SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

• Antenna TV still has their Wings marathon that goes through tomorrow.
• MeTV is going full Christmas mode this weekend, with Christmas episodes of all of your favorites, including a special Svengoolie presentation of A Very Brady Christmas tonight.
• Tomorrow's Catchy Binge on Catchy Comedy features That's My Mama and Good Times.
• Mad Men arrives on HBO Max on Monday.

• Catchy Comedy has a binge of Good Times and That's My Mama tomorrow.
• Meanwhile, Antenna TV has a Sunday Special featuring Benson.

Mother's day is a little over a month away still, but you can still prepare! Centric will honor all mother's out there with a 24-hour marathon of the '70s sitcom That's My Mama on Mother's Day--Sunday, May 8, 2016 starting at 6am. This is the first time That's My Mama is airing on Centric. The series has aired from time to time on cable network TV One over the years. The classic sitcom which starred Theresa Merritt in the title role as Eloise "Mama" Curtis took place in Washington D.C. and centered around Clifton Curtis, Mama's son and young barber, he had inherited the family barbershop from his late father, Oscar Curtis. Mama wanted the best for her son and that meant a woman in his life, so she often tried finding him a mate even though he enjoyed bachelor life. The series also stars Clifton Davis and Jester Hairston (who both went on to star in another favorite Amen), Ted Lange (who went on to star in The Love Boat), Lynn Moody (Roots), and Theodore Wilson (Sweet Daddy from Good Times). Will Centric air the series as a regular? We will know soon, if they do, but for now enjoy it on Mother's Day!

Turning to sister network BET, they will have a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air marathon on Saturday, May 7, 2016 from 10am-5pm with the title "Will the Real Aunt Viv Please Stand Up?" Of course Aunt Viv was played by two different actors during the six-season run. Janet Hubert-Whitten had the role in Seasons 1-3 and Daphne Maxwell Reid took over from Seasons 4-6. Which Aunt Viv do you prefer? Find out when they go head-to-head on BET in this 7-hour event!

Gimme a Break! The hit '80s sitcom, Gimme a Break! is coming to TV One! Hot off of their acquisition of What's Happening!! in March, TV One will add Gimme a Break! to its schedule beginning Friday, May 3, 2013. The sitcom will join the Friday night comedy block featuring classic sitcoms. The series has not regularly aired on cable in about 15 or so years when USA Network aired it weekday mornings. The series has aired in a couple of markets in local syndication in recent years, but that's it. We last saw the sitcom on cable back in 2006 when TV One aired a special day marathon in celebration of the series' first season coming to DVD. However, it was just a stunt marathon and this will be a regular addition! TV One will air Gimme a Break! Fridays from 8-9pm and also 11pm-12am beginning Friday, May 3. It will kick-off the new Friday night comedy block line-up. Sanford & Son will return to the TV One line-up and air Fridays 9-10pm (encores 12-1am). What's Happening!! will be moving timeslots to 10-11pm now, instead of the current 11pm-12am hour. The series will also encore 1-2am. Only Gimme a Break! doesn't encore, as the 11pm-12am airings are different from 8-9pm. With the addition of Gimme a Break! and the return of Sanford & Son, this means That's My Mama and The Jeffersons are not going to be a part of the Friday night comedy block schedule. Not to worry, as they are still airing on the schedule on other days, with The Jeffersons remaining weekday mornings and its Tuesday daytime marathon block. You'll also see sitcom marathons/stunts continue on Saturdays after the Good Times block beginning at 2pm, with What's Happening!! getting a block on Saturday, May 4 from 2-6pm featuring the first eight episodes. You will also see Sanford & Son and What's Happening!! pop-up Sunday mornings with an hour each from 8-10am beginning May 5. No word if Gimme a Break! will regularly air yet on any other day besides Fridays, but you'll for sure see it pop-up on the Saturday stunt block from time to time after 2pm.

In Gimme a Break!, the late singer/actress Nell Carter starred as Nell Harper, housekeeper and den mother to the three daughters of the Kanisky Family, headed by Dolph Sweet as the recently widowed local police chief. Controversial in its day for the 'stereotypical' set-up of a wise-cracking and overweight Black housekeeper who takes care of a white family, the show nevertheless endured six seasons on the strength of Carter's powerful persona, strong comic timing and musical chops. The show featured rare guest appearances from some of the biggest stars, 'before they were stars', including Whitney Houston, Dennis Haysbert, and Danny Glover.

Before Gimme a Break stars, we'll have some Friday night comedy block stunting going on in April. TV One's popular reality series R&B Divas Atlanta returns to the network for its second season premiere Wednesday, May 1, 10PM/ET. In celebration, TV One is branding the month of April "Destination Divas" and will pack the network's schedule with a mix of new original specials, iconic movies and sitcoms plus encores of R&B Divas season one. We of course are interested in the sitcom part. In April, TV One will turn the Friday night comedy block into marathon stunts for "Destination Diva." TV One tells us that each week the sitcom marathons will be focused on the "divas" of the series. For instance, Whitley from A Different World and Regina from Living Single. The April marathons for Fridays are as scheduled from 8-11pm (encores 11pm-2am): The Jeffersons on April 5, Eve on April 12, A Different World on April 19, and Living Single on April 26. The regular Friday night comedy block schedule will return on May 3 with the addition of Gimme a Break. The last regular Friday night block schedule for the current schedule is this Friday (March 29) before a new line-up begins on May 3. Stay with us for continued updates.

Break out the wine! TBS has renewed its hit original comedy Cougar Town, produced by ABC Studios and starring Courteney Cox, Christa Miller, Busy Philipps, Dan Byrd, Ian Gomez, Josh Hopkins and Brian Van Holt. The network has ordered 13 episodes for season five, which is expected to launch in 2014. Cougar Town joined the TBS lineup in January for the show's fourth season. It currently airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), with the season finale slated for April 9. The fourth season consist of 15 episodes. Since launching its fourth season on TBS Jan. 8, Cougar Town has averaged 2.8 million viewers, 1.7 million adults 18-49 and 812,000 adults 18-34 in Live + 7 delivery. The show ranks as TBS's top original primetime series ever with adults 18-49 and total viewers. As part of Cougar Town's successful transition to cable, new episodes on TBS are drawing an audience whose median age is seven years younger than the show's last season on broadcast. #cougartownrenewed

TV One has acquired the classic funky '70s sitcom What's Happening!! for its Friday night classic comedy line-up! The sitcom will begin airing on Friday, March 1, with a special two-hour block of episodes centered on Rerun (played by the late Fred Berry) from 8-10pm, as part of TV One's Friday night classic comedy block. Episodes airing on this night are all from season two: "Rerun Get's Married," "Give Me Odds," "Going Going Gong," and "Rerun Sees the Light." The special launch will encore the following day (Saturday, March 2) from 12-2pm. The What's Happening!! launch will lead into the season finale of original comedy Belle's on Friday at 10pm. TV One usually airs a block of classic comedies from 8-10pm, with series such as The Jeffersons, Good Times, A Different World all filling in. But wait, there's more! What's Happening!! will be airing on a regular basis beginning the following week. Effective Friday, March 8, the Friday night classic comedy block will have a set regular schedule and What's Happening!! will air Fridays at 11:00pm & 11:30pm ET! The Friday night classics schedule begins with That's My Mama at 8:00pm & 8:30pm, followed by back-to-back The Jeffersons at 9:00pm & 9:30pm, and Good Times at 10:00pm & 10:30pm leading into What's Happening!! It's a time warp back to the '70s on Friday nights! The What's Happening!! episodes will be going in order from the first episode and will encore on Saturdays at 2:00pm & 2:30pm beginning March 9. The Saturday morning schedule will have four episodes of That's My Mama from 6-8am, then a block of Good Times from 8am-12pm and Martin from 12-2pm leading into What's Happening!!

What's Happening!! has aired on TV One in the past, but only for Black History Month back in 2010 and not as a regular series. The series hasn't aired regularly on cable since it aired on TV Land from 2005-07. TV Land also aired select episodes from the follow-up series What's Happening Now!! but TV One does not have the rights to air that series, as of now. No other schedule changes will occur on TV One, so the classic Friday night comedy block will now have a set schedule and a new addition, while Saturday mornings will also get a bit of a makeover. Stay with us for continued updates, as we can tell you that there could be another classic addition to the TV One line-up soon. What will it be? Stay tuned!

Tyler Perry's popular sitcom For Better or Worse is coming to OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network with a third season of all new episodes debuting in the fall of 2013. In addition, the network has garnered the encore rights for the first two seasons of the sitcom's 45 episodes that originally aired on TBS. The series, which was basic cable's #1 sitcom of 2011 and the #1 show on all of television with African-American adults, follows three couples who are at various stages of their relationships as they weather the ups-and-downs of married life and dating. The original cast is set to return in their starring roles including Tasha Smith, Michael Jai White, Crystle Stewart, Kent Faulcon, Kiki Haynes and Jason Olive. Production will begin in Atlanta in April.

For Better or Worse will mark OWN's third scripted series from Perry who has an exclusive deal with the network to produce brand new television series and projects. The first two original series - the sitcom Love Thy Neighbor and the ensemble drama The Haves and the Have Nots - are set to premiere Wednesday, May 29. The original series mark the network's first venture into scripted programming and now they will have an established comedy to pitch in the fall in For Better or Worse. The series wrapped up its TBS-run in December with all-new episodes and repeats were airing on Friday nights through the end of January. Before it moves to OWN, TBS is still airing the series Tuesday and Wednesdays at 4am.
As for Love Thy Neighbor, it is a half-hour comedy set at Love's Diner, where every day the menu serves up good food, great laughs, valuable life lessons and a whole lot of love for its zany neighbors. Jonathan Chase, Palmer Williams, Patrice Lovely, Kendra C. Johnson, Andre Hall and Darmirra Brunson star.

This fall TV One won't be making many schedule changes, but they will premiere a new original sitcom on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 9pm with a two-episode premiere. The Rickey Smiley Show, as we previously mentioned, is a hilarious and heart-warming multi-camera sitcom starring comedian and radio personality Rickey Smiley, who plays a character loosely based on his own life - a popular, local DJ based in Atlanta, who is a single father to three children. The show's stories are inspired by Rickey's challenges and triumphs raising his children by himself while still trying to have a personal life. In addition to his personal life, the series takes viewers behind-the-scenes of his radio station, which is a hot-bed of office politics, back stabbing, sexual innuendo, social issues, celebrity appearances, music and, of course, humor. The all-star cast includes Ray J (Moesha, One on One), J. Anthony Brown (Like Family), Lil JJ (Just Jordan), Roz Ryan (Amen), Noree Victoria and Demetria McKinney (Tyler Perry's House of Payne).

Stunts airing in September on TV One include a Martin marathon on Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 3) from 7am-9pm. A marathon of Hawthorne will air Sunday, Sept. 9 from 12pm-8pm. On Tuesday, Sept. 18, TV One will present a special marathon of encores of original sitcom Love That Girl 10am-2:30pm, followed by Martin 2:30pm-9pm to lead into the two-episode premiere of original sitcom The Rickey Smiley Show. As far as the regular schedule goes, not many changes to report but Friday nights will now be a set schedule of sitcoms in primetime starting at 8pm with back-to-back episodes of Good Times, The Jeffersons, Amen, That's My Mama, Living Single, Martin, and Half & Half through 3am. TGIF! From 3-6am, there will be a two-hour block of Eve. Previously there were stunts on Friday nights of most of these sitcoms and some others like Flip Wilson and Richard Pryor Show. The rest of the weekday daytime line-up remains intact, see the schedule below.

View the full TV One Fall 2012 schedule. And stay with us for continued updates should anything change or be added to the schedule.

TBS is turning up the volume on comedies with its newest original series, Wedding Band, starring Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills 90120, Desperate Housewives), Harold Perrineau (Lost, Oz), Peter Cambor (NCIS: Los Angeles, Notes from the Underbelly) and Derek Miller (Secret Girlfriend). The series follows four friends - three single, one married, all with day jobs - who escape their daily stress and responsibilities by playing "weekend rock gods" in Seattle's premier wedding and events band, Mother of the Bride. This hour-long comedy series also stars Melora Hardin (The Office), Jenny Wade (The Good Guys) and Kathryn Fiore (MADtv). TBS's Wedding Band is set to air Saturdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), beginning Nov. 10 for ten episodes. Airing on Saturday nights is a pretty questionable call. The series had been announced as a series order for awhile now (since May 2011) so perhaps TBS didn't like how the subsequent episodes were coming out? Just a speculation since the night it is airing is very strange.

Delivering equal parts comedy and heart, Wedding Band centers on the bromance between four likable but occasionally reckless young men who can't figure out their own lives. One thing they have figured out, however, is that weddings are the wildest parties in town. After all, the groupies are bridesmaids, the drinks are free and the best part, there's a paycheck waiting at the end of the night. And it's not just weddings. Mother of the Bride also brings the party to bar mitzvahs, high-school reunions and even bachelorette parties. On lead vocals and playing the crowd is perennial bachelor Tommy (Green). Shredding it on guitar is his best friend and married father of two, Eddie (Cambor). Behind Eddie on drums - and everything else in life - is his rock-obsessed brother, Barry (Miller), whose mission is to bring the arena-rock spectacle to black-tie events. New to the band is Stevie (Perrineau), a bassist and session musician who's jammed with all the big rock giants, "from AC to ZZ," but he's never been an official member of a band until Mother of the Bride. Together these four guys provide the soundtracks to other people's lives. But now the band is ready to take things to the next level. That means attracting the attention of top event Roxie Rutherford (Hardin), and her novice associate Rachel (Wade) and keeping Eddie out of trouble with his wife, Ingrid (Fiore).

TV One is going back to the '70s and '80s on Friday nights in primetime starting this month! Last Friday (July 6), TV One aired a mixture of The Jeffersons and Good Times starting at 8pm and running through 2am. The rest of the month will feature these two classic CBS sitcoms as well! For the next two Fridays (July 13 and July 20), enjoy episodes of The Jeffersons in a block from 8pm-1am, with an hour of Good Times at 1am. On Friday, July 27, Good Times takes over the entire block starting at 8pm. In August, we have more shows being added to the mix! Friday, August 3 will have two Clifton Davis series airing, first up Amen from 8-11pm, followed by That's My Mama from 11pm-2am. More marathons will be announced in the coming weeks.

In other TV One news, there will be plenty of sitcom marathons/stunts, especially on Saturdays starting at 12 noon following the regular Saturday morning (6am-12pm) sitcom block. The Saturday marathon/stunts starting at 12 noon will feature sitcoms such as Martin, A Different World, Living Single, and Good Times. So make sure to check your listings to see these shows! Returning to the TV One line-up in August will be the short-lived sitcom Between Brothers, every Saturday from 10-11am in their Saturday morning block. Stay with us for further updates on TV One, as there are no new additions right now. Possibly this fall? We'll let you know on our annual cable fall schedule barrage starting very soon!

Saturday mornings are about to get more cooler and '80s style when everything was great! FEARnet, cable's premier destination for horror, suspense and thriller content, is adding a new two-hour weekend programming block starting Saturday, August 18. The morning segment, dubbed "Funhouse," features half-hour animated programs The Real Ghostbusters from the '80s and Tales from the Cryptkeeper from the '90s, as well as live-action suspense dramas Eerie, Indiana from the early '90s and Canadian export Dark Oracle which aired from 2004-06. The "Funhouse" block will be broadcast Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET and re-aired the next day, Sunday, in the same time period on the linear TV channel.
FEARnet's new "Funhouse" lineup marks the first time that the emerging cable network has broadcast both animated and live-action acquired series in a combined themed block of time. In fact, the block will highlight three all-time favorite television shows that haven't been nationally broadcast in over a decade. Dark Oracle currently airs on THIStv Sunday mornings at 9-10am ET. The line-up on both days has The Real Ghostbusters at 10am ET, followed by Tales from the Cryptkeeper at 10:30am, Eerie Indiana at 11am and Dark Oracle at 11:30am. The Real Ghostbusters was last seen on the former Fox Family Channel (now known as ABC Family) in 1999, so has been a long time since it has aired on television. I ain't afraid of no ghost!
FEARNet does have an original sitcom titled Holliston and it wrapped up its first season this past spring with six half-hour episodes. The Adam Green comedy was renewed for a second season and will return in summer 2013. FEARnet's first original scripted television series, is a riotous and offbeat multi-camera, buddy comedy starring Adam Green and Joe Lynch. Set in the town of Holliston (near Boston), the series shines a light on the post-college life where everything is a struggle, and nothing works out like it's supposed to. With terrifyingly funny results, Adam and Joe struggle to become big-time horror filmmakers while hosting late night scary movies at the local cable station, and Adam embarrasses himself as he tries to win back his high school girlfriend. Think of Holliston as Big Bang Theory meets Evil Dead 2. The ensemble cast features Laura Ortiz, Corri English (Worst Audition Ever, lead singer of Brokedown Cadillac), Dee Snider and Oderus Urungus.