SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Throwback ABC Studios Shows Head to ABC App; The Hoff's Birthday Marathon on El Rey

Logo Acquires Just Shoot Me, Samantha Who & Brings Back Bewitched; Heroes and Icons Network to Add New Affiliate

TV Guide Acquires Caroline in the City; Bounce TV to Launch Original Sitcom in June

NBC Fall Pilot Review: Whitney - Premieres September 22; Designing Women, Cybill, Dharma & Greg Coming to TV Guide Network Fall 2011 Schedule

TV Guide Network Fall 2011 Schedule Has Short-Lived Sitcoms; MeTV Network Now Cleared In 60% of The Country

ABC Pulls Motherhood, Doubles Up On Samantha Who; Me-Too July Marathons; Nick at Nite's 2nd Quarter Ratings

We were the first ones to mention yesterday (on our message board) that ABC has pulled In The Motherhood after just one episode since its return. The canceled sitcom has two more burn-off episodes left, and only aired once this summer. ABC will now double-pump Samantha Who? instead. Samantha Who? is now scheduled to air new episodes on Thursdays at 8:30 PM ET/PT on July 2 and 9 with the season finale airing on Thursday July 23, 2009 at 8:30. Just to be clear, Samantha Who? will also still be all-new in the 8:00 PM ET/PT time period on these three nights as well, as the series has 6 episodes left (on July 16, ABC has an ABC News special on J.K. Rowling scheduled). Don't forget Samantha Who? fans, to DVR or watch the entire 8pm hour tomorrow!
No word if In The Motherhood will burn-off its final two episodes on another night, but we will certainly let you know. In other ABC updates, ABC has confirmed that the final two scheduled Sunday airings of Just for Laughs will also be at 7:30pm ET/PT on Sundays (July 5 and 12) like it was this past week. An abbreviated repeat of AFV will serve as its lead-in, before going back to its full-hour on July 19. Not sure how many episodes Just for Laughs has this third season, but only four were scheduled to air even before it started airing.

The daily classic TV summer marathons continue on Chicago's Me-Too this July. Continuing this July, Chicago's Me-Too will feature all-day marathons of classic shows! Me-Too, sister station of Chicago's Me-TV and WCIU-TV, showcases a different classic show every weekday from 10AM-10PM. One day you could be arrested by Kojak, the next you could be cruising in the Batmobile through Gotham City!
The schedule for the month in order starting today is: The Greatest American Hero is today, followed by The Adventures of Superman, Black Sheep Squadron, Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, In the Heat of the Night, The Untouchables, Kojak, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Batman, The Green Hornet, Get Smart, Eight is Enough, Family Ties, Diff'rent Strokes, The Cosby Show, Little House on the Prairie, Wild Wild West, Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide closes the month.
As you can see, each week there is a theme. First week is super heroes, then dramas, crime solving, family, and westerns.
View the schedule section on their website for episode info.

Nick at Nite closes second quarter as the number-one basic cable network with Women 18-49 in total day, averaging a 0.8 rating in this demo (448,000 viewers W18-49). Driven by hits like George Lopez, Nick at Nite also ranks as the number-two cable network with Adults 18-49 (behind only USA Network) for the quarter, averaging a 0.6 rating in this demo (668,000 viewers A18-49) and 1.5 million total viewers.
George Lopez is the network's highest-rated program in second quarter, and has posted ratings growth since the show launched in September 2007. George Lopez averages a 0.6 rating in A18-49 (678,000 viewers A18-49) at 10 p.m. for the quarter and has posted gains of 20% with Adults 18-49 launch to date. George Lopez can be seen on Nick at Nite everynight at 10 p.m. and it will be moving to weeknights at 9 p.m. next week.
In prime time (9-11 p.m. ET/PT), Nick at Nite averages a 0.6 A18-49 rating and 1.6 million total viewers for the quarter. Nickelodeon recently announced that it is extending the Nick at Nite programming block to encompass all three hours of prime time (8-11 p.m. ET/PT), providing viewers with a slate of family programming including the upcoming Nick at Nite premiere of Malcolm in the Middle on July 5.
Year to date, Nick at Nite is averaging 1.5 million total viewers, a 0.6 A18-49 rating (679,000 viewers A18-49) and a 0.8 W18-49 rating (442,000 viewers W18-49).

Stay tuned tomorrow for TV Land August 2009! So come on back for that tomorrow!

TV One July 2009; ABC Moves Goode Family and Suburbia to Fridays

This July 2009 on TV One, it is going to be pretty slow. We gave you the TV One June 2009 highlights already, and at the end we mentioned a Martin Independence Day marathon is scheduled for July 3 starting at 8pm last until 8pm the following day. But now we have the rest of July. There are no schedule changes, so the schedule that started in June with the additions of That's My Mama! and Like Family, will continue (see the June schedule link above for more).
The only highlight worth mentioning for TV One July is on Friday, July 24 beginning at 10pm when TV One presents the "Living Single: Queen For A Day Mega-Thon" featuring episodes of the long-running sitcom focusing on Queen Latifah's character Khadijah James in a 24-hour mega-thon event.
The other highlights are for movies and original series, but that doesn't concern us really. Stay tuned if anything changes, if not see for the August highlights in a month!

ABC has moved animated comedy The Goode Family and sitcom Surviving Suburbia from Wednesdays to Fridays effective next week. This coming Wednesday (June 10) will see two episodes of the summer megahit Wipeout at 8pm and 9pm, before the season premiere of I Survived a Japanese Game Show launches on June 17 at 9pm out of new episodes of Wipeout at 8pm. Japanese Game Show was previously not launching its new season until July 8, so this is 3 weeks ahead of schedule due to the ratings bombs of Goode and Suburbia. I think I was the first one to mention the possibility of Japanese Game Show launching June 17, a few days ago on our message boards. And I was right!
Starting next Friday (June 12), we will now see the remaining new episodes of Surviving Suburbia at 8pm, followed by The Goode Family at 8:30pm, and back-to-back repeats of Samantha Who? are still slated to air on June 12 and 19 from 9-10pm, before According to Jim repeats take over on June 26.
Suburbia is not going to air Fridays at 9:30pm as previously announced starting July 3, at least not on July 3 because ABC announced another According to Jim repeat will air then. After that week, I would guess no, and Jim would continue to air for an hour instead. Nevertheless, Fridays is now a full night of comedies! We like that! Tune in!
In other ABC updates, ABC will launch the third season of the hidden camera comedy Just for Laughs airing a half-hour a week on Sundays at 7pm starting Sunday, June 21. An abbreviated half-hour repeat of AFV will follow each week. It is unclear how many episodes are airing, but the two past seasons had 13 episodes each.

Less Than Perfect Joins Lifetime; Samantha Who and In the Motherhood Return to ABC in June; More Lucy on Hallmark

The 2002-2006 ABC sitcom Less than Perfect starring Sara Rue, Andy Dick, Zachary Levi, Andrea Parker, Patrick Warburton, Will Sasso, and Sherri Shepherd is coming to Lifetime with all of its 81 episodes, including the 8 unaired episodes! It seems they picked the show up since they could be ordering an original sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd. They also did that with Cybill, since they could order an original sitcom (Alligator Point) starring another Shepherd, Cybill Shepherd (no relation to Sherri). Right now both are just ordered to pilot, but this could be good news for both. Cybill airs weekdays in the 8am hour, 5pm hour and 2am.
Less than Perfect lasted four seasons and was about a young female office employee (played by Sara Rue) and her co-workers. The sitcom will join the Lifetime line-up on Monday, June 1, airing in the 9am hour and 6pm hour. In the 9am hour, it will replace Reba. In the 6pm hour it will replace Still Standing. The morning airing of Reba will move to the afternoon in the 4pm hour, replacing an episode of Wife Swap. And recently Reba returned in the 8pm hour, replacing Will & Grace. So Reba is back to 7-9pm week nights, while Will & Grace 8-9pm airings moves to the 1am hour and it still has the 11am and 11pm hours. Also, starting Monday, June 8 in primetime we will get an Army Wives encore at 9pm leading into repeats of Desperate Housewives at 10pm each Monday. Desperate Housewives will also still air weekdays at 12 and 1pm. Movies remain in the 9-11pm block every other weekday, but Fridays is still Wife Swap. Army Wives returns for its third season on Sunday, June 7 for 18 episodes airing Sundays at 10pm.
So, the addition of Less than Perfect means Still Standing is totally off the schedule. Last month it seems, Lifetime removed Medium from Fridays at 11pm, so that is off the schedule, too. Medium is eligible to air five days a week starting this fall, as will Grey's Anatomy (which currently airs Sundays at 11pm), so Medium will likely return then. But the schedule may be less than perfect, but Less than Perfect is a great addition to the schedule!
View the full Lifetime June 2009 schedule and highlights.

ABC sitcoms Samantha Who? and In the Motherhood will return to the schedule on Friday, June 5 in the 9pm hour. Both sitcoms were pulled from the Thursday night schedule two weeks earlier than planned in April. Samantha Who? has 7 episodes remaining to air, while In the Motherhood has 3 more. For Samantha, this could be a slot it can air next season, as it is expected to return for a third season. The sitcom could be in a change of format, though. It is rumored to be changing to a multicamera set-up or a hybrid setup (mix of both single and multicamera). Why? This will cut costs. ABC also might do the same for Scrubs, giving it new life for a ninth season. In the Motherhood is not expected back, so this is just a burn-off. We will find out what all this means on Tuesday, when ABC announces their 2009-2010 schedule and pick-ups. Could Samantha Who? be part of a Friday comedy block in the fall? We shall see. If a Friday block is not in their plans then they should move these Samantha Who episodes to Wednesdays at 9:30pm in the summer instead of Surviving Suburbia. That would work better on Fridays at 9. Just my two cents.

Finally, we end the day with some classic TV news. Hallmark Channel has made a last minute schedule change that goes in effect this Monday (May 18). Replacing two episodes of Matlock, weekdays at 3pm & 4pm will be two-full hours of I Love Lucy! It seems like Hallmark has a love-hate relationship with Lucy. They give it a good slot, pull it, and then give it another good slot. Currently, the series was airing at 2:30am weeknights, and will remain in that slot, too. Everything else will remain the same as it is now. So Matlock is off the schedule again. I Love Lucy 3-5pm will lead-into M*A*S*H.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our blog DVD review of course and a special upfront rumblings edition. Upfront week is next week, so join us all next week. We have some WGN America schedule news as well!

Lifetime Networks 2009 Upfront; Network Notes; Remembering Wendy Blair

Lifetime Networks unveiled its 2009-10 program slate that encompasses the most powerful line-up of original series and movies in Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network's history, headlined by the sixth season of cable's hottest unscripted competition series, Project Runway.
Project Runway, featuring host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn and judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia, is set to make its long-awaited return to television on Thursday, August 20, at 10:00 PM (ET/PT) with 14 hour-long episodes. The series, the highest-rated unscripted competition show on all of cable, will seamlessly lead into Models of the Runway at 11:00PM (ET/PT), beginning August 20, an all-new, half-hour companion series will center around the drama, anxiety, tears and joys of Project Runway's models as they compete for money and a major magazine cover shoot. In other unscripted news, new shows Cook Yourself Thin debuts on May 4 at 5:00 PM (ET/PT), and DietTribe is scheduled to return for its second season later this year.
As we mentioned, Lifetime's hit drama series Army Wives returns for its third season at 10:00 PM (ET/PT) on Sunday, June 7. Joining Army Wives this summer will be Drop Dead Diva, the spirited new comedic drama, starring newcomer Brooke Elliott (Hairspray, Wicked) and Margaret Cho (17 Again). It will air at 9:00 PM (ET/PT) starting Sunday, July 12. Lifetime has many original dramas in development. However, they have not been picked-up as series just yet. In development are: Mona Lisa Smile, based on the feature film of the same name; Mystic Pizza: Another Slice, a two-hour, back-door pilot based on the hit film; Marry Me, a limited-run anthology series that starts with a couple who meets in the pilot and concludes with a wedding in Episode 13; Queens of the Rodeo, a comedic drama with the exciting and dangerous rodeo circuit as the backdrop; The Fallen (working title), based on T. Jefferson Parker's novel of the same name; and Murder in Suburbia, formatted from the popular British series.
Rita Rocks, its first original comedy in a decade, stars Nicole Sullivan as an overworked wife and mother trying to find time for herself, will return for its second season in the Fall. Lifetime has three other original comedies in the works, but have not been picked-up as a series yet. In production for pilots are Sherri, loosely based on Sherri Shepherd's (The View) personal family experiences; The Valerie Bertinelli Project (working title) is about a newly divorced mother (Bertinelli) who must maintain a balance between her family and running her ex-husband's struggling hardware business; Alligator Point, is from Kelsey Grammar and stars Cybill Shepherd following the life and times of an eccentric group of Floridians whose lives change when a "Yankee" becomes part of their disjointed family. We will let you know if any of these three gets picked-up as a series joining Rita Rocks.
As for daily strip schedule, this fall Lifetime will begin airing two high-profile, off-net properties nightly, the popular dramas Grey's Anatomy and Medium. Currently, they both air once a week. They join a strong schedule that already features such top acquired product as Wife Swap, Desperate Housewives, Reba, Will & Grace and Frasier. Cybill joins the daytime line-up on May 4. Finally, in September 2010, Lifetime will also begin stripping the hit off-net comedy How I Met Your Mother, which currently fills one hour of the network's schedule per week on Mondays.
View more on Lifetime and LMN's upfront, which includes all the original movies they have in the works for 2009 and 2010.

We have a lot of network notes for you today. First off, ABC will air a repeat of Grey's Anatomy this Thursday (April 23) at 8pm leading into the return of all-new episodes at 9pm. The repeat will be the last original episode that aired, so fans can remember what happened, if they need refreshing. This means In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? will not return to the slot now since yesterday we announced Ugly Betty was coming back a week earlier than planned (April 30). So updating my story from yesterday, Motherhood will now have three episodes still remaining to air, as it will have 4 of its 7 aired (though they had only planned to air 6 anyway). Samantha Who? looks like will only air 13 of its 20, with seven still left in the can, but ABC could certainly use those next season, which is more than likely to happen despite the ratings falter on Thursdays.
In other ABC notes, ABC has announced the celebs and athletes for the new summer series The Superstars! The eight athletes are Jennifer Capriati (tennis), Brandi Chastain (soccer), Robert Horry (basketball), Jeff Kent (baseball), Kristi Leskinen (X Games), Lisa Leslie (basketball), Bode Miller (skiing) and Terrell Owens (football). The eight celebrities are David Charvet (actor), Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Dancing with the Stars), Dan Cortese (host/actor), Paige Hemmis (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), Julio Iglesias, Jr. (singer), Joanna Krupa (model), Ali Landry (model/actress) and Estella Warren (actress). The series is based on ABC's classic Wide World of Sports, which pitted athletes from all different sports against each other to determine the best athlete in the world. The Superstars pairs the celebrities with the athletes to compete in varying sporting events. Participants found out who their selected partners were only when they met for the first time at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The six-episode series premieres Tuesday, June 23 at 8:00PM on ABC. The team pairings for The Superstars will be Terrell Owens & Joanna Krupa; Jeff Kent & Ali Landry; Robert Horry & Estella Warren: Bode Miller & Paige Hemmis; Kristi Leskinen & Maksim Chmerkovskiy; Lisa Leslie & Dan Cortese; Jennifer Capriati & David Charvet; and Brandi Chastain & Julio Iglesias, Jr. Every week a team will be eliminated until one team is ultimately crowned the winner. Competitors' athletic prowess and strategy will be put to the test to excel in events including swimming, biking, running and kayaking, in addition to other head-to-head athletic challenges everyone must try to conquer. Find out more on the celebs and athletes.

Moving on to NBC, they have pulled drama Kings from Saturdays even after just one airing. Repeats of Law & Order: SVU will air instead at 8pm (it was at 9pm), with Southland encores moving to 9pm (from 10pm), and now Law & Order repeats will close out the night at 10pm. Then after May sweeps ends, Law & Order: Criminal Intent repeats will air for a few weeks at 8pm before Kings returns. 7 episodes of Kings remain and NBC promises to return the series on Saturday, June 13 at 8pm to finish them off. That date was originally the plan to end the series, now that will be the return date. The series will last through July 25, bearing any more changes of course.
Finally Fox has changed its summer schedule a bit again. New series Mental will now air Tuesdays at 9PM starting May 26 following summer repeats of House. Mental was previously scheduled to launch on Friday, May 29 at 9PM. It will still air Fridays, but now they will be encores of the Tuesday episodes. However, the Tuesday airings will only last through June 23. The Friday encores will become the new night for new episodes for Mental starting July 3 through August 14. Fox has also announced that it will return reality show The Moment of Truth on Wednesday, July 29 airing Wednesdays at 9PM, following So You Think You Can Dance. Dance ends its season in early August (Aug. 5 & 6), though, so Truth will then have repeats of Bones as its lead-in starting Aug. 19. August 12 will see two episodes of Moment of Truth from 8-10pm. View the complete Fox summer schedule.

Finally, we leave you today with some sad news. Wendy Blair died of cancer on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 in North Hollywood. Blair enjoyed a long career in the entertainment industry, having served as the first female junior executive at CBS Television City in the mid-1950s. Known for being analytical and extremely organized, she worked as an associate producer and producer on a number of popular television series. Among the series she worked on as an associate producer are Three's Company, and both of its spin-off series The Ropers and Three's a Crowd, as well as several variety shows and specials for companies including Dick Clark Productions and Sid and Marty Krofft Enterprises, such as Dr. Shrinker.
Her other producer credits include pilots and series such as What a Country! in 1986, I Married Dora in 1987, Mutts in 1988, and Where's Rodney? in 1990. She later segued from working in production to serving as the manager of business operations for The Smothers Brothers and was active in this role until the beginning of 2009. Now, Joanne McCracken has taken over. Blair was a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America and was a founding member of the Association of Associate Producers (which later merged with the PGA). Blair was devoted to her family and family traditions. She will be deeply missed, especially by Three's Company fans and The Smothers Brothers followers. She was only 70.

ABC Returns Ugly Betty 1 Week Earlier; YouTube Adds Full Episodes of Shows

Ugly Betty is now scheduled to return to the ABC schedule starting Thursday, April 30, 2009 and will continue through and including Thursday, May 14, 2009 in its 8:00-9:00PM ET/PT slot. Ugly Betty was previously scheduled to return on May 7, but now it will be a week earlier than planned, as ABC will preempt In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? In the Motherhood was planning on airing 6 of its 7 episode order, but now it will be 5 of the 7, so 2 episodes will remain leftover. It is unlikely the show will return for another season, but ABC could air those two episodes at a later date. As for Samantha Who?, the second season has a 20 episode order, but only 14 will have aired, so 6 will remain. ABC will likely hold them over for next season, which it is likely to return. Not sure what this means for the second season DVD that is slated to come out Aug. 25...will they have all 20 on there or just the 14 aired?
The two-hour season finale of Ugly Betty is still scheduled to air in the 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT slot on Thursday, May 21, 2009. So Ugly Betty will air all 24 of its hours this season, as previously it didn't match-up with just 23 hours.

YouTube has just recently added a "Shows" section where you can watch full episodes of TV shows! There are many genres of television shows you can watch, with of course Classic TV, Comedy, and Drama. YouTube has partnered with the likes of Sony's Crackle, CBS, MGM, Lionsgate and Starz and many others have made thousands of television episodes and hundreds of movies available for you to watch, comment on, favorite and share. This addition is one of many efforts underway to ensure that YouTube is offering you all the different kinds of video you want to see of full-length films and TV shows.
Get ready here is a list of just some of the stuff you'll see: The Addams Family, ALF, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, American Gladiators, Barney Miller, Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Burns and Allen, Dana Carvey Show, Dick Van Dyke Show, Dragnet, Fantasy Island, He-Man, I Dream of Jeannie, Jack Benny, Lucy Show, MacGyver, Make Room for Daddy, Married with Children, My Mother the Car, NewsRadio, Party of Five, Star Trek, T.J. Hooker, Three Stooges, Trouble with Father, and What's Happening!!
Current stuff will also be available such as episodes of Harper's Island and clips of Jimmy Kimmel Live. So head on over to YouTube to start watching!

According to Jim Returns March 24 With Final 12 Episodes; Fox Schedules Glee, Osbourne Special

ABC has announced it will return According to Jim on Tuesday, March 24 and air it in the 8-9pm hour with two back-to-back episodes. The series aired 6 episodes during the holidays and didn't do too well, but that was during a low-rated month. Now the series has 12 episodes left and these will be the final 12 for this long-running sitcom. They will air them in six weeks through Tuesday, May 5, which will be the series finale (they will be preempted on April 7 for Charlie Brown Easter). According to Jim will replace Homeland Security, USA, which will have its final Tuesday broadcast next week. The show still has 5 episodes left in this season's order, and will likely air elsewhere.
With the return of According to Jim, ABC will have comedy hours three nights a week in the 8-9pm hour from Tuesdays through Thursdays. Scrubs returns with new episodes and Better Off Ted launches Wednesdays starting March 18 in the 8pm hour, then Jim returns Tuesdays starting March 24, and Thursdays will see the launch of In the Motherhood and the return of Samantha Who? starting March 26.
According to Jim and Scrubs are both ending their runs after eight seasons a piece this season and ABC is trying to create a comedy block for next year, so the end of these two will provide a start. Both series will have their series finale on back-to-back nights (May 5 and May 6). Dancing with the Stars will probably give the comedies a good push for promotion, as the new Bob Saget sitcom Surviving Suburbia will premiere a few weeks later on Monday, April 6 at 9:30pm, giving ABC another comedy. ABC hasn't had this many sitcoms since like 2002 and 2003, when their promotion were called "ABC Happy Hour" and "Comedy Rules." For the sake of sitcoms, let's hope this works and I could certainly see a four-comedy night return to ABC next fall...with hopefully all traditional multi-camera sitcoms. Surviving Suburbia is a good start!
As for you Jim fans, here are the episode titles the first two weeks: March 24 - "The Ego Boost" and "The Yoga Bear." March 31 - "Kyle's Crush" and "The Meaningful Gift." Then jumping a month later on May 5, the series finale "Heaven Opposed to Hell" will have many guest stars! Kimberly Williams-Paisley returns and Dan Aykroyd, Erik Estrada, Lee Majors, and Mitch Rouse are among the guests who also return.

In a broadcast first, Glee, the new one-hour musical comedy series from Ryan Murphy, will get a special preview following American Idol's performance finale on Tuesday, May 19 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT on Fox. The show will then premiere in the fall (date to be announced). So the series will get a special preview before returning about four months later. Will this work? It won't have an Idol lead-in in the fall, that's for sure. We shall see.
Glee is an uplifting series with biting humor that features a soundtrack of hit music from past to present, so it should blend well with American Idol.
But before Glee, Fox will hop aboard the "Crazy Train" when Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly Osbourne turn another television convention upside down and inside out with their new series Osbournes: Reloaded premiering after American Idol on Tuesday, March 31 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.
The variety series features audience interaction, rowdy comedy and hilarious stunts that will shock and amuse. Outrageous sensibility and brash humor are at the core of the series filmed on location and in front of a studio audience that never knows what to expect from the First Family of Rock. Following the premiere, Osbournes: Reloaded will return to the Fox schedule as a series of one-hour specials to air later in the season, as six episodes were ordered in all. So this means Fringe won't return until April 7. The creepy drama series has 7 episodes left from its 21 episode order and hasn't aired since Feb. 10. So with the Glee premiere and the preemption on March 31 for the Osbournes, the Fringe finale will likely air out of sweeps with no American Idol lead-in on May 26. And if Osbournes does very well, Fringe could be preempted more likely. So Fringe has to watch its back, as the show really hasn't done that well in the ratings.

ABC Midseason 2009 Sitcom News - Samantha Who Moves to Thursdays; 15th Annual SAG Awards Winners

ABC has announced its plans for the midseason sitcoms, and you'll see it here first! ABC will move Scrubs to Wednesdays at 8:00pm ET/PT starting March 18, since Dancing with the Stars: The Results is launching Tuesdays at 9pm on March 17. American Idol Results on Fox will be moving to 9pm on Wednesday nights by then. Scrubs will lead-into the new midseason comedy Better Off Ted, starring Jay Harrington. The comedies will replace the Lost enhanced encore. The comedies will lead into new episodes of Lost at 9pm.
Next ABC will create a new Thursday night comedy hour, with new comedy In the Motherhood premiering March 26 at 8:00 pm ET/PT and will be paired with the return of Christina Applegate in Samantha Who? at 8:30 pm ET/PT. Since The Bachelor will continue on Monday nights from 8:00-10:00 pm ET/PT thru March 2, leading directly into True Beauty, Samantha Who? will be on the move. Both of these comedies on Thursdays will lead into episodes of Grey's Anatomy at 9pm.
Ugly Betty fans don't worry, the series will return to Thursday nights at 8:00 pm following the run of In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? It is not clear how many weeks that will be. If I were to guess it will be 6 weeks. Ugly Betty will air 18 or 19 episodes by March 19, so 5 or 6 will remain for that show. ABC has not announced what will air at 9:30pm on Monday nights starting March 30 when Dancing with the Stars will settle into its 90-minute format after three airings of two-hours. If I were to guess, we could see a second episode of In the Motherhood or Samantha Who? on this night as well, probably the latter since it has 11 episodes left to air this season. Stay tuned. Still no date for the animated comedy The Goode Family, but ABC is mulling a May launch for a few episodes. It is still early in the day, if we have any more updates on these sitcoms, we will edit it in, so come on back.
View complete details on In the Motherhood and Better of Ted, so you know what they are about.

The 15th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) winners were announced yesterday. Leading the pack were Mad Men and 30 Rock. 30 Rock took home all 3 of its nominations, sweeping comedy.
Here are the main TV portion winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane – Boston Legal (ABC)
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – Dexter (Showtime)
JON HAMM / Don Draper – Mad Men (AMC)
HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – House (FOX)
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore – Boston Legal (ABC)
WINNER: HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – House (FOX)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
MARISKA HARGITAY / Det. Olivia Benson - Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko – Saving Grace (TNT)
ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson - Mad Men (AMC)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson – The Closer (TNT)
WINNER: SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – The Office (NBC)
DAVID DUCHOVNY / Hank Moody – Californication (Showtime)
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold – Entourage (HBO)
TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk – Monk (USA)
WINNER: ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – 30 Rock (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly – Samantha Who? (ABC)
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez – Ugly Betty (ABC)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin – Weeds (Showtime)
TRACEY ULLMAN / Various Characters – Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (HBO)
WINNER: TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – 30 Rock (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boston Legal, ABC
Dexter, Showtime
House, Fox
Mad Men, AMC
The Closer, TNT
WINNER: Mad Men, AMC

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock, NBC
Desperate Housewives, ABC
Entourage, HBO
The Office, NBC
Weeds, Showtime
WINNER: 30 Rock, NBC

View the complete TV portion winners and to discuss the winners!

It is still early, so if we have any more news...come on back. NATPE 2009 starts tomorrow (runs Jan. 27-29), so we will have updates from NATPE.

The Bundy's Valentine's Marathon on Spike; Sleuth Adds MacGyver in February; Network Notes

Celebrate Valentine's Day with the Bundys in a Married with Children marathon on Valentine's Day (Saturday, February 14, 2009) from 1pm-8pm on Spike TV! It's "Love, Bundy Style!" Join the Bundys for some tough love. The weird love of Al and Peggy is perfect for Valentine's Day. And you'll also see Bud and Kelly go on dates and find love.
Elsewhere on Spike, earlier in the month, catch a CSI marathon on Super Bowl Sunday. Forget football! Catch up on all your favorite CSI 2-part episodes. It's an all day Super CSI Sunday Marathon on Sunday, February 1 from 12pm-4am.

Universal's digital cable station Sleuth will add the Richard Dean Anderson '80s series MacGyver to its line-up in February. MacGyver will launch on Monday, Feb. 2 and will air weekdays at 7am and 4am, replacing one of the daily JAG airings. Richard Dean Anderson will certainly "fix" the Sleuth schedule, if you know what I mean.
Earlier this month Sleuth went under a big makeover and airs mostly series that are reran on sister station USA Network such as JAG, Monk, The Dead Zone, NCIS, and Walker Texas Ranger while adding Canadian series such as Cold Squad and DaVinci's Inquest. The Guardian also airs on Sleuth weekly.
A few weeks after its launch, MacGyver will get a 24-hour marathon on Sunday, February 22 from 6am to 6am.

Fox has pulled Hole in the Wall from the schedule after just one episode from its return. The series returned this past Sunday to only 3.39 and 3.32 million in the 7pm hour. Hole will be replaced by Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? for the next week weeks (Jan. 25 and Feb. 1). As of now, Fox says Hole will return on Feb. 8 once the NFL season is over, though I doubt that. 5th Grader airs Fridays at 8pm but only until Jan. 30, so maybe the show will move to Sundays at 7? Stay tuned...
Meanwhile, ABC has made it official. The Bachelor is will expand to air in the 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT slot every week until the show has its finale on Monday, March 2. Second year sitcom Samantha Who? is no longer scheduled to air in the 9:30 PM ET/PT half-hour until further notice, as the series has been preempted the last two weeks. The Bachelor has built each week since its premiere on Jan. 5 and has done very well in the ratings. No word if Samantha will be placed elsewhere on ABC. An option is with Scrubs on Tuesdays or will ABC wait and hold it until Dancing returns? We'll let you know.

TCA Winter 2009 Press Tour: ABC; TV Land Acquires AFI Life Achievement Awards

This is the final day of the TCA Winter 2009 Press Tour and ABC will get to close it off. In the morning after breakfast we had Disney Channel and Disney XD shows go up to the panel (Aaron Stone, Sonny with a Chance, and JONAS). The ABC executive session followed shortly after with ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson. We learned a lot of new things! Premiere dates for the midseason comedies however were still not announced but the cast of and crew of each had their own panels. If I were to guess, dates for the comedies will be final as soon as Fox announces it is moving American Idol Results to Wednesdays at 9 sometime in March. That would lead ABC to possibly air the comedies in the hour to avoid Idol. I'd guess Scrubs and The Goode Family would fit, though he said Goode might not launch until May now. They could strip Scrubs on two nights even rather than double-pumping on one night, pairing it on Tuesdays with Better Off Ted maybe or Samantha Who? Just my guesses. McPherson all but confirmed that In the Motherhood would air after Dancing with the Stars this spring. That series also has lined up the lucious Stacy Keibler to guest star! McPherson is frustrated by Samantha Who's ratings, as it hasn't retained as much of its Dancing with the Stars lead-in as he would like, but it is still a hilarious show. Personally, I think it is a better fit with Scrubs, something younger for it. Speaking of Scrubs, he says he has been very pleased with the ratings but it seems this will be its last season since Zach Braff is leaving and he can't imagine the show continuing without him. He also stressed he would like to go back to the comedies of the past such as Roseanne and Home Improvement style, so look for comedy in that vein next season. No word on when the final According to Jim episodes will air, as twelve are left. He still is saying never say never ending for this show. A joke I think. And finally as for the hoopla of ABC picking-up King of the Hill, McPherson says it isn't happening!
Other than that, we learned mainly about storyline questions for the hot ABC dramas, so I won't give that away since it could be spoilery for some. Let's just say, if you don't like the Denny-Izzie ghost storyline, keep watching...you have no idea what is happening. He did say he was very happy with Private Practice and the crossover episodes between that and Grey's Anatomy should be big. Still no idea when they are officially airing, but I have a hunch they start on Feb. 12 (or maybe March sweeps?). There are still no airdates for the final Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone episodes. There is a rumor saying June, though. McPherson says he loved all three and it is too bad Nielsen didn't either. He was also happy that Marc Cherry decided to extend Desperate Housewives beyond season seven. He was also happy with the Boston Legal finale and it ended their own way, while Dancing with the Stars was a blast, especially Cloris Leachman. The upcoming edition he says has a good core group. Can't wait until it is announced! And as Nina Tasler of CBS said, McPherson is pleased with what NBC did at 10pm. Less of a bidding war now.
After the executive session we had a panel for the upcoming single-camera sitcom Better Off Ted. Then it was time for lunch and a viewing session of Lost with a question & answer with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse! Probably the most anticipated session of all of TCA. The third episode of the season was screened for the press prior to the q&a, as the press has already saw the first two episodes (like me...it is great stuff!). After that, panels for many other upcoming spring series were up: The Unusals, Castle, In the Motherhood, The Goode Family, and Cupid. Launch dates for the new dramas The Unusuals, Castle, and Cupid were already announced from ABC early last month. To recap, The Unusuals will launch Wednesday, April 8 at 10pm following Lost. Castle will launch with Dancing with the Stars' new season on Monday, March 9 at 10pm, while Cupid will air Tuesdays at 10pm following Dance's results show.

The AFI Life Achievement Awards are moving from USA Network to TV Land starting this year. TV Land has signed a four-year deal to showcase the awards annually. The 37th Annual AFI Life Achievement Awards will be taped on Thursday, June 11, 2009 in Los Angeles and will honor Michael Douglas. The event will be telecast on TV Land PRIME about 6 weeks or so later on Sunday, July 19, 2009 in primetime.
USA Network has had the awards since 2002. Previously the awards were on broadcast television on CBS, NBC, and ABC. The AFI Life Achievement Award is the highest honor for a career in film.

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.

Hallmark and TV Land Make Schedule Changes; ABC and Fox January News

Hallmark Channel has made a schedule change that will start this coming Monday (November 10). Cheers will leave the line-up from 4-5pm and be replaced with more Little House on the Prairie. So, this means Cheers only lasted two weeks in its weekday slot with a second Little House returning to the hour. As of now, Cheers is totally off the line-up, because if you all recall when Cheers started on weekdays, its weekend airings were removed.
We will keep you up to date if anything else comes out of this, but as of now, no more Cheers on Hallmark. If I were to guess, it could return in January when they launch I Love Lucy. This network has had trouble launching sitcoms besides M*A*S*H, which is a shame because they have two coming in 2009 (I Love Lucy, Golden Girls).

As for TV Land, we already told you about the late afternoon change that started this past Monday (Nov. 3) with Hogan's Heroes at 4pm and Leave it to Beaver at 5pm, now more changes are happening next week. Originally we stated, Scrubs was set to move Nov. 10 from 9-10pm to 10-11pm, but it seems that is not happening. Now on that week, we will get a week-long Cosby Show marathon! The Cosby Show Marathon airs Monday, November 10 through Thursday, November 13 form 8pm-2am and Friday, November 14 from 8pm-10pm and 12am-4am (it is preempted Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 10p-10:30p for Myths & Legends).
A few changes are also coming starting that week for at least the rest of November. In the 7am hour, back-to-back episodes of Scrubs will replace two episodes of M*A*S*H. So, Scrubs is out of primetime. In the weekdays at 1pm hour, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will replace Beverly Hillbillies for the rest of the month at least. And in late nights, for the week of November 10 from 2-3am will be Sanford & Son replacing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition encore (weeks of Nov. 17 and 24 it will be more Cosby Show in the hour). Finally, Three's Company is back regularly starting Nov. 10, at least for the rest of November, airing weeknights from 3-4am ET/PT!
So what will happen to TV Land PRIME after Cosby Show's marathon week? Cosby Show will now air 8-10pm from Mon-Sat for at least through the end of November, with 3rd Rock from the Sun now staying in its 10-11pm Mon-Thurs slot. Replacing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 11pm will be ... CSI, from sister station Spike TV (which airs it at 3pm and 8pm weekdays)! CSI will also air at 12 midnight, replacing M*A*S*H. This is for at least the rest of November (weeks of Nov. 17 and 24), we do not know yet if CSI will still be airing in December. For the final two weeks in November at least, this is how TV Land PRIME looks: 9PM Cosby Show, 10PM 3rd Rock from the Sun, 11PM CSI. With more Cosby Show leading in at 8PM and more CSI leading out at 12AM, as Scrubs and Home Edition are relegated to daytime...again for at least the end of the month.
So it seems M*A*S*H is not airing AT ALL the final two weeks of November and Beverly Hillbillies has been reduced to weekend blocks and in the Thanksgiving marathon. I don't expect CSI to air beyond these two weeks, but we'll see. Will these changes be in effect in December? We shall soon find out!
For now, view the full updated TV Land November 2008 schedule, so you don't get confused.

ABC has released part of their January plans. They have released Mondays. Originally it was supposed to be True Beauty (new Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks produced reality show) from 8pm-9:30pm followed by The Bachelor from 9:30-11pm. Now it will be The Bachelor from 8-9:30pm, followed by sitcom Samantha Who? staying put at 9:30pm despite no Dancing and True Beauty in the 10pm hour. This new night will launch Monday, January 5. On that date The Bachelor will have a two-hour premiere leading into the premiere of True Beauty. So, Samantha Who? will air in between those two starting Jan. 12. No other ABC January details are in yet, but we could expect Lost, as last night we saw promos saying "two-hour premiere in January." If I were to guess, Lost will air on Wednesdays. Also, last night promos for unscripted docudrama series Border Security USA started playing, and we could expect that in January as well, perhaps with Lost. ABC premiere of Scrubs and animated comedy The Goode Family are among the other items that could launch in January on ABC, with on the bubble shows like Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies perhaps benched. I want to clarify, that Scrubs is not coming Dec. 2 as I mentioned earlier in the week, the original plan of According to Jim remains starting Dec. 2.
As for Fox, they have announced they will launch 24 with its usual two-night/four-hour event on Sunday, January 11 and Monday, January 12 from 8-10pm. Then starting January 19, it will air in its 9-10pm slot. No word on what will air at 8pm, it could be new series Dollhouse though. American Idol obviously will return in January as well, perhaps Tuesday, Jan. 20. We will keep you up to date.

This TV Launches with Mr. Ed and Patty Duke; TV Land Changes; Samantha Who and Kath & Kim Renewed

Back in late July we told you new digital station "This TV" was launching in October, and as promised, they have launched! They launched on Halloween with a a marathon of scary movies like Amityville II & Amityville 3-D. This TV is owned by MGM and Weigel Broadcasting...Weigel also owns the popular Me-TV and Me-Too.
As of now, clearances are only in Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Columbus, Albany, Richmond, and Dayton, OH. They are primarily airing MGM movies like 12 Angry Men, Something Wild, & Great Balls of Fire, but a few MGM TV series have been mixed in as well such as the original Outer Limits, The Patty Duke Show and Mister Ed. They all air between 4-7am ET on weekdays, 4-10am on Saturdays, and 6-9am on Sundays. This TV also airs children's programming such as Miss Mallard Mystery, Paddington Bear, Flight Squad, Robinson Sucroe, Animal Crackers, Spider Riders and Ripley's Believe It or Not! ...these air weekdays 7-10am and Sundays 8am-11am. Another block airs on Saturday mornings from 10am-1pm with children's series such as Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures, Busy World of Richard Scarry, and Wimzie's House.
If you get this in your area right now, call yourself lucky to see Patty Duke & Mister Ed!

TV Land has made a schedule change starting late this afternoon (November 3). Hogan's Heroes goes from weekdays 5-6pm to weekdays from 4-5pm, replacing Beverly Hillbillies, which will remain 1-2pm. Now airing 5-6pm on weekdays is more Leave it to Beaver! Also, it seems 3rd Rock from the Sun is doing well for TV Land, in addition to its TV Land PRIME marathon this week (Nov. 3-7, 9pm-12am), it will get weekend plays from 12-7pm this Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 8-9). TV Land has also added a marathon of Three's Company this Saturday night (November 8) in the overnight from 2am-6am. Tune in!
View the full TV Land November 2008 highlights that we gave previously.

ABC has picked-up a full season of sophomore sitcom Samantha Who? It is no surprise, as the sitcom is a solid player for the network. It also is critically acclaimed with Christina Applegate winning a Golden Globe and Jean Smart winning an Emmy for the show. ABC will air 20 episodes this season, with three already have aired (fourth one airs tonight at 9:30pm ET/PT). Usually non-freshman shows already have 22 episode orders, but due to the strike last season, most second year shows got only 13 episode orders. The sitcom joins fellow ABC sophomore series Private Practice in getting picked up for a full season. They will not air the normal 22 for Sam, because they have a lot coming this mid-season comedy wise like The Goode Family, Single with Parents, Better off Ted...and returning series According to Jim and Scrubs. Speaking of those latter two, both could launch in December now. Previously as we stated, According to Jim was set to launch Dec. 2, Tuesdays 9-10pm, but I now hear that will be Scrubs. It is not official yet, but as soon as it is, I'll let you all know. Jim would air Tuesdays 8-9pm I think leading into Scrubs starting the following week, Dec. 9. Both shows have 18 episode orders.

Meanwhile, NBC has a fast trigger...in a good way though. They have picked-up nine more episodes of freshman sitcom Kath & Kim, despite low ratings. The last two airings have only been 4.99 and 5.44 million in its Thursday slot, but I guess NBC believes in the show and liked the little jump to 5.44 million after the series low? I cannot believe they picked-it up for a full 22 episodes already, but good news for fans of Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. The show has been blasted by critics.

Happy Columbus Day; Sci Fi Channel Mork & Mindy Marathon in November; Tonight's Preview

It's Columbus Day and we have a few marathons but not the full load like on major holidays. You can catch marathons of Smart Guy on BET all day today (9am-8pm) and George Lopez on Nick at Nite tonight (9pm-4am). Back in early May we told you Sci Fi Channel has struck a deal with CBS-Paramount for various shows. The main show of the deal is Ghost Whisperer but it doesn't start to air until Fall 2009. Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first show from the deal to start airing, with blocks of The Sentinel shortly following in the daytime rotation. Then last month Seven Days joined the regular schedule airing weekdays at 4PM. This month, Friday the 13th: The Series started to air in the daytime rotation...just in time for Halloween. Now in November, we will finally get the '70s sci-fi sitcom Mork & Mindy! The show will air in an all-day marathon event the day after Thanksgiving on Friday, November 28 from 8am-6am! Yes, 22 hours of Mork! See episode info. As of now, this marathon is the only scheduled airing for Mork & Mindy. I'm sure we will see it again...we'll let you know when, but for now watch this all-day event on Nov. 28! Mark it down! So far the only other shows not to air yet from this CBS Paramount deal are Charmed, Early Edition, Highlander, Highlander Raven, and The Invaders (Ghost Whisperer can't air until Fall 2009). We will let you know as soon as we know when they air! Airing tonight is the second season premiere of last season's number one sitcom...Samantha Who! Golden Globe winner Samantha Who and Emmy winner Jean Smart star in this brilliantly written and funny single-camera sitcom. Tonight Cybill Shepherd guest stars in a dancing themed episode, with a special appearance by Dancing with the Stars pro Mark Ballas! The premiere airs at 9:30pm following Dancing with the Stars on ABC! View my review of the season premiere, along with the review of the first two Eli Stone episodes, which has its second season premiere tomorrow night at 10pm on ABC! Have faith! Eli Stone is one of those shows you have faith in and root for...

SitcomsOnline.com Exclusive: Interview with ION Television; ABC Moves Samantha Who Season Premiere; TBS Renews Engvall Sitcom

We have a very exciting interview for you today. We finally have the long awaited interview with ION Television, just in time for their new changes that happened this week! As always with our interviews, it is in Seven Questions form!

We had the pleasure to interview Eleo Hensleigh, CMO, ION Media Networks, Inc. Eleo was named Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in February 2008 and develops, manages and implements all marketing and branding activities across the Company in support of the network and digital multiplatform portfolio. Ms. Hensleigh leads all consumer-facing and business-to-business branding and marketing activities company-wide. She is also in charge of leading the expansion of the Company's research organization, providing qualitative and quantitative audience, consumer, sales and media planning insights for all divisions. Previously, Ms. Hensleigh was with Disney-ABC, where, over her tenure, she oversaw the marketing and branding functions of both the Television and Cable Groups. She served as Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President, Marketing & Brand Strategy, and was involved in the marketing, advertising, research, media planning, synergy, creative services and promotion divisions for ABC Television Networks.
ION Television is a general entertainment network which reaches over 94 million U.S. television households via its nationwide broadcast television, cable and satellite distribution systems. Launched in 2006, ION Television features popular TV series and movies from the award-winning libraries of RHI Entertainment, CBS Television, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television, Twentieth Television and Warner Bros. Parent company, ION Media Networks, Inc., owns and operates the nation's largest broadcast television station group.

We thank Eleo and ION Television for taking the time to answer some of the most interesting questions we have for them. So it is time for another installment of SitcomsOnline's Seven Questions Series! We need a jingle...

"Seven Questions with ION Television"

SitcomsOnline: First off, thanks so much for the opportunity and your time! ION has certainly made bold acquisitions to bolster its primetime line-up. The deals for Boston Legal, ER, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Ghost Whisperer were very huge and will change the face of ION to more of a mainstream network. For the shows that are currently airing on broadcast television, will their current seasons be available to ION after the season ends on broadcast? For example, ER was bought for seasons 11-14, but season 15 starts on NBC this fall...will ION have access to season 15 after the 2008-09 season ends?
ION: Starting Monday, September 8th, ION Television has started offering viewers a new, "Positively Entertaining" slate of strategically acquired fall programming that appeals to a younger, broader audience. Regarding currently-airing seasons of off-network series, the arrangements are unique to each show.

SitcomsOnline: What will happen to the older shows ION has aired in the past like Mama's Family, Alice and Who's the Boss? Mama's Family has certainly been the face of ION for the last few years but now ION wants to separate itself from that. Why is that? Couldn't Mama just be moved out of primetime into say an afternoon slot like 4pm since it did so well for the network?
ION: While these classic programs reflected ION Television's traditional audience base, the new network brand is strongly focused on our current identity, which is bold, innovative and "Positively Entertaining" to our growing adult 25-54 audience.

SitcomsOnline: ION's expansion is great, but still plenty of hours are filled with paid programming. Many people want to know why is this and can we expect more paid programming hours to be removed little by little?
ION: ION is currently focusing on its primetime programming. Following the successful launch of ION Television's fall 2008 lineup, the network will move to address a full daytime strategy, with the goal of shifting away from paid programming. In April 2008, ION Television extended its weekday entertainment schedule by an additional hour of programming from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Beginning September 8th, the network plans on expanding its programming lineup by yet another hour, starting at 4:00 p.m.

SitcomsOnline: There have been some shows that never really got a chance to air, like Perfect Strangers and Growing Pains, will they come back? Has ION thought about creating an early afternoon block (or even late nights) filled with older sitcoms from the 70s and 80s leading into their late afternoon/evening block starting at 4pm?
ION: We are considering a lot of possibilities right now. It would be premature to announce anything, but we are looking at a variety of ways to serve our growing audience with the kind of fresh, "Positively Entertaining" programming that fits our brand promise.

SitcomsOnline: ION wants to build on the age 25-54 demographic, correct? I think so far ION has done a good job with the recent pick-ups like ER and Boston Legal, but I don't understand how most of the RHI films will be of that demographic? Most of them, especially the westerns, seem to be for age 55+. Will the RHI films be more younger now, even the library ones?
ION: Many of the RHI library films are Emmy Award winning films that were made for a broad audience. The original films that are being created for ION Television speak to that audience, and hold great appeal for adults 25-54. For instance, the network recently aired Jekyll and Hyde, starring Dougray Scott - who was recently a regular on the contemporary hit show, Desperate Housewives.

SitcomsOnline: ION has also created an African American initiative, which right now has a block of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and Steve Harvey Show from 5-7pm, with Wayans Bros. airing recently as well. What can we expect of this initiative in the future and what exactly is it?
ION: ION Television has a partnership in place with Star Media and OMG to develop diverse programming for an urban audience. The partnership is aimed at providing programming to this audience and re-investing in original programming over time.

SitcomsOnline: Finally, ION certainly has access to various programming libraries it seems, from Sony Pictures Television (shows like Charlie's Angels, Partridge Family), Warner Bros (shows like Perfect Strangers, Wonder Years) and Universal (shows like Amen, McHale's Navy). Would it be possible for ION to create a digital channel, like qubo and ION Life, for classic TV or regular programs? This way these programming libraries could be more used if they don't work or fit on ION Television.
ION: Utilizing its digital multicasting capability and national reach, ION Media Networks' digital TV brands, qubo, a television and multimedia network for children formed in partnership with several leading media and entertainment companies, and ION Life, the country's first multicast network dedicated to active lifestyles, personal growth and positive values, have flourished. Both "diginets," which present branded program offerings on ION Television, serve to educate and engage priming viewers with positive messaging and helpful information. We are constantly innovating and looking for ways to effectively leverage our programming to deepen our engagement with our audience and to grow our audience over time.

Our thanks to to ION Television and Eleo Hensleigh, and best wishes in making ION Television establish itself with their new contemporary hits! We do hope the older sitcoms/shows appear in the daytime or in some way (would fit with M*A*S*H), as ION has announced that they do have plans to remove paid programming in the daytime. Our apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time. For more information on ION Television, continue to stay with us for info and don't forget to view their newly designed website with a new URL http://www.iontelevision.com/. So, stay tuned right here on the blog for news updates for this network.


ABC has pushed back the second season premiere of sitcom Samantha Who? back a week to Monday, October 13 at 9:31PM ET/PT following Dancing with the Stars. It was previously scheduled to launch on October 6 in that time period. ABC likely did it because of the debate on Tuesday, October 7. On that night ABC has announced it will move the Dancing with the Stars: The Results from 9PM to 8PM, so they can air the Debate from 9-11PM ET. The season premiere of Samantha Who? will be dancing-themed and have guest stars Cybil Shepherd and Dancing with the Stars pro Mark Ballas! It should be fun...I have it in advance and will watch it soon and let you know how it went.
For other recent ABC schedule updates, head on over to our message board for a listing.

After another highly successful run this summer, TBS has ordered a third season of its top-rated original sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. TBS has ordered 10 episodes of the show, which will return to the network in summer 2009.
Set in a Denver suburb, The Bill Engvall Show focuses on family counselor Bill Pearson and his wife, Susan, who strive to raise three well-adjusted children in an ever-changing world. The show offers a humorous look at parenting in the 21st century, a task Susan finds especially challenging because Bill is often as much of a handful as the kids.
Throughout its two seasons on TBS, The Bill Engvall Show has been embraced by viewers. The show's July 2007 series debut was watched by more than 4.1 million viewers and landed among ad-supported cable's Top 3 sitcom telecasts of all-time among adults 25-54 and households, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. This past summer, the show averaged 2.3 million viewers and ranked as ad-supported cable's #1 program in its time period among adults 18-49.
In December, TBS will present two special episodes of The Bill Engvall Show, just in time for the holidays!