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New York City Locals Fall 2009 Schedules; A&E Buys Lifetime; Series High for Joan Rivers' TV Land Show

It's that time of year again...fall 2009 schedules for New York City stations! I have for you the full schedules for WNYW, WWOR and WPIX. Unfortunately, I couldn't obtain the schedules for WABC, WCBS, and WNBC at press time, but they rarely make changes. Independent WLNY's schedule also is not known at this time. Cold Case Files is coming to WLNY (M-F 1pm) and WCBS (TBD late night), though.
We'll start with WNYW's Fall 2009 schedule. New series this fall are Dr. Mehmet Oz at 11am & 3pm, Judge Jeanine Pirro at 4pm, and The Office at 7:30pm & 11pm. The Office will also air weekends, Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 11pm. Summer launches will continue in the fall with Wendy Williams Show continuing to air weekdays at 10am and Wedlock or Deadlock will move to 12:30pm (from 11am). Among the series leaving are Inside Edition, Morning Show with Mike & Juliet, Bananas and Scrubs.
Sister network WWOR will be making more changes than WNYW in Fall 2009. New series this fall are Dragonfly Mondays at 7am, My Name is Earl at 7:30am & 8am, America's Funniest Home Videos at 2pm, Everybody Hates Chris at 4pm & 4:30pm, Law & Order: SVU at 11:30pm, Deadliest Catch Saturdays at 4pm & 11:30pm, Bones on Saturdays at 8pm & 9pm, and Swap TV on Sundays at 11:30am. Joining the schedule from WPIX will be My Wife & Kids, airing weekdays at 5:30pm. Everybody Hates Chris will also air Saturdays at 6pm & 6:30pm. Among the series leaving are Animal Atlas E/I, Scrubs, One on One, Trivial Pursuit, UFC Wired, The Dead Zone, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Finally, we have WPIX's Fall 2009 schedule. New series this fall are Street Court at 1pm & 1:30pm, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? at 5pm & 5:30pm, Star Trek: The Next Generation at 3am, The Hills Saturdays 1pm & 1:30pm, The Brian McKnight Show Saturdays at 11pm, and Smash Cuts Sundays at 7pm & 7:30pm. Joining the schedule from WNYW/WWOR will be Scrubs, airing weeknights at 2am and Saturdays at 1am. Also, joining from WNYW is Inside Edition, airing weeknights at 6pm leading into the new PIX News at 6:30pm. CW Daytime now adds Best of Tyra Banks and The Tyra Banks Show at 3pm & 4pm, replacing Judge Jeanine Pirro and sitcoms Wayans Bros. and Jamie Foxx. Among the other series leaving are Judge Karen, My Wife & Kids, Sex and the City, The Jeffersons, and the '60s Star Trek.
View the FULL Fall 2009 schedules for WNYW, WWOR, and WPIX in New York City! Stay tuned for updates, if any. From New York, goodnight!

The Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal announced an agreement for A&E Television Networks to acquire Lifetime Entertainment Services. The parent company will retain the name A&E Television Networks, LLC (AETN), and its subsidiary will retain the name Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.
AETN will now include: A&E Network, History, Lifetime Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Bio, History International, Lifetime Real Women, History en Espanol, Military History and Crime & Investigation Network.
Before the reshuffling, Disney-ABC and Hearst each held a 37.5% stake in AETN, while NBC Universal controlled the remaining 25%. Once the dust settles, Disney and Hearst will each hold an estimated 42.5% stake in AETN, leaving NBC with about 15.5%. Lifetime was a 50-50 joint venture between Disney-ABC and Hearst before AETN acquired it.

Wednesday night's episode of TV Land PRIME's original reality series, How'd You Get So Rich? averaged nearly 800,000 total viewers, making it the most-watched episode of the season to date, according to Nielsen Media Research. The telecast posted huge, triple-digit increases in rating and delivery among Adults 25-54 and Adults 40-54 in addition to total viewers over recent levels. It also witnessed gains over its 9:30 p.m. lead-in among A25-54 and double-digit gains among women 25-54. The new series, starring the hilarious and often outrageous Joan Rivers, takes viewers on a journey to meet millionaires who worked hard and struck gold as she tours the most lavish and extravagant homes and introduces them to folks who made a lot of money in really interesting ways the way only Joan can.
The episodes posted a 0.4 A25-54 rating and 426,000 viewers among A25-54, up a whopping 150% in rating and 148% in viewers in that demo versus the prior 4 week primetime average. The network averaged 771,000 total viewers, up 117% over recent levels. Among the network's core A40-54 audience, the premiere earned a 0.4 A40-54 rating and 240,000 viewers among A40-54, an increase of 153% in rating and viewers in that demo over recent levels in primetime.
The telecast posted increases among men and women 25-54 over recent primetime levels as well. Among women, it scored a 0.5 W25-54 rating and 247,000 viewers among W25-54, up 109% in rating and 111% in viewers in that demo versus previous four week primetime average. Among men the installment scored a 0.4 M25-54 rating and 179,000 viewers among M25-54, a triple digit increase of 218% in rating and 225% in delivery. How'd You Get So Rich? experienced appointment viewing as it lifted 8% among A25-54 over its 9:30 p.m. lead-in.

Anchor Bay Works on Fans Favorites DVD for 'Company', Lifetime Real Women Drops Two Favorites in June

Anchor Bay will continue to release Three's Company on DVD even though they have finished the series in complete season sets. So far we have gotten a best of set featuring John Ritter's favorite episodes and coming in May we have Joyce DeWitt's favorite episodes, handpicked by her. Remember when the official Three's Company website, ThreesCompany.com, was asking fans to vote for their favorite seven episodes some months back (If you don't, click HERE to refresh your memory)? Well now can reveal why they were doing that! Anchor Bay Entertainment will release a special "Fans' Favorites" DVD set. The episodes are handpicked by YOU. The episodes have not been revealed yet, but your top 7 or so will be on it. No word yet on when it will be released and if any extras will be on it. Fans hoping to have complete series sets for both spin-offs The Ropers & Three's a Crowd, must persuade Anchor Bay or any other studio to pick up the rights. DLT Entertainment, the owner of the series, is trying very hard to put it on DVD, but so far no company is showing interest. Please show your case to Anchor Bay and other studios and also thank DLT for trying and keep telling them to keep trying. E-mail them: Anchor Bay: TVonDVD@anchorbayent.com and DLT: 3sco@dltentertainment.com Besides Anchor Bay, I think studios like Shout! or S'more would be interested. E-mail them: Shout: info@shoutfactory.com and S'more: info@smoreent.com It's not really that much work. Believe me, you will make a difference. Lifetime Real Women (one of Lifetime's spin-off channels) currently airs a Laverne & Shirley block everyday from 3-5pm. Well, starting June 4 that is not happening anymore. So, if you haven't started taping the episodes, do it now as you still have two months before this change happens. The sitcom will be replaced by Strong Medicine, Missing and The Division from 3-5pm. Any Day Now will move from 6pm to 2pm, as Wild Card takes the 6pm slot. Providence fans don't have to worry as the show will remain at 7pm, but 10pm will be replaced by Angela's Eyes. And besides Laverne & Shirley, another show will be dumped. Unsolved Mysteries, which is airing weekdays at 11pm will be replaced by another Strong Medicine. The Friday and Saturday 4-6am block of Unsolved Mysteries will be replaced by Intimate Portrait. Start taping the next two months!