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ABC has announced the season finale dates for the 2010-11 season during May. The first season finale will be on Sunday, May 8 at 10:01pm for Brothers & Sisters. It is still on the bubble, so no word yet if it will be back next season. On Wednesday, May 11 at 8:30pm the season finale of freshman sitcom Better With You will air. On Sunday, May 15, there will be two finales. At 8:00 p.m. it is the season finale for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which is returning to the schedule on April 17 following the season finale of Secret Millionaire on April 10. Then from 9:00-11:00pm, Desperate Housewives gets a special two-hour season finale. On Monday, May 16 at 10:01pm it is the season finale of Castle. And on Tuesday, May 17 at 8pm, reality series Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution closes its second season. The reality series has its season premiere on April 12.
The final Thursday of the season (May 19) will feature three finales. At 8:00pm it is the season finale of Wipeout (Spring Edition). ABC has ordered three more Spring Wipeout episodes so it can fill the Thursday 8pm slot for the rest of the season. Previously, it was going to be a repeat on March 31 after new episodes (March 17/24) because it only had 4 episodes, but now ABC will air an all-new episode on March 31 with Grey's/Private being new. Repeats will air on April 7, 14 and 21, just like Grey's/Private. Then it will be back for sweeps for the remaining four Spring episodes (April 28, May 5, 12 and 19). The regular summer edition will start over a month later after the NBA Finals are over with and 16 all-new episodes will air, as previously planned. This means Wipeout will produce 31 total episodes this season (8 for winter, 7 for spring and 16 for summer). Airdates for the summer edition will be announced soon. So stay tuned. Anyway, back to Thursday May 19, following the Spring Wipeout finale are the season finales of Greyis Anatomy and Private Practice from 9-11pm. On Friday, May 20 at 8pm, Shark Tank closes its second season. The final Sunday of the season will have the season finale of America's Funniest Home Videos on Sunday, May 22 at 7pm leading into the Billboard Music Awards from 8-11pm. As we knew, Monday, May 23 will have the final Dancing with the Stars performance show at 8pm leading into the summer staple The Bachelorette from 9-11pm. On Tuesday, May 24 from 9:00-11:00pm it is the grand finale for season 12 of Dancing with the Stars. And finally on the last day of the TV season, Wednesday, May 25, the ABC comedies get their finales. At 8:00pm it is The Middle, followed by a repeat then at 9:00pm the megahit Modern Family has its season finale leading into the one-hour Hawaiian season finale of Cougar Town from 9:31-10:30pm.
ABC has not announced season finale dates for Mr. Sunshine, Happy Endings or Body of Proof since all three will have leftover episodes. Depending on their plans for them, they could air in summer or be held for next season. Everything else is pretty much set except ABC News series Primetime What Would You Do? and 20/20, which are likely to continue into summer.

Moving on to NBC, they have pulled Perfect Couples starting April 14. NBC announced that The Paul Reiser Show, a new comedy series starring Paul Reiser (Mad About You), will premiere on Thursday, April 14 at 8:30pm ET.
NBC's The Paul Reiser Show is a new single-camera comedy from Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated actor/writer/producer Reiser and writer/producer Jonathan Shapiro. The show stars Reiser as -- Paul Reiser. It's been a few years since his hit TV series went off the air. Since then, he's been enjoying the quiet life at home with his lovely wife, Claire (Amy Landecker), and kids and generally minding his own business, writing and producing television but enjoying life out of the spotlight. Getting him into trouble -- and into adventures -- are a group of new "friends," most of which he didn't choose since they're the husbands of his wife's friends and the dads of his kids' classmates. Thrown together by circumstance, Reiser and his cohorts, including Jonathan (Ben Shenkman), Habib (Omid Djalili), Fernando (Duane Martin, All of Us) and Brad (Andrew Daly, MADtv), form an unlikely comradeship -- and a pretty lame basketball team.
The new comedy will air Thursdays at 8:30pm through Thursday, May 19. It will also air at a special time of 8pm leading into the finale on May 19. As a result of the premiere of the new sitcom, Community will now be all-new on April 14, thus its season finale on Thursday, May 12 is no longer two episodes. The Community season finale is now a half-hour on Thursday, May 12 at 8pm. As for Perfect Couples, as of this writing it would have 4 episodes still to air after April 14, though it could be as low as only 2 because on March 31 and April 7, currently repeats are listed, so NBC could change those to new episodes--then only two would remain. It is almost 100% certain this series is all but done though.

NBC has announced some changes to its mid-season changes. NBC announced that it will continue with new episodes of Parenthood on Tuesdays at 10pm through April 19. This means there will be either 3 repeats or preemptions somewhere so all 22 episodes can air. It is unclear what will air starting April 26. Also, Law & Order: Los Angeles, which was previously scheduled to resume on that day and time beginning February 8, will return on a day to be determined. The series is going through a number of changes. Parenthood was scheduled to move to Mondays at 10pm starting March 7, but that will not happen and mid-season drama Harry's Law will now air all of its 13 episode order rather than just 6. Harry's Law will air through May 9 and it will also have to be repeats for three weeks.
In addition, the new alternative competition series America's Next Great Restaurant will now debut on Sunday, March 6 at 8pm instead of the previously announced Wednesday, March 16 at 9pm. The Marriage Ref, which was intended to return for its second season on Sunday, March 6 at 8, will return at a later date. Airing Wednesdays at 9pm after Chase concludes after March 2 will be repeats of Law & Order: SVU leading into new episodes at 10pm.
See a full list of these changes. Still yet to be scheduled are new comedy-drama Love Bites and new comedies Friends with Benefits and The Paul Reiser Show. They are now joined by The Marriage Ref (10 new episodes) and Law & Order: Los Angeles (14 episodes remain to air from 22 episode order), which now have to be determined return dates. Could some of these possibly air in summer? Stay tuned.



Perfect Couples - Thursdays 8:30PM ET/PT on NBC
Premieres Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 8:30PM ET/PT

Perfect Couples is a romantic comedy that follows three flawed pairs trying to get it right.

Dave (Kyle Bornheimer, Worst Week) and Julia (Christine Woods, Flash Forward) are the "everyday couple," messed up in all the "normal" ways. Dave struggles to keep both his wife and his needy best friend, Vance (David Walton, NBC's 100 Questions) happy. Vance and the volatile Amy (Mary Elizabeth Ellis, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) are the high-passion, high-drama couple who bring out the best and worst in each other.

The third duo features Rex (Hayes MacArthur, She's Out of My League) and Leigh (Olivia Munn, Attack of the Show, The Daily Show). Rex is a reformed party guy who has channeled his jock energy into a competitive drive to be the ideal mate. Leigh, a self-anointed relationship guru, has formed the perfect union with Rex, and now considers it her duty to mold the other couples in their image.

Perfect Couples is produced by Universal Media Studios. Show creators Jon Pollack (30 Rock) and Scott Silveri (Friends) serve as executive producers with Andy Ackerman (Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine), who also directed the pilot.

Cast Details:

* Kyle Bornheimer as Dave
* Christine Woods as Julia
* David Walton as Vance
* Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Amy
* Hayes MacArthur as Rex
* Olivia Munn as Leigh
* Nicolette Robinson as Isabella

Pilot Plot:

#1 "Pilot" (Airs January 20)
Dave and Julia's plans for the perfect anniversary fall through. Rex and Leigh gear up for game night instead. Vance and Amy break up and make up again. Nicolette Robinson also stars.
Directed by Andy Ackerman

"Perfect Health" (Airdate: TBD - possibly February 3)
After discovering that Dave has high cholestrol, Julia puts him on a strict diet and realizes it's time to start acting like adults. Vance tries to curb Amy's outrageous spending. Rex takes Leigh's suggestion of building a "man cave" where there are no rules -- and no judgments. Nicolette Robinson also stars.

Analysis:

NBC aired a sneak preview of the show on December 20, 2010 at 10:00pm. In the episode "Perfect Tens," Dave confronts Julia about her slovenly ways, and the two push each other to be "perfect tens" by dressing up and going out every night. The preview was barely promoted and watched by only 3.8 million and had a 1.4 18-49 rating. You can watch the episode online at NBC.com .

Perfect Couples is a single-camera comedy from Universal Media Studios. NBC has ordered 13 episodes. The show will air on Thursday nights at 8:30pm ET/Pt. Kyle Howard was originally cast as Dave, but he was replaced by Kyle Bornheimer for the pilot episode. In the pilot, we meet the three couples as they try to go to bed. Dave and Julia plan a game night. Vance and Amy break up. Isabella is Dave and Rex's secretary at the real estate company they work at. Vance plays some dramatic exit music after arguing with Dave. Luke is Dave and Julia's dog. In a closing montage scene with a song played in the background, Dave and Julia take some sledgehammers to a house and tear it up. Vance and Amy are on a plane to Paris and plan on getting married.

The show uses a lot of quick editing, scene description title cards, flashbacks and freeze frames. It's a little bit like How I Met Your Mother, but not nearly as funny or outrageous. An opening theme song and credits sequence is used in the additional episode that was provided for review. In "Perfect Health," Julia puts Dave on a strict diet after she discovers he has high cholestrol. Rex shows Dave and Vance his man cave. This episode wasn't quite as good as the pilot.

Conclusion:

This seems to be the season of romantic comedies featuring couples dating or already married. Every network seems to have a few on the air or planned for mid-season. ABC's Better with You is the best of the bunch that I've seen so far. There's really nothing truly unique about Perfect Couples, but I think it is well cast and they appear to have good chemistry. They look to be having fun working together. I liked the physical comedy and things get a little silly at times. Kyle Bornheimer is good here, but I think he was better on Worst Week. Olivia Munn is quite attractive and seems to have a big following online. She steals a lot of the scenes she appears in. The other actors do a decent job portraying their characters.

Perfect Couples appears to be a good fit with NBC's other single camera comedies, but the competition on Thursdays is pretty fierce with American Idol on a new night. It's going to be tough for them to get an initial audience, but maybe they can pick up some additional viewers in the upcoming weeks. I'm not really a big fan of romantic or single camera comedies, but if you enjoy them or are a fan of any of the actors, you will probably want to check out the pilot and at least a few other episodes as they air.

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 3/5
Funniness: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

-- Reviewed by Todd Fuller on 01/19/11

Discuss the show after you watch it on Thursday, January 20 on our message board.

Related Links:

NBC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Perfect Couples Photo Gallery

Preview:

ivi TV, the online cable system, has announced that it has added Chicago to its Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles broadcast channel offerings. The addition of 12 stations from the Chicago market brings the total number of OTA (over-the-air) channels available on ivi TV to an impressive 65, excluding international offerings ranging from Sport Italia to English-language news from China on CCTV9, among others.
ivi TV offers more content than Hulu and the ability to legally watch live major broadcast channels anywhere there's an Internet connection, including hit shows and popular sports programming from ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, The CW, PBS, and others from a growing number of local affiliates, all available from a downloadable app at ivi TV.
Consumers who live in other parts of the country can watch live local programming from their hometown or favorite city. People with no conventional cable access or left adrift by the shift to DTV can watch TV with ivi TV. As ivi TV rolls out new markets (Philadelphia might be next), the channels it includes from each respective market are available to all ivi TV subscribers, regardless of where they presently reside within the U.S.
After spending a week in Washington, D.C. meeting with lawmakers and the FCC to vocalize concerns over the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger and its likelihood to leave consumers with less high quality programming and higher rates, ivi TV keeps rolling out new markets to offer an affordable cable subscription with more choice and flexibility. A growing number of voices are rising in opposition to the Comcast-NBCU merger. ivi TV simply wants a level playing field and is calling on Congress and the FCC to ensure consumers don't become the ultimate victims in Comcast's conquests. ivi TV delivers what consumers have wanted for a long time -- the ability to watch live broadcast television on the Internet. For only $4.99 a month, consumers can watch popular TV programming from all the major stations anytime and anywhere they want. And the first month is FREE!
Among the cool stations you can watch are KTLA, WGN-TV (local Chicago), WPIX, national Me-TV Network, Me-Too (Chicago), RTV (Seattle affiliate), and the big guns like WABC. This is very cool and I wish this was around back in the '90s when local broadcast stations were better with lots of cool sitcoms. But ivi TV is certainly worth the buy if you aren't in Chicago (for Me-TV and Me-Too) or don't have a RTV affiliate. Me-TV Network is now a national network, but as of now Chicago, Milwaukee, and South Bend are the only markets carrying it, so now is your chance to preview Me-TV and if you like it, you should request it to your local affiliates to add it to their digital stations! Antenna TV launches on Jan. 1, and perhaps we will get it on ivi TV, as all four ivi TV markets will have an Antenna TV affiliate, so there is a good chance we will have one on ivi TV. If that is the case and you don't have Antenna TV scheduled to come to your market, like Me-TV, try it on ivi TV and request it to your local affiliate that they add it!

Try and test ivi TV out for a month at least, it is free for the first month and you can cancel at anytime. I don't think you should watch your favorite primetime network shows on here, but it is a good service with decent (but not great) video quality if you want to test something like Me-TV and Antenna TV, especially if your markets are not carrying them. I certainly enjoyed testing out Me-TV Network this weekend and watching cool local fare on Me-Too Chicago (like Gilligan's Island) and KTLA Los Angeles (like Dennis the Menace on the Antenna TV preview on KTLA).

NBC is previewing upcoming mid-season single-camera sitcom Perfect Couples tonight (Dec. 20) with a special airing after the finale of The Sing-Off, which airs from 8-10pm. NBC will not air the pilot of the sitcom, instead a later episode (titled "Perfect Tens") will air. The series will still premiere with the pilot episode on its actual premiere date on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 8:30pm. Tonight NBC is just going to have viewers "sample" the series. The sampling preview airs tonight at 10pm on NBC. A repeat of The Office will follow at 10:29pm.
Perfect Couples depicts the misadventures of three engaging couples as they struggle to find out what makes the ideal relationship -- and how to maintain it through humorous trial-and-error. The series explores their heroic journey in search of the perfect relationship without destroying each other in the process.
Dave (Kyle Bornheimer, Worst Week, Romantically Challenged) and Julia (Christine Woods, FLASHFORWARD) are the relatable, normal couple, but Julia's hope of remaining the cool, low-maintenance chick is tested by Dave's attempts to keep both his wife and his needy best friend Vance (David Walton, 100 Questions) equally happy. Vance, along with the neurotic Amy (Mary Elizabeth Ellis, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), are the high-passion, high-drama couple who bring out the best and worst in each other. The third duo features Rex (Hayes MacArthur, She's Out of My League), a reformed party guy, and, and his wife, Leigh (Olivia Munn, Attack of the Show), who considers herself as the group's mother hen. Believing that they are relationship experts, Rex and Leigh have attended every class and seminar on relationships -- and regard themselves as the "perfect couple."
On tonight's episode, after Dave (Kyle Bornheimer) is disappointed that Julia (Christine Woods) dresses down for him, they both decide to be "perfect 10s" and live it up with a night out. Meanwhile, an infestation of bed bugs misleads Amy (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) into thinking that Vance (David Walton) is not ready to commit to her, while Rex (Hayes MacArthur) and Leigh (Olivia Munn) plan an Italian vacation and struggle trying to adjust to the time difference.
We did not get a review copy of this episode, but we will have a review of the pilot episode closer to series launch on Jan. 20. So stay tuned! Sample if you want tonight, but people who have seen the pilot and an additional episode (not tonight's episode), haven't been too kind to this series. Our review will cover those two episodes (and we might give our thoughts on tonight's episode in that review, too).

NBC is making wholesale changes to its mid-season 2011 schedule that will make every night change, similar to a fall schedule. The changes happen starting in early January, 2011.
The mid-season schedule kicks-off with the season premiere of The Biggest Loser: Couples on Tuesday, Jan. 4 from 8-10pm followed by an all-new Parenthood. This night remains the same in January, but changes will be made come February, as Law & Order: Los Angeles moves from Wednesdays at 10 to Tuesdays at 10 starting Tuesday, Feb. 8, replacing Parenthood. So, L&O: LA will not air in January at all. We will have more on Parenthood's new night in a bit.
Then on Wednesdays, Minute to Win It has its official season premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 8pm, after airing holiday specials on Tuesdays in December (along with encores on Wednesdays at 8 on Dec. 22 and Dec. 29). Law & Order: SVU will air two episodes on Jan. 5 from 9-11pm, before moving to its new timeslot of 10pm starting January 12. Struggling drama Chase moves from Mondays at 10 to Wednesdays at 9 starting Jan. 12 through March 9, in a very competitive timeslot. Starting March 16, new unscripted series America's Next Great Restaurant airs at 9pm through May 11.
Fridays will have Minute to Win It encores on Jan. 7 and 14 at 8pm leading into two-hour episodes of Dateline from 9-11. The return of Who Do You Think You Are is on Jan. 21 through April 1, airing eight episodes. It is unclear what will air Fridays at 8 starting April 8.
Moving on to Sundays, the NFL ends the regular season on Sunday, Jan. 2, so NBC will have a big hole to fill obviously, since the NFL saves them every week in the fall. Dateline returns to the 7pm hour starting Jan. 9. Special programming airs in January and February on this night due to all of the awards and the Super Bowl. On January 9, NBC previews the new drama The Cape from 9-11pm, before it moves to its regular night of Mondays starting Jan. 17. NBC will have The 68th Annual Golden Globes on Jan. 16 from 8-11pm ET, with a red carpet special at 7pm ET. Other specials include a 35th Anniversary SNL special on Sunday, Feb. 20. A regular schedule from 8-11pm will begin on Sunday, March 6 with the season premiere of comedic reality series The Marriage Ref at 8pm and the season premiere of Celebrity Apprentice from 9-11pm. I wonder if the latter will be way lower this year as the regular edition has bombed this fall?
Moving on to Mondays, we mentioned new drama The Cape gets a special preview on Sunday, Jan. 9, and NBC for some reason will encore the two-hour preview the next night on Monday, Jan. 10 from 9-11pm. Chuck remains at 8pm and will start new episodes starting Jan. 17. The Cape airs at 9pm for 6 weeks, benching The Event. At 10pm, new drama Harry's Law airs for 6 weeks. Mondays will get a makeover again after these 6 weeks are over. The Event returns on Monday, Feb. 28 with a two-hour return from 9-11pm, with a clip show airing at 8pm, as NBC tries to relaunch the struggling drama. Then it will move to its regular time of 9pm leading into the return of Parenthood, on its new night of Mondays starting March 7. Parenthood is off the schedule for the month of February. It is unclear what is airing on Monday, Jan. 3.
And finally the most un-confusing part of the changes will be made to Thursdays. Comedy will air three hours now starting Thursday, Jan. 20. Community and The Office remain in their 8pm and 9pm half-hours, but the rest of the night is changing. New comedy Perfect Couples starring Oliva Munn airs at 8:30pm for 13 episodes, while a full season of Parks & Recreation will air at 9:30pm. Then the 10pm hour will now be comedies, something the broadcast networks never do. 30 Rock moves from 8:30pm to 10pm and new comedy Outsourced moves from 9:30 to the tough 10:30pm slot. I can see 30 Rock doing OK here, but Outsourced is going to struggle. Still, it should be a better average for the hour than what The Apprentice is doing now (1.4 18-49 rating). It is expected that comedy encores will air on Thursday, Jan. 6 and 13.
Wow! That is a lot of changes and quite confusing. So all of NBC's new series they launched this fall will be moving, benched or canceled. The Event goes to the bench in January and February, Chase moves to Wednesdays at 9, Undercovers & Outlaw are canceled, Law & Order: Los Angeles is benched in January then it is moving to Tuesdays at 10 starting in February, Outsourced is moved to Thursdays at 10:30, and School of Pride is not expected to return after terrible ratings. And still three more new series are to come: comedy-drama Love Bites and comedies Friends with Benefits and The Paul Reiser Show. The latter two will probably be mixed in on Thursdays sometime later this season, and Love Bites could possibly be Fridays at 8 starting April 8...but that's just a guess.
It is A LOT of changes, so view the press release and schedule so you're not confused. Also view our day-by-day schedule for NBC, so you don't miss anything more.

The hit sitcom, The King of Queens, will have a new prime-time cable television home at MTV Networks and will start airing on Spike TV beginning in October 2011. Then the popular series will move to sister network TV Land in 2013.
Spike TV will telecast two back-to-back episodes of The King of Queens in primetime twice per week when the network's run begins in October 2011 before TV Land airs it daily in the evenings starting in 2013.
The sitcom currently airs on TBS on cable, since Fall 2006, and will continue to do so until at least 2019 as they have renewed it. So, TBS will be sharing the rights with Spike TV/TV Land, as TBS will have the daytime rights and Spike/TV Land will have the primetime/late night rights. The King of Queens currently airs on TBS from Mon-Sat at 6pm & 6:30pm ET. Stay tuned for updates on The King of Queens on Spike TV as we get closer to next fall (2011).
Set in the working-class suburb of Queens, New York, the show follows Doug Heffernan (Kevin James, Paul Blart: Mall Cop), an amiable deliveryman, and his wife, spitfire legal secretary Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini, The Talk), as they explore the everyday challenges of love, life, family and marriage. Doug and Carrie also have to deal with the third, high-maintenance member of the Heffernan household. Carrie's twice-widowed father, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller, Seinfeld), lives in their basement. His constant presence and often-bizarre behavior add to their daily adventures. Doug often finds refuge in the little alone time he has with Carrie, best friend and co-worker, Deacon (Victor Williams), buddy Spence (Patton Oswalt) and his cousin Danny (Gary Valentine).