, The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man from 2-8pm. Sundays features the '80s with back-to-back hours of Magnum P.I., The A-Team and Quantum Leap from 1-7pm. Those are just some of the changes! View the entire COZI TV January 2019 schedule.

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries presents two all-new movie premieres in January, 2019. The movies star TV staples (and Hallmark vets) Jill Wagner and Taylor Cole. The duo of whodunnits starts with Ruby Herring Mysteries: Silent Witness on Sunday, January 20 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, followed by Mystery 101 on Sunday, January 27 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In Ruby Herring Mysteries: Silent Witness starring Taylor Cole (The Originals, Summerland), Stephen Huszar (Paradise Falls) and Shawn Christian, while attending her sister's wedding at a resort in the mountains outside Seattle, TV consumer reporter Ruby Herring (Cole) becomes involved in a murder mystery when an old family friend drowns under suspicious circumstances. Encouraged by her dad, legendary investigative crime reporter John Herring (Christian), Ruby conducts her own unorthodox investigation, to the consternation of Jake Killian (Huszar), the handsome, by-the-book Seattle P.D. homicide detective assigned to the case.

In Mystery 101 starring Jill Wagner (Wipeout, Hallmark's Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa) and Kristoffer Polaha (Life Unexpected, Hallmark's Pearl in Paradise), Amy (Wagner) is an expert in whodunnits and sizing people up, so when she meets detective Travis (Polaha), investigating a plant theft, Amy deduces he's new in town and divorced by his accent and missing wedding band. Though Travis can't discuss his investigation, he and Amy banter playfully while she waits for her student Lacey, who doesn't show. Fearing Lacey is in trouble when her boyfriend turns up dead, and connecting a colleague's "suicide" with the plant theft, Amy unravels both mysteries, and risks her life. Now Travis must sleuth fast, or his blooming romance with Amy could die on the vine.

COZI TV announced it is ringing in the holiday season with a special COZI HOLIDOZI month of programming for the second year in a row. Beginning the day after Thanksgiving and running through Christmas Day, COZI TV will feature holiday-themed episodes of its iconic shows, including Magnum P.I., Murder She Wrote, Adam 12, Hart to Hart and Baywatch, among many others. Here is a promo inviting viewers to tune into COZI HOLIDOZI.

Below is the COZI HOLIDOZI lineup:

November 27
9:00 AM Lone Ranger - Christmas Story
11:00 AM Dragnet - The Christmas Story
1:00 PM Simon & Simon - Yes, Virginia, There is a Liberace
2:00 PM Hart to Hart - ‘Tis the Season to be Murdered
7:00 PM Make Room For Daddy - Christmas and Clowns
8:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret

November 28
4:30 PM Hollywood Treasure - Chasing Rudolph
5:30 PM Dick Van Dyke Show - The Alan Brady Show Presents
6:00 PM Make Room For Daddy - Christmas Story
7:00 PM Starsky & Hutch - Little Girl Lost
10:00 PM Quantum Leap - Promised Land
11:00 PM Quantum Leap - Little Miracle

November 29
1:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret
2:00 PM Baywatch - Silent Night, Baywatch Night Part 1
3:00 PM Baywatch - Silent Night, Baywatch Night Part 2
4:00 PM Starsky & Hutch - Little Girl Lost

December 1
12:30 PM Adam 12 - Christmas the Yellow Dump Truck

December 2
11:30 AM Dragnet - The Christmas Story
3:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret

December 4
8:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret

December 5
5:00 PM The Real McCoys - The Diamond Ring
5:30 PM Dick Van Dyke Show - The Alan Brady Show Presents

December 6
12:00 PM Beverly Hillbillies - Home for Christmas
12:30 PM Beverly Hillbillies - Christmas with the Clampetts
1:00 PM Hart to Hart - A Hart Christmas
2:00 PM Quantum Leap - Little Miracle
3:00 PM Simon & Simon - Yes, Virginia, There is a Liberace
4:00 PM The Avengers - Too Many Christmas Trees

December 7
8:00 PM Hart to Hart - Trust Your Hart

December 9
1:00 PM Simon & Simon - Yes, Virginia, There is a Liberace
4:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret

December 10
11:00 AM Dragnet - The Christmas Story

December 12
5:00 PM Dick Van Dyke Show - The Alan Brady Show Presents

December 13
1:00 PM Dick Van Dyke Show - The Alan Brady Show Presents
1:30 PM Make Room for Daddy - Christmas and Clowns
2:00 PM Hart to Hart - Trust Your Hart
3:00 PM Six Million Dollar Man - A Bionic Christmas Carol
4:00 PM Knight Rider - Silent Knight
5:30 PM The Real McCoys - The Diamond Ring

December 14
8:00 PM Hart to Hart - ‘Tis the Season to be Murdered

December 16
12:30 PM Adam 12 - Christmas

December 18
11:30 AM Dragnet - The Christmas Story
1:00 PM Simon & Simon - Yes, Virginia, There is a Liberace
10:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret

December 19
7:00 PM Starsky & Hutch - Little Girl Lost

December 20
1:00 PM Baywatch - Silent Night, Baywatch Night Part 1
2:00 PM Baywatch - Silent Night, Baywatch Night Part 2
3:00 PM Quantum Leap - Promised Land
4:00 PM Hart to Hart – ‘Tis the Season to be Murdered
5:00 PM The Real McCoys - The Diamond Ring

December 21
4:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret
8:00 PM Hart to Hart - A Hart Christmas
9:00 PM Hart to Hart - Trust your Hart

December 22
8:00 PM Knight Rider - Silent Knight

December 23
8:00 PM Quantum Leap - Little Miracle
9:00 PM Quantum Leap - Promised Land
10:00 PM Simon & Simon - Yes, Virginia, There is a Liberace

December 24
8:00 PM Magnum, P.I. - Thank Heaven for Little Girls
9:00 PM Magnum, P.I. - Operation Silent Knight

December 25
8:00 AM Lassie - The Christmas Story
8:30 AM Lassie - Yocjim’s Christmas
9:00 AM Lone Ranger - Christmas Story
9:30 AM Make Room for Daddy - Christmas Story
10:00 AM Dick Van Dyke Show - The Alan Brady Show Presents
10:30 AM Dragnet - The Christmas Story
11:00 AM Highway to Heaven - With Love, the Claus
12:00 PM Six Million Dollar Man - A Bionic Christmas Carol
1:00 PM Magnum, P.I. - Operation Silent Knight
2:00 PM Hart to Hart - A Hart Christmas
4:00 PM Knight Rider - Silent Knight
5:00 PM Baywatch - Silent Night, Baywatch Night pt 1
7:00 PM Lassie - The Little Christmas
7:30 PM Make Room for Daddy - Christmas and Clowns
8:00 PM Murder, She Wrote - A Christmas Secret

The CW announced its new January 2016 schedule, including the series debut of new drama DC's Legends of Tomorrow and the season three premiere of The 100, plus The Vampire Diaries and The Originals take over Friday night. On Thursday January 21, The CW kicks off a new night of action and adventure with the highly-anticipated series premiere of DC's Legends of Tomorrow at 8:00pm ET/PT followed by the return of the critically-acclaimed post-apocalyptic drama The 100 at 9:00pm ET/PT. In DC's Legends of Tomorrow, when heroes alone are not enough... the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat — one in which not only the planet is at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?

Starting January 29, The Salvatore brothers and the First Family of vampires head to Friday nights to kick off the weekend with two hours of high-stakes drama, with The Vampire Diaries at 8:00pm ET/PT followed by The Originals at 9:00pm ET/PT. This season, both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals are among the most heavily time-shifted series on television; both shows more than triple their audiences when viewing beyond the night of air is tallied, across DVR, digital, and VOD platforms. Reign will have its winter finale on Friday, January 22 at 8:00pm ET/PT and return later in the season, night and time to be announced. Stay with us...

The new COZI TV January 2015 schedule started yesterday, but of course we already told you about all of the new additions...now we have the timeslot info. Murder, She Wrote, starring the beloved Angela Lansbury, made its triumphant debut on COZI TV on January 2 and is airing Monday through Friday, 3PM-5PM, Friday nights 8PM-11PM and Sundays 7PM-9PM. Daytime gets a big makeover with Bronco (weekdays 8AM), Wyatt Earp (weekdays at 9AM), Zorro (weekdays 11AM-12PM) and Adam-12 (weekdays at noon). There are some additions to late primetime as well, with Dragnet (weeknights 11PM-12AM) and It Takes a Thief (Mondays 10PM). To make room for these new additions, the current daytime and primetime lineups will see significant shifts in air times. Sitcoms will air weekdays from 5-8pm, with an hour each of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Here's Lucy and Make Room for Daddy.

Plus, every weekend, COZI TV us bringing you Stunt Sundays (1PM-5PM EST), giving you more of your favorite shows with back-to-back episodes, changing weekly. COZI TV kicks off Stunt Sunday on January 11 with four episodes of It Takes a Thief. Anyway, view the full COZI TV January 2015 schedule.

This Friday (January 9), actresses who portrayed iconic moms from two of ABC's history-making series will make guest star appearances back-to-back on current sitcoms Last Man Standing and Cristela from 8-9pm ET/PT. On Last Man Standing, Patricia Richardson is reunited with Tim Allen, where she played his wife on the acclaimed series Home Improvement. In the Last Man Standing episode entitled "Helen Potts," Mike butts heads with his new but noisy neighbor, Helen Potts (Patricia Richardson), for waking up the neighbors with her power tools and fix-it projects. But when Vanessa and Helen become fast friends, Mike decides to interfere. On Cristela, Roseanne Barr plays the soon-to-be ex-wife of Cristela's boss. In the Cristela episode entitled "Veronica," Trent and his wife Veronica (Roseanne Barr) are going through some marital problems and look to soon be separating. Veronica takes an immediate liking to Cristela and offers her a job at her law firm, which specializes in cases that entice Cristela, but will she be able to abandon her loyalties to Trent? Tune in for these two classic '90s moms returning to ABC for one night only!

COZI TV will launch new shows to start 2015. Murder, She Wrote, one of the most successful television series in TV history, starring the beloved Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, makes its triumphant debut on COZI TV on January 2, 2015. The iconic series set a precedent for TV sleuth shows. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 with 264 episodes. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series It is one of the longest-running television shows in history, with close to 23 million viewers in its prime, and was a staple of the evening lineup for a decade. The series was also successful around the world. Starting January 2, Murder, She Wrote will air on COZI TV weekdays back-to-back from 3-5pm ET, Friday nights from 8-11pm and Sundays from 7-9 pm.

But wait, there's more! COZI TV viewers are in for a real treat in the new year, as more iconic television series than ever will make their debut on the network. Starting January 5, 2015 viewers can tune into Adam-12 weekdays from 12-1pm with two back-to-back episodes. Dragnet will air in late fringe every weekday 11pm–12am with two back-to-back episodes. The Adventures of Zorro will air weekdays from 11am–12pm, also with two back-to-back episodes. Western The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp will air from 9-10am with two back-to-back episodes. Another western, Bronco, will air weekdays at 8am, while the drama It Takes a Thief will air Mondays at 10pm. What will this mean for some of the existing shows airing in these time periods? We will let you know soon.

USA Network announced the renewal of the critically-acclaimed comedy, Playing House, from Universal Cable Productions, through a new windowing structure, which will allow viewers each week to watch the following week's episode on Video-On-Demand before it airs on USA. The network will prominently promote the on-demand episodes, driving viewers to watch in the early window. This new approach is designed to offer select advertisers premium placement across millions of multiplatform connected homes, and engage the highly passionate community of Playing House fans across VOD and TV Everywhere platforms. The series, which is executive produced by, written by and stars Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham, will return in the second half of 2015 for eight episodes.

Playing House centers on childhood best friends Maggie Caruso (Lennon Parham, Parks and Recreation) and Emma Crawford (Jessica St. Clair, Bridesmaids), who together have shared countless adventures growing up in the charming town of Pinebrook, Conn. In the first season, Maggie discovered that her husband Bruce (Brad Morris) was having an online affair, so Emma gave up her burgeoning business career in China to stay in their hometown and help Maggie raise her baby. As they prepared for the birth of Maggie's first child and the fallout of her marriage ending, Emma was also forced to confront the past that she abruptly left behind thirteen years ago: her first love and local cop, Mark (Keegan-Michael Key), her prim-and-proper mother (Jane Kaczmarek) and a small town in which she's never felt comfortable. Together, they navigated the adventures of raising a baby in the best way they know how - together.

Yesterday we gave you MeTV Network's spring schedule, now we have Antenna TV's spring 2013 schedule. As we mentioned, Leave it to Beaver, Dragnet and Adam-12 are leaving Antenna TV, as their rights have expired and gone to MeTV. The Antenna TV Spring 2013 schedule will begin on Monday, April 29 (a full week before MeTV's spring schedule) and will have some returning series from hiatus to fill the void of those three major shows leaving. The Nanny and Married...with Children will both return to Antenna TV from hiatus and will air Mon-Thurs, with The Nanny airing 8-9pm ET and Married...with Children from 11pm-12am ET. The Nanny will replace All in the Family in the 8pm hour, as All in the Family is leaving the daily schedule but will move to the Wednesday primetime sitcom block from 9-11pm instead of a second night of Diff'rent Strokes. Not to worry fans of Diff'rent Strokes, the sitcom will still air Monday nights from 9-11pm (and also Sundays 10-11pm). Married will replace one of the many Leave it to Beaver hours. Returning to the weekday morning/afternoon line-up will be McHale's Navy, Bachelor Father and Hazel, as three hours were needed since Beaver, Dragnet and Adam-12 were heavily part of the daytime schedule. The late afternoon/evening line-up will remain unchanged from 4pm-8pm, which includes hours of Partridge Family, Good Times, Sanford & Son and Maude. Late nights will remain unchanged from 12am on, which includes Alfred Hitchcock Presents at 12 midnight.

Friday nights will have a return to the black & white sitcom block. From 8pm-12am, classic '50s/'60s sitcoms will air: Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best, McHale's Navy and the return of The Three Stooges to the line-up. Onto weekends, Circus Boy will be leaving the schedule, as a second morning of Rin Tin Tin will be added. McHale's Navy will also get some weekend action from 1-2pm, while more It Takes a Thief will be added to fill the void of Adam-12 and Dragnet. Also leaving weekends will be S.W.A.T. and Here Come the Brides, while Suspense Theatre gets more airtime. The Sunday night sitcom block of '70s/'80s series will remain unchanged from 8pm-12am with Barney Miller, Maude, Diff'rent Strokes and Benson. That about sums up the schedule, but be sure to view the full schedule below. There are no new shows in the line-up, but plenty of time changes and shows returning from hiatus. Some new additions will probably not be added until the fall, so stay with us for that.
View the Antenna TV Spring 2013 schedule, which begins April 29. Stay with us for continued updates as usual.




On the next...Go On:
By: Vincent

NBC's freshman comedy starring Matthew Perry airs again on a special night Thursday at 9:30pm and we have just watched the next episode that air tonight (April 11). It's the season finale! In the episode airing tonight, "Urn-ed Run," Ryan, (Matthew Perry) in the continuing effort to recover after the loss of his wife, Janie, (Christine Woods) is presented with a plan "masterminded" by Mr. K (Brett Gelman) and Anne (Julie White) to help force Ryan to lay his wife's ashes to rest, but the plan goes awry. Meanwhile, the group grumbles they're not getting anything out of their sessions and blame Lauren (Laura Benanti) to such an extent that Yolanda (Suzy Nakamura) and Sonia (Sarah Baker) make up a big problem for her to fix. After the failure of both plans, the group comes together with new perspectives.

Go On is a perfectly capable sitcom. Unlike its former timeslot partner The New Normal, it has comfortably slipped into a comic rhythmic that utilizes its talented cast in the best way possible. Each episode is good for a few laughs, and the show's ensemble has developed really nicely, reaching that magical point where sometimes it's just fun to watch these people bounce off of each other. The show's major problem, though - and the problem that keeps it from being a truly great sitcom on par with some of NBC's other flagship comedies - is that it has completely dropped the ball on its dark, interesting premise of a widower trying to move on and finding comfort in a support group. Occasionally, Go On will show us a glimpse of its serious side, but it's always covered in several layers of silly sitcom antics, which significantly takes away from the impact that the show wants it to have.



All of that is all too evident in tonight's finale, which has a potentially thoughtful storyline about Ryan finally spreading his wife's ashes but goes through several worn-out sitcom tropes to get to an ending that's somewhat emotional, but isn't bold enough to truly delve into the darkness that the material requires. It doesn't help that the silly sitcom scenarios aren't particularly funny and don't seem to have a lot of effort put into them - the show's humor works much better with one-liners and witty banter. It often feels like Go On wants to be both ambitious & dark and broad & accessible, and it just isn't able to strike that balance. Still, there's enough that works here to make Go On's finale a fairly entertaining half-hour, and maybe if the show gets a second season (it's squarely on the bubble right now), it'll learn to work with its various elements. But right now, it feels like an okay show that could be something more. C+

As announced back in 2011, MeTV Network will get rights to many series from NBCUniversal Television Distribution. Some series have already started airing but three more are coming this spring and are "new to Me." Leave it to Beaver, Dragnet and Adam-12 will make their way from Antenna TV to MeTV effective Monday, May 6, part of their "It's New To Me" line-up! Both series will be leaving Antenna TV later this month, as Antenna TV starts a new schedule on April 29 (which we will post shortly, so stay tuned). On MeTV, Leave it to Beaver will air weekdays at 9:00am & 9:30am ET, replacing Daniel Boone. The other two additions will be paired in the 4pm hour with Dragnet at 4pm ET and Adam-12 at 4:30pm ET, replacing The Wild Wild West. Both series will lead-into similar style series Emergency! at 5pm, which was already on the schedule. That's it, no other schedule changes will be made. This means The Wild Wild West and Daniel Boone will be off the line-up this spring. Stay with us for continued updates on the MeTV schedule and we will give you Antenna TV's spring schedule later this week, which will obviously not have these three shows anymore.

In more MeTV news, his weekend, MeTV will pay tribute to the beloved actress and singer, Annette Funicello. On Sunday, April 14, from 1pm-3pm, Eastern/Pacific, MeTV will air select episodes of Make Room For Daddy. Before she was queen of the beach, she was Danny Thomas' foreign exchange student on Make Room for Daddy. "A Tribute To Annette Funicello" will feature episodes with Annette Funicello in her role as foreign exchange student, Gina Minelli. Sunday's tribute includes several of her classic TV appearances on the sitcom. This tribute carries on the MeTV tradition of paying homage to the lives and careers of classic TV stars. Episodes airing are "Gina From Italy," "Gina's First Date," "Frankie Laine Sings for Gina," and "Gina for President." Make Room for Daddy regularly airs on MeTV every weekday mornings at 5:30am ET.

TBS has announced a premiere date for season two of original sitcom Sullivan & Son. The sitcom was ordered for a 10-episode second season after finishing its first season last summer, which also had 10 episodes. Sullivan & Son will have its season premiere on Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 10pm and will continue to air Thursdays at 10, like last summer. The sitcom will premiere a week after the season finale of fellow original sitcom Men at Work, which will wrap up its 10-episode second season on June 6. Men at Work had its season premiere last Thursday (April 4). In other TBS comedy news, Cougar Town had its one-hour season finale last night (April 9). Back to Sullivan & Son, series star Steve Byrne suffered an injury to his face recently that led his jaw being wired shut for six weeks. So a shutdown of production on Season 2 for the series was ordered until June, but TBS still plans on premiering the sitcom on June 13 as some of the episodes have already taped. TBS's Sullivan & Son stars Steve Byrne as a corporate attorney who finds new life behind the bar when he leaves his Manhattan lifestyle and moves to Pittsburgh to take over his parents' pub. Byrne is joined by a stellar ensemble cast that includes Christine Ebersole, Brian Doyle-Murray, Jodi Long, Valerie Azlynn, Vivian Bang, Owen Benjamin and Dan Lauria.

Watch the video announcing the return on June 13:

It's time for another fall schedule! MeTV Network adds classic programming from NBCUniversal Television Distribution to the fall schedule and network library, joining acquisitions from Twentieth Television, CBS Television Distribution, and independent producers and distributors. MeTV continues to define classic television with key acquisitions from the NBCUniversal library including three iconic detective series: The Rockford Files, Kojak and Columbo. Many of these NBCUniversal series will begin airing on MeTV as early as Monday, September 26, 2011 when the network's fall schedule launches, while others will premiere over the next several years, helping to insure a long-term variety on the MeTV schedule. Additional fall premieres include the original Star Trek and Batman series, Bosom Buddies, Cheers, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Rogues, Lost in Space, The Fugitive, Route 66, Naked City, Peter Gunn, and Love American Style. In addition, favorites Daniel Boone and The Rifleman have been acquired through the Peter Rodgers Organization and the original Laurel & Hardy shorts and features have been acquired through RHI Entertainment Distribution; both titles will premiere this fall on Me-TV.

With the new additions, some series will be leaving the schedule. The series leaving are Streets of San Francisco, The Honeymooners, and Stagecoach West. Breaking down the schedule, we will start with weekdays. Comedies air from 5am-9am including Gomer Pyle, Family Affair & My Three Sons, leading into dramas and westerns from 9am-7pm, which include the new evening block of Kojak at 4pm, The Rockford Files at 5pm, and The Rifleman at 6pm. Sitcoms take over from 7pm-11pm, which remain the same except the 10pm hour now has Cheers and Taxi. More dramas will air from 11pm-5am and will remain as it is now, with programs such as The Twilight Zone. Moving on to Saturdays, westerns start it off from 5am-8am, then a mandatory E/I series break from 8am-11am, before the westerns return from 11am-7pm, as The Rifleman joins the western line-up at 6pm. The Saturday night sitcom line-up, which was the same as weekdays, will now be removed for an adventure themed night with Batman, Lost in Space and Star Trek from 7pm-10pm. Svengoolie remains at 10pm, leading into new addition Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea at 12 midnight. Saturday nights are closed out by sitcoms from 1am-4am, like Get Smart. At 4am, rarely seen series The Rogues will air. And finally on Sundays, comedy takes over for westerns from 5am-8am with series like The Phil Silvers Show and Laurel & Hardy. Then it is the mandatory E/I series break from 8am-11am, leading into The Brady Bunch Brunch from 11am-1pm, which will remain. Sitcoms continue from 1pm-5pm with series like Happy Days and new addition Bosom Buddies. Me-TV still loves Lucy, but now I Love Lucy is 5-7pm instead of 4-7pm. M*A*S*H remains at 7, but then a new Sunday primetime replaces sitcoms with the addition of Columbo from 8-10pm and Thriller at 11pm. Comedies are no longer airing from 11pm-2am on Sunday nights either, as dramas like The Fugitive will air. New addition Route 66 will air at 3am.

In addition, MeTV viewers will find Leave it to Beaver, Dragnet, Adam-12, Boris Karloff's Thriller, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Wagon Train, (both the original 60 minute and 90 minute versions) enhancing the MeTV schedule over the course of the next few years. Also to air on the network will be 1970's favorite Emergency! as well as Raymond Burr's other series, Ironside. As we know, competing digital network Antenna TV will add Leave it to Beaver, Dragnet, Adam-12 and Hitchcock this October, but MeTV will not get the rights to these series until a few more years. We will have more on those series when they are scheduled!
For now, view the MeTV Fall 2011 schedule and discuss the schedule!

Finally, we have some sad news to report. Comedy writer and producer Jeffrey Hodes has died. He died suddenly from cancer-treatment related complications on September 14. Hodes had cancer but was in remission and was getting ready for a bone marrow transplant when he developed breathing problems. An MRI showed blood in his brain. After a day in intensive care, he was taken off life support. Mr. Hodes was in his 40s.

Hodes and his wife and writing partner, Nastaran Dibai, worked together on a number of sitcoms over the years. Their writing credits included Flesh 'n' Blood, Living Single, The Preston Episodes, The Nanny, Jesse, 3rd Rock from the Sun, According to Jim, Hope & Faith, Rita Rocks and the first season finale of Happily Divorced. They served as producers on Living Single, The Nanny, Jesse, 3rd Rock from the Sun, According to Jim and Happily Divorced. The pair helped develop a comedy project for ABC last year with Kelly Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos. Mr. Hodes is survived by his wife and their young daughter. He will be missed.

When we kicked off out look at the fall 2011 schedules in late July, we started with Antenna TV's Fall 2011 schedule. Now they have changed the schedule and the start date. The schedule was originally supposed to start yesterday (Monday, Sept. 19), but now the classic line-up will start on Saturday, October 1 with many more classics being added! The original schedule had some time changes and the addition of NewsRadio to the line-up on Sunday nights. NewsRadio is still on track to air on Sunday nights, but that's not all that is joining the line-up now! Antenna TV brings a new round of classic programs to television viewers nationwide this fall with the additions of series like Leave it to Beaver, Dragnet and Adam-12. The enhancements to Antenna TV come as the Tribune Broadcasting multicast broadcast network marks clearances in more than 50% of the U.S. with additional new affiliates including stations in Detroit and Orlando. Other new programs on the Antenna TV lineup starting October 1 are McHale's Navy, Bachelor Father, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Jack Benny, S.W.A.T., Suspense Theater, and It Takes a Thief. And of course, the network continues to feature longstanding classics such as Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, Good Times, Three's Company, All in the Family, Maude and Sanford and Son.

Going over the new and improved fall 2011 schedule, we will start with weekdays. Movies will now air only from 5am-1pm. The weekday schedule begins on Monday, Oct. 3 and will start now at 1pm with series programming with the perfect combo of Dragnet and Adam-12 in the 1pm hour. The comedy series McHale's Navy will follow in the 2pm hour. Then from 3-5pm, it is a block of fathers with an hour of Bachelor Father at 3pm and Father Knows Best at 4pm. That block will lead into similar-themed series Dennis the Menace at 5pm and new addition Leave it to Beaver at 6pm. That's a match made in heaven! Good Times remains in the 7pm hour leading into primetime. Primetime will now kick-off with Three's Company in the 8pm hour, but that will be Mon-Thurs. Too Close for Comfort will air on Friday nights in the 8pm hour. Three Stooges will no longer air in primetime on Friday nights from 8-11pm, instead it will air in the overnight black & white block from 3-5am on Friday nights. Back to weeknights, the 9pm hour will continue to be All in the Family, now on Fridays as well. Spin-off series Maude will now move from the 8pm hour to the 10pm hour every weeknight. Airing in the 11pm hour will now be Sanford & Son, replacing Mad About You, which is the only series leaving the line-up even with all these new additions. The encore of Three's Company remains in the 12am hour every Mon-Thurs, with Too Close for Comfort on Friday nights. From 1am-5am, the line-up will air Sunday nights through Thursday nights with an hour of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, followed by an hour each of black & white classics Burns & Allen, Jack Benny, and Hazel. Friday nights will feature Benny Hill from 1am-3am, followed by The Three Stooges from 3-5am, as these will be the only airings now for these two series. Only other note for weekdays is that Married...with Children will no longer air Mon-Thurs from 10-11pm. But it will still on on the air. Keep reading.

Moving on to weekends starting Oct. 1, Saturdays will have Movies start off at 5am, then the animated Totally Tooned In is in the 9am hour leading into E/I programming from 10am-1pm. The planned 1pm movie will remain, but the 3pm movie is no longer planned as an hour each of Gidget and The Flying Nun will air instead on both Saturdays and Sundays. Also on both days will be The Monkees at 5pm and The Partridge Family at 6pm. These four series were originally go to air one time each in the late nights on Mon-Thurs, but now will remain on weekends. On Saturdays, 7pm will begin a crime block with S.W.A.T. at 7pm, leading into back-to-back Adam-12 and Dragnet from 8-10pm. Back-to-back episodes of the hour-long drama It Takes a Thief will air at 10pm & 11pm. Saturday nights will now feature Alfred Hitchcock Presents from 12am-3am. Benny Hill and Three Stooges will no longer air on Saturday nights either. Saturday nights close out with the series Suspense Theater at 3am and 4am.
Sundays will start with movies at 5am leading into the current block of Circus Boy, Rin Tin Tin, Iron Horse and Here Come the Brides from 9am-1pm. The planned 1pm movie will remain, but the 3pm movie will no longer happened as we mentioned on Saturdays. Sundays from 3pm-7pm will be the same as the new Saturday line-up. Sundays at 7pm will now feature Too Close for Comfort leading into a newer comedy block from 8-11pm with an hour each of The Nanny, NewsRadio and Married...with Children. The latter will now only air on Sunday nights in the 10pm hour. Soap will now be cut down to an hour, airing in the 11pm hour leading into the encore of Too Close for Comfort. And 1am-5am will be the same as Mon-Thurs nights, as we mentioned.

View the UPDATED Antenna TV Fall 2011 schedule. So there you have it! What a line-up this is. It has something for everyone and lots of new series being added. We also have some exclusive news! Antenna TV is planning holiday marathons of TV classics this holiday season beginning with Halloween! An Alfred Hitchcock Presents all-day and night Halloween (Oct 31) marathon is planned. Then on Thanksgiving Day they will be airing an all-day Three's Company marathon. On Christmas Eve and Day, Antenna TV will be airing all of their series that has Christmas episodes ranging from Burns and Allen, All in the Family, Three's Company, The Nanny and more! Antenna TV is also working on marathons for New Year's Eve and Day, so stay tuned for that, as that is still quite some time away. We will have more on these marathons with exact timings, closer to the holidays.
As for new clearances, Adell Broadcasting's WADL-TV in Detroit and Cox Broadcasting's WRDQ-TV in Orlando are two of the newest affiliates joining Antenna TV. Other recent additions include three Media General stations: WNCN-TV (Raleigh-Durham), WJTV-TV (Jackson, MS) and WBTW-TV (Myrtle Beach) and Sarkes Tarzian station KTVN-TV in Reno, NV. Stay with us as Antenna TV adds more stations and if any more programming changes happen. We are your go to source for anything classic TV!



We have some sad news to report. Character actress Frances Bay, best-known for playing quirky, elderly women on film and television, has died. Bay died at Providence Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California on September 15, 2011, after being diagnosed with pneumonia. She had been ill with various infections. Ms. Bay was 92.

Bay made appearances in more than 150 films and television shows in a career that she began in her mid-50s. Her first film appearance was a small part in the 1978 comedy Foul Play. One of her first major television roles was as Grandma Nussbaum, the grandmother of Fonzie, on Happy Days. Another memorable role for her was as Mabel Choate on Seinfeld. In the famous episode titled The Rye, she is mugged by Jerry for her loaf of marbled rye bread. She would return in The Cadillac and the series finale. Her many other sitcom appearances included The Jeffersons, Family Ties, Cheers, The Golden Girls, Newhart, ALF, Who's the Boss?, Empty Nest, The Hughleys and Hannah Montana. She was still active as of last season with appearances on The Middle as the silent Aunt Ginny. Some of her drama television appearances included Hart to Hart, The Dukes of Hazzard, Flamingo Road, Cagney & Lacey, T.J. Hooker, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, Hunter, Matlock, Twin Peaks, Charmed and Grey's Anatomy. Her film roles included The Karate Kid, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Big Top Pee-wee, In the Mouth of Madness and Happy Gilmore.

She was born in Manville, Alberta, Canada. In 2008, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. She has no immediate survivors. Her husband, Charles, died in 2002. Their son, Josh, died at the age of 23. She was a sweet and funny lady and will be deeply missed.

The birds can sing as we are in the full swing of spring, but here, we sing all year long in Digital Digest, our weekly feature about all things sitcom related in the home media realm! This week, in addition to our regular news (which, lamentably, is about as slow as it has been regularly lately), we have a review of Dragnet 1970 - Season 4. Let's get going!


DIGITAL NEWS

We know that you're excited about Car 54, Where Are You? - The Complete First Season making it's DVD debut on Tuesday (check out our review here), and you probably aren't thinking "season two, where are you?" just yet... but you should! Because even though no firm date is set for the second season, it IS on the horizon for sometime in 2012. We'll let you know when we have more information, of course.

Our only other news this week is a bit of "housekeeping" news with an announcement (somewhat) of a current season of a current season coming to DVD. This time it is ABC's The Middle, with The Middle - The Complete Second Season. No date is given yet (August or September is a VERY safe bet), but it will come at a $44.98 MSRP.


UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (April 12) has one sitcom release with the debut of the classic TV series Car 54, Where Are You? - The Complete First Season, finally available on DVD for the first time ever! You can check out our review of this excellent set here. There are also a few classic drama releases on Tuesday, including Dallas - Movie Collection, which contains every single one of the televised movies based upon the series of Dallas. You can read our review of this set here. Finally, "it's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday" with Joe Friday in Dragnet 1970 - Season 4, the final season of the most popular version of the franchise about Los Angeles police detectives. We have a review of this set today in Digital Digest.


BLOG FEATURE REVIEW

Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) are back together one last time for the final season of the late 60s/early 70s incarnation of the series Dragnet. Working together, the crime fighting duo sees it all (and it is all based upon true stories) in the city of Los Angeles, in the era of "sex, drugs, and rock and roll," and do their part to fight back. Check out our review of Dragnet 1970 - Season 4.

DVD Review - Dragnet 1970 - Season 4
by skees53

Dragnet 1970 - Season 4 (Shout! Factory, $34.93) is the end of an era for Jack Webb's iconic series about the police detectives who work hard to keep crime off of the streets of Los Angeles. The final 26 installments of the series, in this four disc set, find Sergeant Friday and Officer Gannon dealing with cases from homicide to forgery to bigamy to drug pushers and even to dognappers. The streets of Los Angeles aren't the safest place in the world, but Friday and Gannon are going to do their best to make those streets just a little bit safer.

The season begins with "Personnel - The Shooting," where the wives of two officers have to comfort each other during an injury in the line of duty. Friday and Gannon come across $25,000 in stolen loot in "S.I.U. - The Ring." Friday and Gannon are working in Central Receiving Hospital in "D.H.Q. - Medical," where they have to deal with some difficult cases. In "Juvenile - The Little Pusher," a junior high school drug bust turns out to be much more than it seems. Friday and Gannon are on the trail of a missing juvenile in "D.H.Q. - Missing Persons." Technicalities may turn a guilty man free in "Burglary - Courtroom."
Friday and Gannon may have to save a 19 year old former addict who may have gone back to old habits in "Narco - Missing Hype." A murder mystery has to be solved in "Homicide - Who Killed Who." In "A.I.D. - The Weekend," a weekend of rest and recreation for the two officers turns out to be anything but that. A dangerous personality changing pill is what the guys are after in "Narco - Pill Maker." What better way to make money than to steal dogs and collect reward money from their owners? That is what one crook does in "Auto Theft - Dognappers." Friday and Gannon have to identify a dead body using very few clues in "Missing Persons - The Body." Friday is in night school in "D.H.Q. - Night School," but making an arrest after class may jeopardize his entire education. The series ends with "D.H.Q. - The Victims," where Friday and Gannon investigate two homicides, an armed robbery, and a purse snatching.

The episode runtimes are fairly consistent this time, with no problems to note at all. Runtimes are as follows:

Disc 1:
1. "Personnel - The Shooting" (25:04)
2. "Homicide - The Student" (25:04)
3. "S.I.U. - The Ring" (25:04)
4. "D.H.Q. - Medical" (25:04)
5. "Burglary - Mister" (25:03)
6. "Juvenile - The Little Pusher" (25:02)

Disc 2:
7. "Homicide - Cigarette Butt" (25:05)
8. "D.H.Q. - Missing Persons" (25:05)
9. "Burglary - Courtroom" (25:02)
10. "Internal Affairs - Parolee" (25:06)
11. "Burglary - Juvenile Genius" (25:02)
12. "Bunco - $9,000" (25:05)

Disc 3:
13. "Narco - Missing Hype" (25:05)
14. "Burglary - Helpful Woman" (25:05)
15. "Homicide - Who Killed Who" (25:05)
16. "Burglary - The Son" (25:04)
17. "A.I.D. - The Weekend" (25:04)
18. "Narco - Pill Maker" (25:03)
19. "Auto Theft - Dognappers" (25:05)

Disc 4:
20. "Missing Persons - The Body" (25:05)
21. "Forgery - The Ranger" (25:03)
22. "D.H.Q. - Night School" (25:05)
23. "I.A.D. - The Receipt" (25:05)
24. "Robbery - The Harassing Wife" (25:03)
25. "Burglary - Baseball" (25:05)
26. "D.H.Q. - The Victims" (25:05)

The set is packaged a bit different this time than the previous sets, as it has gone to the standard Viva cases like many other DVD sets have (as opposed to the previous slimcases). On the cover, we have a simple shot of Friday and Gannon (smiling, believe it or not) and the back has another shot of Friday along with the basic information about the set. Inside the case, we have the four discs (the only artwork is the series logo on a blue background) and a listing of all of the episodes (along with descriptions and airdates) inside the case. Disc 1 contains episodes 1-6, Disc 2 contains episodes 7-12, Disc 3 contains episodes 13-19, and Disc 4 contains episodes 20-26.

The menus are along the same lines as the previous sets, with the main menu displaying the series logo on the main menu with the closing theme playing in the background. The options are the same as the previous sets, with options of Play All, Episodes, and Bonus (on Disc 1 only). Selecting Episodes will give you a menu that shows brief video segments of each episode on the disc. There are chapters placed throughout each episode.

I didn't really notice any problems on the set as far as video and audio is concerned, although there was some of the usual grain and debris. Still, the series doesn't look all that bad considering how old it is. Unfortunately, the episodes are neither closed-captioned nor are they subtitled.

The set contains only one bonus feature, which can be found on Disc 1. "Jack Webb and Harry Morgan on The Jack Benny Second Farewell Special" (5:34) is a brief skit from the second farewell special for Jack Benny where Webb and Morgan reprise their roles as Friday and Gannon to investigate Benny for a purse snatching. It isn't a very long feature, but it is nice to have, at least.

I never thought that this series would be finished on DVD after being stalled for so many years, but now, in less than one year, we've gotten all three of the remaining seasons of the series. It is disappointing that special features have not been too impressive on these sets, but what has been available has been a nice touch to each of the sets. It would be nice to see some of the other incarnations of the series (particularly the version from the 50s) released on DVD now, but aside from the few public domain sets that are out there now, I wouldn't count on those being released anytime soon. Fans of crime dramas are sure to enjoy this, but there is definitely some crossover appeal for this series as well. The series appears to have been removed from online streaming from Netflix, so this is now the best way to view the series. But remember, even though these are true stories, all suspects are innocent until proven guilty.

(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
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LOOKING AHEAD

It's a wrap for this week in Digital Digest! We've got some Hanna-Barbera animated DVD reviews in the upcoming weeks and more. We hope that you'll be back with us next week and every week thereafter. Until then, keep it digital!

Welcome to Digital Digest, where you can get your weekly dose of home media news, previews of what is coming up next week on home media, and reviews! This week we have reviews of Dragnet 1969 - Season 3 from Shout! Factory and the recently released Mannix - The Fourth Season from CBS Home Entertainment! Let's get going!


DIGITAL NEWS

We start this week with an update on the upcoming release of Dennis the Menace - Season One. Recent information discovered on Movies Unlimited shows that the set will include interviews (which we already knew about) as well as the crossover episode of the series from The Donna Reed Show. Jeannie Russell (who played Margaret) also hinted in a recent Shokus Radio interview that the set will include some newly recorded segments with herself and Gloria Henry (Alice). We are really looking forward to this set!

Visual Home Entertainment has been releasing some popular American series for Canada in recent years, and most recently, they acquired the series McMillan & Wife, releasing the second season of the series a few months ago. Their website is currently under construction, but it can clearly be seen on the main page of their website box art for a set that has not been announced yet: McMillan & Wife - Season Three. The website TVShowsOnDVD.com confirms this further, giving a $39.95 (CAN) MSRP and a release date of March 8. It isn't available yet on Amazon.com (though it is expected to be), but it is available to pre-order at Amazon.ca.

While we are talking "north of the border," we finally have an answer for a release that has been out for quite some time that we've been very confused about! Married... With Children - The Complete Series has been available to order on amazon.com for quite some time, and it appears that it is currently shipping. But when we asked Sony, the distributor, about this release, they had no clue what we were talking about. We assumed that this set had been delayed and that Amazon.com was showing some sort of error. But, as it turns out, there is an explanation for all of it! This set, as it turns out, is a Canadian release, although it is on Region 1 DVDs (as Canada is in Region 1), and Amazon.com is simply importing this release from Canada. Of course, we always cut to the chase here, so it is worth pointing out that this release can be purchased and shipped to the United States from Amazon.ca for less than half of what it currently costs on the American website, so if you are interested, you may want to check that out.


UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (January 11) has a decent number of releases, beginning with the TV Land hit series, Hot in Cleveland - Season One. From Sony, we have the current CBS series Rules of Engagement - The Complete Fourth Season on tap. Shout! Factory has plenty of "best of" releases of previously released DVDs, including Adam-12 - Volume 1, Dragnet 1968 - Volume 1, and Spin City - Volume 1 (not to be confused with the similarly titled previous release from DreamWorks), but the highlight from Shout! Factory is the release of All in the Family - The Complete Eighth Season. You can read our review of All in the Family here. We should have reviews of Hot in Cleveland and Rules of Engagement later this weekend (we just received them ourselves).


BLOG FEATURE REVIEW

"This is the city. Los Angeles, California." Los Angeles may be a nice city, but it is also a city where crimes occur. And Sergeant Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and his partner Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) are going to take care of the burglars, runaways, and druggs of the 1960s the best way they know how, in Dragnet 1969 - Season 3.

DVD Review - Dragnet 1969 - Season 3
by skees53

Dragnet 1969 - Season 3 (Shout! Factory, $34.93) brings 27 more stories of crime in the city of angels to DVD in a four disc set. Sergeant Joe Friday and partner Bill Gannon carry a badge and are determined to do the best that they can to stop criminals in the act, all while maintaining top-notch professional ethics. The series was based upon the actual case files of the Los Angeles Police Department, with actors portraying the roles of the victims and the accused. It later paved the way for other hit shows based upon true stories in Los Angeles (and also produced by Jack Webb) including Adam-12 and Emergency!

The third season of the series begins with "Public Affairs - DR-07," where Friday and Gannon appear on a TV debate show to defend the police department against allegations of corruption, brutality, and ignorance within the LAPD. Howard Hesseman guest stars as the officer's opposition, credited using the alias Don Sturdy. Friday and Gannon are working the juvenile division for the night in "Juvenile - DR-05." In "Management Services - DR-11," we get to see the LAPD response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It seems like it'll be a nice dinner for Friday, Gannon, and Gannon's wife in "Homicide - DR-06," but it all ends up being interrupted by crime as usual. The president is coming to town in "Public Affairs - DR-12," and with this being Los Angeles in the 60s, that proves to be a big security task for the LAPD. Friday and Gannon are in need of assistance in bringing down drug trafficking in "Narcotics - DR-16." In "Community Relations - DR-17," Gannon and Friday discover that prejudice is alive and well among officers of both races in the department, and struggle to figure out how to solve the problem.
A 91 year old man comes to the assistance of Friday and Gannon during a murder investigation in "Homicide - DR-22." Friday uncovers a crooked cop in "Administrative Vice - DR-29." In "Frauds - DR-28," Friday and Gannon are on the trail of an embezzlement ring. Friday and Gannon deal with a very unusual burglary suspect who only steals photos of an old comic-strip hero in "Burglary - DR-31." In "Forgery - DR-33," Friday and Gannon deal with a forgery suspect who has been brainwashed by her hippie friends. A child who is allergic to an anti-rabies serum is bitten by a dog in "Juvenile - DR-32," and the department must track down the dog. $100,000 turns up missing from a department store in "Frauds - DR-36," and Friday and Gannon have the task of finding out how this crime occurred.

Most episodes on the set appear to be unedited, but there is one episode that has a particularly disturbing runtime. The episode "Narcotics - DR-16" clocks in at just over 20 minutes. This really doesn't sound right at all. It is worth noting that this episode has the same runtime on Hulu. It appears that something is indeed missing here. Runtimes as follows:

Disc 1:
1. "Public Affairs - DR-07" (25:34)
2. "Juvenile - DR-06" (25:25)
3. "Community Relations - DR-10" (25:33)
4. "Management Services - DR-11" (25:33)
5. "Police Commission - DR-13" (25:31)
6. "Homicide - DR-06" (25:34)

Disc 2:
7. "Robbery - DR-15" (25:30)
8. "Public Affairs - DR-12" (25:32)
9. "Training - DR-18" (25:34)
10. "Public Affairs - DR-14" (25:32)
11. "Narcotics - DR-16" (20:14)
12. "Internal Affairs - DR-20" (25:29)
13. "Community Relations - DR-17" (25:30)

Disc 3:
14. "Homicide - DR-22" (25:34)
15. "B.O.D. - DR-27" (25:32)
16. "Narcotics - DR-21" (25:33)
17. "Administrative Vice - DR-29" (25:32)
18. "The Joy Riders" (24:31)
19. "Frauds - DR-28" (25:32)
20. "Juvenile - DR-19" (25:31)

Disc 4:
21. "Burglary - DR-31"(25:34)
22. "Vice - DR-30" (25:32)
23. "Forgery - DR-33" (25:31)
24. "Juvenile - DR-32" (25:31)
25. "Juvenile - DR-35" (25:32)
26. "Frauds - DR-36" (25:31)
27. "Intelligence - DR-34" (25:30)

The set comes in the standard slimcases, just as the previous sets did, with all single sided discs (unlike the double sided ones used for Universal's release of Season 1). The cover art has Friday and Gannon standing in front of a file cabinet, and the rear box art has Friday smoking a cigarette with information about the set. Inside, the slimcases show file folders, an old telephone, and an ashtray full of cigarettes on the front of each case, and have information about the episodes, including a synopsis and original airdate for each one, on the back. The disc artwork simply has the series title logo and the disc number on each disc. Disc 1 contains episodes 1-6, Disc 2 contains episodes 7-13, Disc 3 contains episodes 14-20, and Disc 4 contains episodes 21-27.

The menus on the set are very basic, but very nicely done. The main menu has the series logo, along with photos from the series popping up on screen. The closing theme plays in the background. You have the options of Play All, Episodes, and Bonus (Disc 1 only). Once you select Episodes, you get a menu that lists all of the episodes. The menu has, as the "snapshots" for each episode, a brief video segment from the episode (without audio). Chapters are placed throughout each episode.

The video and audio quality of the set is excellent considering that the episodes are over 40 years old. There is a little bit of grain and debris, but it really isn't bad at all. The audio is loud and crisp, and closed-captioning is available on every episode for those who need them.

The set isn't neglected at all in regards to special features. For those who are interested in the "past" of Dragnet, there is an episode of the original 1950s version of the series, entitled "The Big Smoke" (26:28). The video quality isn't great, but it is decent and better than one would expect. It would be nice to see some company release official releases of this version of the series on DVD. There are also some Jack Webb PSAs, the first for "Muscular Dystrophy" (1:04) and the second for "Social Security" (0:47). Finally, there is a 1970 syndication promo for the series (0:53). All of these special features can be found on Disc 1.

This is another great set of this series, and hopefully we'll get the fourth (and final) season of the series on DVD soon! Shout! Factory has done a better job with this series than Universal did with the first season (aside from the likely edited episode), and hopefully, the fourth season will be as nicely done as this set and the second season was. I really can't find anything at all to complain about with this set, which is a good thing. Fans of police dramas are sure to enjoy this, but even if you aren't a fan of such series, this series definitely has "crossover appeal" that any fan of classic TV can find enjoyable. But remember, all suspects are innocent until proven guilty.

(4/5 stars)

To purchase this DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
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Related links:
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BLOG FEATURE REVIEW

Detective series are, as it is made obvious with our many reviews of them, a big part of classic (and even contemporary) TV. In the late 60s and early 70s, Mike Connors starred as Joe Mannix, a detective on the streets of Southern California. The series was a hit and won many awards, including an Emmy Award for Gail Fisher, who played Mannix's secretary Peggy Fair, who did much more than just sit at a desk answering the phone. Here is our review of Mannix - The Fourth Season.

DVD Review - Mannix - The Fourth Season
by skees53

Mannix - The Fourth Season (CBS Home Entertainment, $49.98) collects all 24 episodes of the fourth (of eight) seasons of the popular detective drama in a six disc set. Mike Connors plays Joe Mannix, a private detective who always manages to get himself into tough situations (and often fights and even getting shot) and make it out on top. The series was created by Bruce Geller (also known for Mission: Impossible) for Desilu Productions (later, by this season, Paramount).

In "A Ticket to the Eclipse," one of Joe's Korean War buddies is out for revenge and has already killed two men... but nobody will take him seriously. Mannix is framed and forced to take a job for a gangster's widow in "One For the Lady." Mannix has to stay alive long enough to find a missing woman in "Figures in a Landscape." A prison guard is held hostage when a death row inmate dies in "The Lost Art of Dying." Peggy falls for an African premier who is the target of an assassination plot in "The World Between." In "Bang, Bang, You're Dead," Mannix investigates a hit-and-run attempt on a little girl that may be more than what it seems. A psychic predicts that Mannix is going to die soon in "Deja Vu," and she may not be too far off target!
An injury causes Mannix to lose his memory from that past 24 hours in "What Happened to Sunday?" at a crucial moment. A private detective may be the target of a murder in "With Intent to Kill." In "A Gathering of Ghosts," what seems to be an innocent college football reunion for Mannix turns out to be so much more. The season ends with "Overkill," where Mannix discovers that the psychotic who may have killed his friend may not have been responsible at all.

Runtimes for the episodes are as follows:

Disc 1:
1. "A Ticket to the Eclipse" (50:19)
2. "One for the Lady" (51:07)
3. "Time Out of Mind" (51:06)
4. "Figures in a Landscape" (51:07)

Disc 2:
5. "The Mouse that Died" (51:05)
6. "The Lost Art of Dying" (51:05)
7. "The Other Game in Town" (50:32)
8. "The World Between" (51:06)

Disc 3:
9. "Sunburst" (50:29)
10. "To Cage a Seagull" (50:29)
11. "Bang, Bang, You're Dead" (50:30)
12. "Deja Vu" (50:31)

Disc 4:
13. "Duet for Three" (50:33)
14. "Round Trip to Nowhere" (51:08)
15. "What Happened to Sunday?" (50:29)
16. "The Judas Touch" (50:29)

Disc 5:
17. "With Intent to Kill" (50:31)
18. "The Crime That Wasn't" (50:31)
19. "A Gathering of Ghosts" (50:31)
20. "A Day Filled With Shadows" (50:29)

Disc 6:
21. "Voice in the Dark" (50:26)
22. "The Color of Murder" (50:30)
23. "Shadow Play" (50:27)
24. "Overkill" (50:31)

Like just about every other CBS Home Entertainment DVD set, the set is packaged in a standard Viva pack, with a picture of Mannix on the cover. The back of the package has a picture of Mannix and Peggy, along with several episode snapshots. Inside the case, there is a listing of all of the episodes, along with original airdates and descriptions. Each disc contains four episodes. The disc artwork has the series logo on the standard gray background, but they got a LITTLE creative this time, by placing some "bullet holes" in the artwork.

The menus are fairly simple, but well-done. The main menu has the theme song playing in the background, along with various snapshots and video clips from the episodes. All of the episodes are listed on the main menu, along with a Play All option. There is also a Set Up option to turn on the English subtitles. Chapters are placed throughout each episode.

The video and audio quality on the set is great, though it is not quite as great as some of the other series from CBS from the same era. Still, that is a pretty high standard, as many of these CBS Home Entertainment series have been well-preserved, and this one has been as well, but it certainly has a bit of an "aged" look to it. The audio, presented in mono, is generally loud and clear without any major issues. Each episode contains English subtitles.

Unfortunately, there are no special features on the set at all. The first season had some interviews and commentaries from Mike Connors, and it would be nice to see more of those on future sets, although I don't really expect any.

This is a great set, even if it is a barebones set. This is actually my first time watching the series, and although I still am "learning" about the series and can't profess to be an expert on it, I have been impressed with what I've seen here. There are plenty of fans of the series out there, and they will not be disappointed with this set. It is, in a sense, standard 60s/70s detective drama fare, but there are many fans of that genre out there. Hopefully, we'll see the remaining four seasons (including the eighth season, which doesn't air in syndication) on DVD in the near future.

(4/5 stars)

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LOOKING AHEAD

We'll be back next week with more news and reviews, with reviews of Stingray - The Complete Series, Matlock - The Sixth Season, and more in the upcoming weeks. We've got a lot ahead! Until next time, keep it digital!