SitcomsOnline.com News Blog: The Bill Engvall Show

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Wednesday, November 09, 2016

getTV's The Most Wonderful Month of the Year; CW Seed Gets V, 666 Park Avenue

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas on getTV, as the network celebrates the season with its second annual "The Most Wonderful Month of the Year" event. The channel turns over its daily schedule during primetime all month long in order to focus on a mixture of rare and classic Christmas-themed variety specials, TV series episodes, and films, starring some of entertainment's biggest names, from Sunday, November 27 through Sunday, December 25, culminating in a week-long 24-hour-a-day yuletide mega-marathon kicking off at 12 noon on Sunday, December 18 and running through Christmas day. The event launches at the tail end of the Thanksgiving weekend at 7:50 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 27 with getTV's network premiere of 1998's The Christmas Wish starring Neil Patrick Harris as a young man who sets out to grant his grandmother's (Debbie Reynolds) wish in The Christmas Wish, which also features an early appearance by Naomi Watts.

Other highlights of note to us include, Tuesday evenings will highlight back-to-back holiday episodes of getTV's latest acquisitions, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, co-starring Haley Joel Osment, and The Bill Engvall Show, co-starring Jennifer Lawrence, followed each week by a classic Christmas film. And Wednesdays, as part of the channel's "Get Lost in TV" block, will feature Christmas-specific episodes of rare and classic television series, including a unique evening of 'action/crime' Christmas episodes from The Equalizer, Hardcastle and McCormick, Riptide and more (Nov. 30), an evening of yuletide Westerns featuring The Restless Gun, Cimarron City, The Tall Man and more (Dec. 7) and a night featuring back-to-back holiday hours of In the Heat of the Night (Dec. 14).

V and 666 Park Avenue - CW Seed

CW Seed has added two series to its streaming line-up. Two former ABC series: 666 Park Avenue and V. Both series are available now on CW Seed, with all 13 episodes of 666 Park Avenue. The drama starred Rachael Taylor, Dave Annable, Vanessa Williams, and Terry O'Quinn and followed a couple who learned that the Manhattan apartment building that they just moved into, including its upscale tenants, might have been possessed by a mysterious demonic force. The series aired in 2012-13 on ABC. CW Seed has the first season of ABC's V revival available right now, which is the full 12 episode first season. The revival chronicled the arrival on Earth of a technologically-advanced alien species which ostensibly came in peace, but actually had sinister motives. The series starred Elizabeth Mitchell and Morena Baccarin, with other stars like Morris Chestnut, Joel Gretsch, Laura Vandervoort, Charles Mesure and Scott Wolf.

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

getTV Acquires Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall Sitcoms; Entourage Star Heads to Hallmark Movie

getTV delivers a night of laughs with an all-new Tuesday lineup featuring The Jeff Foxworthy Show and The Bill Engvall Show, airing every Tuesday starting on October 11. The weekly block will highlight three back-to-back episodes of The Jeff Foxworthy Show from 8 p.m. ET to 9:30 p.m. ET, followed by three back-to-back episodes of The Bill Engvall Show from 9:30 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET. Each week kicks off with a trio of episodes of the 1995 sitcom The Jeff Foxworthy Show at 8 p.m. ET, starring beloved funnyman Jeff Foxworthy as a southern air conditioner repairman feeling hilariously out of his element in a small Indiana town. The show also features Haley Joel Osment in an early television role as Foxworthy's young son Matt, four years before his breakthrough role in The Sixth Sense. Jay Mohr, Bill Engvall, and Jerry Maguire standout Jonathan Lipnicki were added to the cast in season two.

The Bill Engvall Show

Then, stay tuned for three episodes of the 2007 sitcom The Bill Engvall Show at 9:30 p.m. ET, starring comedian Bill Engvall as a family counselor who is rarely able to understand his own family. In addition to co-stars Tim Meadows and Nancy Travis, the series notably featured a then-17-year-old Jennifer Lawrence in one of the Oscar®-winner's earliest starring roles, stealing the show as Engvall's teenage daughter, Lauren.

Hallmark Channel

Adrian Grenier (Entourage) and Amy Smart (Justified) have been cast as the leads in A Worthwhile Life, a new, original movie premiering on Hallmark Channel in 2017. Production is set to begin this month in and around Salt Lake City, Utah. Mary Landers (Smart) is a young woman whose hope for an engagement is unexpectedly upended when her fiancé tells her he is looking for someone more adventurous. On her train ride home, she trades glances with James Fielding (Grenier), a handsome stranger who appears to be the larger than life adventurer she is not. As throngs of shoppers exit the train all that is left of the mystery man is the phone he accidentally left behind. Mary endeavors to return it to him and finds herself on a journey of self-discovery. In the process she realizes that she may not be so different from the intriguing man who crossed her path after all.

Thursday, September 05, 2013

COZI TV Fall 2013 Adds Starsky & Hutch, Hart to Hart, Fantasy Island; Dancing with the Stars Season 17 Cast Filled with Sitcom Stars

COZI TV, the network designed to deliver an easy-to-watch, comfortable and familiar viewing experience to audiences nationwide, announced it will add a host of new movies and TV shows to its lineup in the coming months, including classic favorites Fantasy Island, Starsky & Hutch and Hart to Hart - all from Sony Pictures Television. Additionally, COZI TV renewed Sony's Charlie's Angels and will add dozens of new movies to its rotation, including Gidget, The Graduate, Tootsie and The Big Chill. We don't have a schedule just yet for COZI TV Fall 2013, but you can expect these shows to be added in the coming months.

Airing from 1978 to 1984, Fantasy Island was a hit TV series on ABC starring Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke, the overseer of a mysterious island located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, where people from all walks of life came to live out their fantasies. Mr. Roarke's energetic sidekick Tattoo, played by Hervé Villechaize, opened each episode by ringing a bell and famously shouting, "The plane! The plane!" to welcome new guests to the island. COZI TV will take viewers to the crime ridden streets of fictional Bay City, California in the 1970s cop thriller ABC television series, Starsky & Hutch. Paul Michael Glaser starred as dark-haired, street-smart David Starsky alongside his blond, intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, played by David Soul. Together, the duo patrolled Bay City in the infamous Striped Tomato, Starsky's two-door Ford Gran Torino, catching fugitives and fighting injustice. And finally, Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers played Jonathan and Jennifer Hart in the popular ABC '80s series Hart to Hart, which ran from 1979 to 1984. Mr. Hart, a self-made millionaire and CEO of Hart Industries, and his wife, a freelance journalist, lived a glamorous lifestyle while spending their free time moonlighting as amateur detectives. In every episode, the couple found themselves involved in cases of smuggling, theft, international espionage or murder. Stay with us for any further updates on these new additions to COZI TV. They will join the likes of Charlie's Angels, Six Million Dollar Man, Magnum P.I., The Bionic Woman, Marcus Welby M.D., The Lone Ranger, The Virginian, Highway to Heaven, I Spy and The Roy Rogers Show. Since the network's official launch at the beginning of this year, COZI TV has grown significantly and is now available in 47.5 million homes or 42 percent of the country, reaching 40 markets, including those served by the ten NBC-owned stations.

Dancing with the Stars Season 17 Cast

The new Dancing with the Stars cast was announced and it is filled with many sitcom and TV stars! Stars from sitcoms including Rhoda, Saved by the Bell, The King of Queens, The Bill Engvall Show, and other TV hits like Pretty Little Liars and Glee. This season's dynamic lineup of stars -- including a sitcom legend, a reality mega-star, a football champion and a pop music sensation - will perform for the first time on live national television with their professional partners during the two-hour season premiere of Dancing with the Stars, Monday, September 16, 2013 from (8:00-10:01pm, ET on ABC. Dancing with the Stars returns for Season 17 and shakes things up by transitioning to a one night, two-hour format. The one-night extravaganza will feature competitive dance, dynamic group performances and musical guests, all building to a climactic elimination. Each week viewers can vote for their favorite dancing performance. Beginning with the second episode on Monday, September 23, one couple will be eliminated at the end of the show by combining the judges' scores from that night with the public votes from the previous week.

As announced yesterday morning on ABC's Good Morning America by Dancing with the Stars hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke-Charvet, the 12 celebrities with their professional partners heading to the dance floor this season (in alphabetical order) are:

Elizabeth Berkley Lauren (Saved by the Bell, CSI: Miami) and partner Val Chmerkovskiy
Corbin Bleu (High School Musical) and partner Karina Smirnoff
Brant Daugherty (Pretty Little Liars, Army Wives) and partner Peta Murgatroyd
Bill Engvall (The Bill Engvall Show) and partner Emma Slater
Valerie Harper (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Valerie) and partner Tristan MacManus
Keyshawn Johnson (NFL) and partner Sharna Burgess
Christina Milian (singer, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish) and partner Mark Ballas
Bill Nye (Bill Nye the Science Guy) and partner Tyne Stecklein
Jack Osbourne (The Osbournes) and partner Cheryl Burke
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi (Jersey Shore) and partner Sasha Farber
Leah Remini (The King of Queens, Family Tools) and partner Tony Dovolani
Amber Riley (Glee) and partner Derek Hough

Monday, September 28, 2009

BET Jazz Renames to Centric; The CW and TBS Cancelations

We all know about the name change Viacom is doing for The N turning into TeenNick starting today, but did you know Viacom's BET Jazz is turning into Centric today? BET is rebranding its nearly 32 million subscriber "BET J" network under the Centric title, which will target African-American viewers with music and lifestyle programming. The network for the short-term will rely on acquired reality and music programming fare from its sister networks, including such shows as MTV's Run's House and VH1's The Salt-N-Pepa Show and I Want To Work for Diddy. Centric will also feature new shows originally slated to premiere this fall on BET J, including Leading Men, Lyrical Café and Urban Living. The network will also air classic episodes from the long-running Soul Train syndicated music/dance series, including singer Michael Jackson's first appearance on the show as a member of The Jackson Five. The network will pay homage to the "King of Pop," who died this past June, with a Jackson-themed primetime programming block tonight at 9pm (and encoring Friday at 11am). Also, the network will air the original Fame series to launch the network today from 9am-9pm with an encore on Sunday from 6am-6pm. Episode titles from the 1982 series airing in the block are "The Strike," "A Musical Bridge," "Passing Grade," "Tomorrow's Farewell," "The Crazies," "Teachers," "Class Act," "Feelings," "Star Quality," "Solo Song," "Ending on a High Note," and "Not in Kansas Anymore." I believe this is in honor of the new Fame movie that opened this past weekend. As of now, Centric is not airing this series as a regular.
While the network is officially on the air today, BET and MTV are not planning any major marketing campaigns for Centric until 2010. For the immediate future, Centric will run cross-promotional spots through such MTV Networks properties as VH1, MTV and BET. Hopefully we see some sitcoms on Centric, but it doesn't seem like we will see any...I guess sitcom will be just for BET itself.

The CW has canceled new Wednesday drama The Beautiful Life: TBL after just two airings. TBL was the fall's first cancelation, after draw just over 1 million viewers for its second episode not holding much of anything of the America's Next Top Model lead-in. Starting this Wednesday at 9pm, repeats of Melrose Place, which is not doing much better, will take over the slot. Melrose Place airs original episodes Tuesdays at 9pm.
And finally TBS has canceled multi-camera sitcom The Bill Engvall Show after three seasons. The series moved to Saturdays for its third season and didn't generate much numbers. TBS opted to go with a fourth season of single camera sitcom My Boys instead I guess.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

TBS Launches My Boys Season 3 on March 31; Obama Address to Congress Programming Update

My Boys, a smart original TBS comedy about a group of close friends connected to each other through the main woman in their lives, P.J. Franklin, returns with an all-new season of laughs. They are funny, irreverent, and completely relatable - people that you want to get to know! All-new episodes start March 31 for 9 straight weeks airing Tuesdays at 10:30pm ET, sandwiched between two The Office episodes. This comedy is about a group of friends who love each other like family, as they look to support each other through the ups and downs of dating, break-ups, career highs and lows, marriage proposals and nagging spouses.
In other TBS original sitcom news, House of Payne is having new episodes on Wednesdays from 10-11pm from Feb. 11 to March 4. More will air later in the year as well, as the order is for 26 episodes. Meanwhile Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns will return this summer after a successful 10-episode trial run. The series will have 80 additional episodes. The 10 Items or Less season finale is this coming Tuesday at 11pm ET, as it wraps-up its eight episode season. And finally, 10 more episodes of The Bill Engvall Show will launch this summer part of its third season. From the mind of America's favorite comedian, The Bill Engvall Show is a familiar, satisfying, contemporary family sitcom in the tradition of timeless sitcoms viewers know and love. Full of Bill Engvall's trademark family humor and unique take on parenting, marriage and kids, you will see your own family in this very funny family sitcom.

A few weeks ago we mentioned President Obama will preempt primetime programming on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 9pm ET as he addresses to Congress. The address is now 90-minutes on the networks to include a Republican Response. So how will this affect primetime on network TV? For ABC, they will air the address from 9pm-10:30pm ET and an abbreviated half-hour version of Primetime: What Would You Do? will air at 10:30pm ET for the eastern time zone. The same goes for the central time zones, but of course they are one-hour behind. Out west, for the mountain time zone, the address to Congress will air live from 7-8:30pm MT, followed by an abbreviated half-hour version of Primetime: What Would You Do? at a special time of 8:30pm MT (it usually airs 9-10pm MT) and then they will conclude with Homeland Security USA at 9pm MT at a special time (usually airs 7pm MT). For the pacific time zone, the address to Congress will air 6-7:30pm PT, followed by local programming, then Homeland Security USA in regular 8pm PT hour, followed by a special repeat of Supernanny at 9pm PT (won't count in the ratings), and a full hour of Primetime: What Would You Do? at 10pm PT.
For CBS, they too will air the Obama address from 9-10:30pm ET, followed by a repeat of Two and a Half Men at 10:30pm ET. The same goes true for the central time zone, just off by an hour. For the mountain time zone though, the address to Congress will air live from 7-8:30pm MT, followed by the special Two and a Half Men encore at 8:30pm MT and an all-new NCIS at 9pm MT at a special time, as it usually airs at 7pm MT. Finally, for the pacific time zone, the address to Congress will air 6-7:30pm PT, followed by local programming, then NCIS at its normal 8pm PT slot, followed by special repeats of Two and a Half Men and Old Christine in the 9pm PT hour. Old Christine won't count in the ratings like Supernanny on ABC because it is not airing in the entire country. If Two and a Half Men gets preempted for the entire nation (that will only happen if the address to congress runs longer than 90-minutes), then a repeat of The Unit will air at 9pm PT for the pacific time zone only. 10pm PT will be returned to local stations to program for pacific time.
For NBC, they have just announced they too will air the address to Congress from 9-10:30pm ET, and in the eastern time zone, a repeat episode of The Office will follow. The same goes true for the central time zone, but they are one-hour behind. For the mountain time zone the address to congress will air live from 7pm-8:30pm MT, followed likely by The Office repeat and The Biggest Loser at 9pm MT at a special time, as it usually airs at 7pm MT. For the pacific time zone, the address to Congress will air 6-7:30pm PT, followed by local programming, The Biggest Loser will air from 8-9pm PT, followed likely by The Office encore at 9pm. NBC has not made that 9pm PT hour official yet, so I am not sure what will air at 9:30pm PT, but it would likely be a Office repeat. At 10pm PT we are not sure if NBC will air a repeat of Law & Order: SVU out west or just give it back to local programming like CBS is doing. For those wondering, The Biggest Loser is usually two-hours but like we mentioned a few weeks ago, it will air for an hour on this night and the second hour will air the following night.
For Fox, the address to Congress will air likely from 9-10pm ET in the eastern time zone, as they have not mentioned a half-hour Republican Response. A repeat of Bones will lead into that, as the regularly scheduled American Idol will be moved to Wednesday from 8-10pm, and the usual Wednesday results will be moved to Thursday 8-9pm. The same goes true for central time. For your mountain time zone readers, the address to Congress will air from 7-8pm MT, and in the eastern time zone. The Bones repeat will follow at 8pm MT. For pacific time zone readers, Fox will air the address to Congress from 6-7pm ET followed by local programming then likely two Bones repeats from 8-10pm PT, though that second hour is not confirmed yet.
I hope this made sense! We will have continued updates if anything changes, so come on back!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

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!

Friday, June 06, 2008

Fox Changes Fall Premiere Dates; CBS Encoring Engvall's Sitcom; John Ritter Portrait Added to Hollywood High Mural

Fox was slated to start the fall season the week of August 25, but now Fox has changed their minds and will start the fall season on September 1, still a full three weeks ahead of the actual start of the 2008-09 season.
Fox premiere week will kick off the 2008-09 season with special two-hour premieres of Prison Break Monday, Sept. 1 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; Bones Wednesday, Sept. 3 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; The Moment of Truth Thursday, Sept. 4 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT; and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Friday, Sept. 5 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Premiere week will also see the season premieres of Cops and America's Most Wanted on Saturday, September 6.
As for new series, Fringe, the highly anticipated new thriller from J.J. Abrams will debut with a two-hour premiere Tuesday, Sept. 9 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. New sitcom, Do Not Disturb, the new workplace comedy starring Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash, will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 9:30 PM ET/PT.
Other fall premieres include: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Monday, September 8 at 8:00PM, as Prison Break will slide over to 9:00PM. Returning sitcom 'Til Death will have its season premiere Wednesday, September 10 at 9:00PM in between Bones and Do Not Disturb. Kitchen Nightmares will have its season premiere on Thursday, September 11 at 9:00PM, as The Moment of Truth will air at 8:00PM. Don't Forget the Lyrics! will have its season premiere the next day, Friday, September 12 at 9:00PM following Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Fox Saturday late night will have its season premieres on Saturday, September 13 with MADtv at 11:00pm and Talk Show with Spike Feresten at midnight. House will have its season premiere on Tuesday, September 16 in its new slot of 8:00pm, leading into Fringe. And finally, the Fox Animation Domination comedies will have their season premieres in the actual traditional premiere week (Sept. 22-28) on Sunday, September 28 with The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy and American Dad! from 8-10PM.

TBS's original sitcom, The Bill Engvall Show starring Bill Engvall launches its ten-episode second season on Thursday, June 12 at 9:00PM, but before that happens CBS has struck a deal with TBS to air an episode from season one on CBS this coming Monday (June 9). The season one encore (episode three How Bill Met Susan) will air on CBS at 8:00PM in place of the normally scheduled The Big Bang Theory.
Why is CBS doing this? They are not sister stations with TBS, so one wonders what the reason is? Variety reports that this is strictly a marketing swap. In exchange for CBS giving its show wider exposure, TBS will cede promo time to CBS to promote its fall 2008 schedule. So it is a win-win situation for both networks, as TBS gets more exposure for The Bill Engvall Show and CBS gets to showcase its fall promos on TBS. TBS got 4.1 million last season for the series premiere of The Bill Engvall Show. Can CBS's encore do better and can the season premiere on TBS do better as well (opposite the NBA Finals on ABC)? Only time will tell...

Finally, we leave you today with some good news. A 50-foot portrait of the legendary John Ritter (Three's Company, 8 Simple Rules) was dedicated as part of the existing Hollywood High School "Portrait of Hollywood" mural at 9 a.m. today in front of the mural at 1521 N. Highland Avenue, at the corner of Highland and Hawthorne. If you all recall or didn't know, when John was a guest on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live back in April 2003, Jimmy told John that he will not rest until John's photo was added to the Hollywood High mural. John of course went to Hollywood High for high school from 1962-1966 (then he later went to USC for college from 1966-1971). And now John has finally gotten his photo added to the mural at Hollywood High!
Attending the event was: Amy Yasbeck Ritter, Jimmy Kimmel, mural artist Eloy Torrez, Los Angeles City Council president Eric Garcetti, and Councilmember Tom La Bonge.
Also attended was representatives from the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, Legacy Partners and Gatehouse Capital, which combined forces to fund the $74,000 mural.
The event also marks the creation of a $500,000 endowment fund for Hollywood High School's Performing Arts program, provided by a collaboration of Gatehouse Capital.
Great news! And we can't wait to see a picture of this! To discuss this news, and to see a photo of John's "pretend mural" on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003, click HERE!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

AmericanLife Launches OnDemand Service; TBS Renews Bill Engvall Sitcom for Season 2; TV Land Family Day Pledge Launches

AmericanLife TV Network is joining the video OnDemand universe, offering up 20 hours of programming per month to any of TVN Entertainment's more than 100 cable affiliates free of charge. The service launched yesterday. The network will have four different channels for OnDemand:
Classic TV will feature such shows as Combat!, The Color Honeymooners and Mission: Impossible (in January).
Caring and Sharing TV features American Family, The Dr. Bob Show and specials such as A Journey to Darfur with George Clooney.
Cooking and Living TV features programming including This Food, That Wine, Embassy Chefs and Fixing Dinner.
Lifestyle TV features Alive and Well, Flea Market Mania and Save Our House, Save Our Family.
A quarter of the programming will be refreshed each week.

TBS has ordered a second season of 10 episodes of its hit sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. In addition, Engvall will host Blue Collar Comedy: The Next Generation, a special to be shot at HBO and AEG Live's The Comedy Festival (TCF) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for premiere on TBS Saturday, Nov. 17.
The sitcom launched in July with one of ad-supported cable's Top 3 sitcom telecasts of all time and currently ranks right behind Tyler Perry's House of Payne on TBS as ad-supported cable's #2 sitcom among adults 18-49 for the year-to-date, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. The show casts Engvall as Bill Pearson, a family counselor whose own family is unpredictable, somewhat absurd and a little mixed up themselves. Nancy Travis (Becker) plays his wife, Susan, who is trying to make sure their three children turn out all right. Filling out the rest of the family, Jennifer Lawrence plays Bill and Susan's teenage daughter, Lauren, while their sons are played by Graham Patrick Martin as Trent, a sports and video game enthusiast, and Skyler Gisondo as Bryan, a musically talented neat freak with a pet snake. Tim Meadows co-stars as Bill's best friend. The show, which is produced by TBS, was created by Engvall and Michael Leeson, who served as executive producers with J.P. Williams and director James Widdoes.

TV Land's Family Table: Share More Than Meals has teamed up with The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University to once again celebrate Family Day -- A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children(TM) on Monday, September 24, 2007. Beginning today, people committed to eating together on Family Day can go to FamilyTable.info to register participation for their family, friends and loved ones.
The Family Table have set a goal of registering millions of Americans to pledge to have dinner as a family on September 24th and, hopefully, use Family Day as a catalyst to make family dinners a regular part of their lives.
TV Land will go dark for an hour from 6-7pm on this day to urge families to go eat together. In addition, a special marathon of TV families eating together will air the night before.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

New Sitcom, The Bill Engvall Show, Premieres on TBS on Tuesday, July 17

The Bill Engvall Show premieres Tuesday, July 17, at 9/8c on TBS!

The Bill Engvall Show is written and created by Engvall and Michael Leeson (The War of the Roses), who also serve as executive producers with J.P. Williams (Blue Collar TV). The series is produced by TBS with Leeson’s Welladay, Inc. and Williams’ Parallel Entertainment. The pilot was directed by James Widdoes (Two and a Half Men).

Set in a Denver suburb, The Bill Engvall Show stars Engvall as Bill Pearson, a family counselor whose own family could maybe use a little dose of counseling. He works with dysfunctional families all day and comes home to what he sees as perfection, but in reality they are somewhat absurd, unpredictable and just as mixed up as any other family.

Nancy Travis plays his witty and loving wife, Susan, who tries to keep the family in line. Bill and Susan keep busy raising their teenage daughter, Lauren, and sons Trent, a sports and video game enthusiast, and Bryan, a musically talented neat freak with a pet snake. The kids love their parents but also know how to manipulate them. Also adding to the family dynamic is Bill’s mother, an outrageous senior with the energy of a teenager. Comedic actors Tim Meadows and Steve Hytner round out the cast as Will’s closest friends.

Cast:

Bill Engvall as Bill Pearson, Nancy Travis as Susan Pearson, Tim Meadows as Paul DuFrayne, Steve Hytner as Bob Spoonerman, Jennifer Lawrence as Lauren Pearson, Graham Patrick Martin as Trent Pearson, Skyler Gisondo as Bryan Pearson

Related Links:

TBS Official Site

Bill Engvall's Official Website

TV.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Sitcoms Online Message Board

Sitcoms Online Photo Gallery