SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

TCA Winter 2009 Press Tour: CBS; More Bush Speech Updates; DejaView in Canada Adds More Sitcoms

Today it is CBS's turn at the TCA Winter 2009 press tour. At the executive session, CBS chief Nina Tassler said an additional episode of The Mentalist could be ordered, and they are not going to move the show to Sundays at 10pm, despite it airing there this coming week after the AFC Championship Game. In other news, CBS has officially canceled last summer's Swingtown, which is not a surprise. CBS is moving forward with the NCIS spin-off and plans to do a backdoor pilot within NCIS this spring. CBS is also planning on a variety show or special starring musician John Mayer for this year. Fox is also developing a variety show hosted by the Osbourne family later this year.
After the executive session, panels for upcoming murder mystery drama Harper's Island and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson followed. CBS focused mainly on Showtime and other ventures after that. After the Showtime Executive Session, which we won't cover, Showtime's United States of Tara, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, The L Word, Tracy Ullman's State of the Union, The Tudors, and Nurse Jackie had panels. Wow, a lot...more than CBS itself.
There was also a presentation on TV.com, which is owned by CBS Interactive. CBS Interactive went you on a guided tour of the leading online destination for video and community, including a look at new and future developments for the site. Speaking of TV.com, be sure to check out their great videos! My personal favorite is their interview with CBS's Kaley Cuoco, who is quite frankly wearing something very stunning! They also have Full Episodes of TV series, so check it out!
Stay tuned tomorrow for NBC's portion of the TCA tour and ABC on Friday!

Yesterday we gave you updates on CBS and Fox's plan for Thursday, as President Bush will have his farewell address at 8pm ET for 15 minutes, messing up all the network's plans. ABC will have to preempt Ugly Betty as a result, just like Fox is doing with Bones. After the President's address, ABC will air a repeat of Scrubs at 8:15/7:15c, joined in progress, followed by another repeat of Scrubs at 8:30/7:30c. Both repeats will likely be repeats of last night's episodes. So, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice will still be all-new and air on time everywhere. I think ABC decided on this so they can have a 15 minute head start on CSI in the east and central, as CBS is delaying programming to those zones by 15 minutes. As for mountain and pacific time, ABC will air two repeats of Scrubs in their entirety. View the ABC schedule for Thursday in all time zones, if you're confused in what I'm saying. In other ABC schedule news, they will preempt Samantha Who? once again this coming Monday (Jan. 19). This is the second week in a row that will happen, as this past Monday (Jan. 12), the sitcom didn't air either. Why? Because The Bachelor is doing very well in its two-hours and is very compatible with new series True Beauty at 10pm. Honestly, I don't think Samantha Who? will return to 9:30pm on Mondays anytime son. I think either it will return when Dancing with the Stars returns in March OR it will be paired with Scrubs on Tuesdays starting next month. We'll keep you up to date. ABC is up at the TCA tour on Friday, and we should find out then maybe, along with ABC's other mid-season sitcom plans (In The Motherhood, The Goode Family, Better Off Ted).
As for NBC's Thursday plans, they will air a repeat of My Name is Earl after Bush's address at 8:15/7:15c, joined in progress. Then at 8:30pm, they will move the new My Name is Earl episode that was scheduled at 8pm ET/PT to 8:30pm, preempting Kath & Kim totally. As for mountain and pacific zones, you all will get the full repeat of Earl then the new one following it.

The Canada cable station DejaView, which features lots of classic TV, has changed their schedule a bit. Their last change was in the fall. They have added North of Sixty (Canadian series), One Day at a Time, Silver Spoons, Mad About You, but have also removed My Secret Identity, Maude, Charles in Charge, Facts of Life, Kate & Allie. The Canadian series North of Sixty airs weekdays at 7am, 10am, and 11pm, all replacing My Secret Identity. It also airs weekends at 6am and 11pm, replacing My Secret Identity. One Day at a Time airs now weekdays at 4pm, 9pm, and 3am, all replacing Good Times, which slides down a half-hour replacing Maude, so Maude is gone totally. The other new series have joined the weekend schedule with Silver Spoons airing back-to-back episodes at 10am and 4am, 10am hour replacing Charles in Charge and 4am hour replacing Facts of Life/Kate & Allie. Mad About You airs on weekends back-to-back at 1pm and 2am.
DejaView's key shows continues to be Three's Company, Cosby Show, All in the Family, Who's the Boss? and Roseanne.
View the full new DejaView winter 2009 schedule.

Canada Stations Adds Rare Classics This Fall; Biggest Flintstones Marathon Ever on Boomerang

If you are one of our readers in Canada, then you'll love today's blog! We get quite a few hits from Canadians each day, so those of you are in for a treat today as we will detail fall schedules for some of Canada's biggest classic TV cable channels including TV Land Canada and DejaView!
On TV Land Canada, everything old is new again! New to the TV Land Canada schedule this September is Fantasy Island; Hart to Hart; Love, American Style; and It's Garry Shandling's Show. Also returning to TV Land Canada this fall are: Dallas, Happy Days, Lassie, 21 Jump Street, Petticoat Junction, Joanie Loves Chachi and Wiseguy.
None of those new shows are airing anywhere on cable in the U.S. currently.
We have the full schedule posted. To take a look, please click HERE.
Now let's move on to my personal favorite, DejaView! Starting September 10, they will be adding lots and lots of new shows! Coming to weekdays are: My Secret Identity, Roseanne, Cosby Show, Good Times, Maude, Miami Vice, and Magnum P.I.! On the weekends they will add: The Ropers, Three's a Crowd, Who's the Boss?, The Facts of Life and Square Pegs! Boy I would kill to have this channel. So many rare shows. Shows that will return include classic '70s sitcoms Three's Company and All in the Family. To view the full schedule, I urge you to click HERE!
Sister station TVtropolis, which was known as Prime some years back, will also add some new series. They have moved away from classic TV a bit, putting them on sister net DejaView, but they will still have some classics! First they will add Family Guy and Fresh Prince to the line-up. Returning are Mad About You, Grace Under Fire, The Nanny, Frasier, Seinfeld, Beverly Hills 90210, and Married...with Children. So not much new and not really anything that old.
SUN TV in Canada will also add some new shows. They will add My Secret Identity (wow, this sitcom will be on two channels there!) Wonder Woman, Incredible Hulk, America's Funniest Home Videos, among others. Leave it to Beaver will remain on the fall line-up! View the fall schedule HERE.
We haven't yet obtained CTS TV's Fall 2007 schedule. Currently they air shows like Facts of Life, Happy Days, Full House, Step by Step, and Fresh Prince. No idea what will leave and what will come yet. We'll try to let you know, when we do.

Back to the U.S., the station called Boomerang, will air a huge Flintstones marathon this 4th of July! It is so big that every single episode will air, and it will be commercial free!
Programming an Independence Day tribute it has never before attempted, Boomerang, Cartoon Network's 24-hour commercial-free sister network, brings true fireworks to the Fourth of July holiday weekend with a first-time presentation of every episode of television's first prime time animated series, The Flintstones, including its original pilot, entitled "The Flagstones." The three-and-a-half-day marathon-THE FLAGTONES TO THE FLINTSTONES, featuring all 166 episodes without commercial interruption-will kick off at 6 a.m. (ET) on Wednesday, July 4, and culminate on Saturday, July 7 at 5 p.m. In addition, Boomerang VOD offerings in July also will reflect the FLAGSTONE TO FLINSTONES theme to present several all-time favorite episodes via a "Flintstones Fourth of July" tab for the VOD menu.