SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Summertime means yard work. But why toil outside? Stay in and watch two city folk work the soil. As of yesterday (May 27), Green Acres has now moved to a new time, five days a week - weeknights at 9:30PM replacing WKRP in Cincinnati. That is not the only fresh crop arriving in The Summer of Me. Two rarely aired pieces of television history are coming to MeTV this coming weekend -- the 1985 iteration of The Twilight Zone (Saturdays at 12:30am and Sundays 12am, replacing the original Twilight Zone) and the 90-minutes episodes of Wagon Train every weekday at 3:30pm (essentially replacing an airing of The Rifleman). Then, on Saturdays, MeTV presents The Three Stooges at 6PM | 5C (replacing The Wild, Wild West), with two thematically tied shorts presented in full, unedited and without commercial interruption.

More details on Stooges: On Saturday, June 1, legendary comedy troupe and masters of mirth The Three Stooges will join MeTV's lineup of memorable entertainment television. Over 13 weeks, these specially selected and themed broadcasts will present full-length, unedited shorts without commercial interruption, packaged into an hour-long presentation that highlights the many "best of" moments from the beloved comedians. Airing Saturdays at 6PM | 5C, weekly themes include "Crème de la Curly," "Just Say Moe," "Pie...I Oughta!" and "Shemp Cocktail," featuring the classic combo of the Stooge trio -- laidback Larry, hotheaded Moe, man-child Curly, along with dimwitted Shemp.

Disney Channel has picked up a second season of the popular live-action daughter/father comedy Sydney to the Max, starring 13-year-old actress/musical artist Ruth Righi in the title role of Sydney. Geared for kids ages 6-14 and families, the series is set in the present day with flashbacks to the 1990s and follows outgoing middle schooler Sydney Reynolds, who lives with her single dad Max (Ian Reed Kesler, Suits), in the house he grew up in, along with her progressive grandmother Judy (Caroline Rhea, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Disney's Phineas and Ferb). As Sydney's preteen pursuits begin to expand, Max's flashbacks of his childhood help him gain a better perspective of his daughter's experiences. Created and executive produced by Mark Reisman (Frasier, Wings, The Exes), production on season two will commence later this summer.

New episodes from season one will return on Tuesday, June 18 from 8:00-8:30 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel and in the DisneyNOW app. Also starring are Jackson Dollinger as young Max, Ava Kolker as Sydney's best friend Olive, and Christian J. Simon as young Max's best friend Leo.

Celebrate April Fool's Day with a fool day (see what we did there?) of The Three Stooges on Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's multicast network. Antenna TV, which airs in 133 TV markets across the U.S. reaching 88% of TV households, kicks off its annual April Fool's Day marathon at 1pm ET on Saturday, April 1 and runs through 10pm ET. Fumbling Fools: Three Stooges marathon features 9 hours of yuks with 24 episodes of the Stooges.

Nomadic Pictures (Fargo, Hell On Wheels) announced that Missy Peregrym (Rookie Blue) has joined the season two cast of action series Van Helsing. The 13-episode, hour-long drama, which airs on Syfy in the U.S., reimagines the timeless Dracula brand with the resurrection of Vanessa Van Helsing, the next in line of a lineage of warriors who now must lead mankind against a world controlled by vampires. Peregrym will play Scarlett Harker, a woman with a mysterious past who might help turn the tide against the vampires. Award-winning, writer-director Neil LaBute has returned as showrunner. The series, slated to return this fall, is currently in production shooting in Vancouver, BC. Missy Peregrym is a Canadian actress and former fashion model best known for her role as Officer Andy McNally on the ABC and Global Television Network series Rookie Blue.

Van Helsing airs on Syfy in the U.S., on SuperEcran in Quebec, Canada and globally on Netflix. And as we first reported, Missy can be next seen guest starring on an episode of Law & Order: SVU airing Wednesday, March 29 on NBC, as TVLine mentioned.

We mentioned that Antenna TV has acquired The Addams Family and Wings for this September, but that is not all that is coming to the network. Sources tell SitcomsOnline that Antenna TV has a boat load of of new sitcoms coming in the next 1-2 years, including '70s classic Alice and '90s comedy Murphy Brown. It looks like Antenna TV will be diving into the Warner Bros. library with those two additions. They will also bring back shows that were once on Antenna TV but only aired weekly, like Sony's Benson and Soap. Perhaps they will get more exposure the second time around? Antenna TV is not confirming all of this yet, but we have good sources and a good reason to believe you'll be seeing plenty of new sitcoms joining the lineup soon. Just stay with us for continued updates, as they officially announce it. We're hoping they have also acquired shows like Perfect Strangers, The Facts of Life, Silver Spoons and What's Happening!!/What's Happening Now!! And bring back Diff'rent Strokes?

Antenna TV currently airs Johnny Carson, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, All in the Family, Barney Miller, The Burns and Allen Show, Bewitched, Dear John, Dennis the Menace, Doogie Howser MD, Evening Shade, Family Ties, Gidget, Good Times, Green Acres, Hazel, I Dream of Jeannie, Jack Benny, The Jeffersons, Leave it to Beaver, Maude, McHale's Navy, Mr. Belvedere. Mister Ed, The Monkees, Mork and Mindy, My Mother the Car, Newhart, One Day at a Time, The Partridge Family, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sanford and Son, Small Wonder, Three's Company and Webster.

Decades Network, the multicast TV network from Weigel Broadcasting Co. and CBS Television Stations, announces a special four-day tribute to the slapstick comic legacy of The Three Stooges. The event is scheduled to air Monday, August 29 through Thursday, September 1, in honor of the 33rd anniversary of The Three Stooges receiving their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. To celebrate, Decades will present the broadcast television premiere of a nine-part Three Stooges documentary Hey Moe! Hey Dad!, as well as a collection of The Three Stooges movies. For the first time on broadcast television, Decades presents the premiere of Hey Moe! Hey Dad! from C3 Entertainment, Inc., The Three Stooges® brand owner, and produced by Frank Basile’s Fresh Produce Productions. The nine-part documentary goes behind the comedic curtain and tells the backstory of all the members of The Three Stooges, covering a hundred years from the perspective of narrator Paul Howard, Moe Howard’s son. Besides the rare footage and photos, the docu-series also features interviews with family members, friends and Hollywood celebrities, including Leonard Maltin, Billy West, Pat Cooper, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Decades will present the feature length Stooge antics in The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962), The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962), The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963) and Stop! Look! And Laugh! (1960). From the first "Why I oughta," to the next "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk" to the final "What's the idea?," Decades pays tribute to the comedy genius of The Three Stooges.

Antenna TV has released its January 2016 schedule that begins on January 1. Of course as we mentioned, the biggest addition will be Johnny Carson airings, airing weekdays 11pm-12am (encore 2-3am) and weekends 10-11:30pm (encore 1:30am-3am). Antenna TV has announced that the weekday airings will be Carson episodes from the '80s and '90s, while the weekend airings will be from the '70s. The other new additions to the schedule are Mork & Mindy, Dear John, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. First up, Mork & Mindy will air weekdays from 5-6pm and Saturdays 6-7pm. Dear John will air late nights/early mornings weekdays from 4-5am and Sunday evenings from 7-8pm. The other new addition is a surprise, they will be airing Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Saturdays from 2-3pm. With these new shows, some shows will be on a break: Maude, Three Stooges and Too Close for Comfort.

The rest of the Antenna TV schedule will have the same favorites you have been watching, but as always, for the most part, in new time periods. Some new time slots include Small Wonder (Saturdays 1-2pm), Mr. Belvedere (Saturdays 3-4pm), The Ropers/Three's a Crowd (Saturdays 5-6pm & Sundays 4-5pm), while Three's Company remains weekdays from 3-4pm & 3-4am, but weekends now have it at Saturdays 9-10pm & Sundays 11:30pm-12:30am. View the full programming line-up so you don't miss any of your faves!

Amazon is loading up their original slate of content even more, picking up 10 episodes of drama Good Girls Revolt starring Genevieve Angelson, Anna Camp, Erin Darke, Chris Diamantopoulos, Hunter Parrish, Jim Belushi, Joy Bryant and Grace Gummer. Amazon also picked-up second seasons of dramas Man in the High Castle and Hand of God and comedy Red Oaks. But wait, Amazon has picked up three new comedy series, plus one more new drama, too. Dark comedy One Mississippi, starring comedian Tig Notaro, is a story loosely based on her life and follows her as she deals with the complex reentry into her childhood hometown of Bay Saint Lucille, Miss., to deal with the unexpected death of her mother. The cast includes Noah Harpster, John Rothman and Casey Wilson as Tig's girlfriend, Brooke. In Highston, the comedy follows 19-year-old Highston Liggetts, played by newcomer Lewis Pullman, who has a wide circle of celebrity friends -- that only he can see. His parents Jean (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Wilbur (Chris Parnell) force him to get psychiatric help, but his Uncle Billy (Curtis Armstrong) thinks he's just fine. The pilot guest stars Shaquille O'Neal and Flea. In the comedy, Z: The Beginning of Everything, it is based on the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the brilliant, beautiful and talented Southern Belle who becomes the original flapper and icon of the Jazz Age in the 20s. Christina Ricci stars as Zelda.

In the political thriller Patriot, the drama follows the complicated life of intelligence officer John Tavner, played by Australian newcomer Michael Dorman, whose latest assignment is to prevent Iran from going nuclear. Lost star Terry O'Quinn also stars with Michael Chernus, Kathleen Munroe, Aliette Opheim and Kurtwood Smith (That '70s Show).

Ring in the New Year with your favorite sitcom stars as Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's multicast broadcast network, airs a series of marathons on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. On New Year's Eve (December 31, 2013), Antenna TV, which airs on 83 affiliates across the U.S. reaching 67% of TV households, will ring in 2014 with the second annual "The New Year's Eve Curtain Call with Benny and Burns & Allen" a Burns and Allen Show and a Jack Benny Program marathon beginning at 7pm ET on Tuesday, December 31 and running through 3am ET on Wednesday, January 1. Then on New Year's Day (January 1, 2014), Antenna TV will air its annual Three Stooges marathon from 3a ET-9a ET. When Antenna TV launched on January 1, 2011, the network made its debut with The Three Stooges. Antenna TV now airs a Three Stooges Marathon each year on New Year's Day to commemorate the anniversary, with 2014 celebrating the start of Antenna TV's 4th successful year on air.

Finally, on Thursday, January 2, Antenna TV will air "The Fresh Start Marathon." It will be pilot episodes of your favorite shows followed by the second episode of each show! Get a fresh start with Antenna TV from 11am ET-5am ET on Thursday, January 2. Programs include the first and second episodes of: Hazel, McHale's Navy, The Patty Duke Show, Dennis the Menace, Misted Ed, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Good Times, Diff'rent Strokes, All in the Family, Maude, Father Knows Best, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Sanford & Son. Stay with us for further information!

A couple months ago we told you about Fantasy Island starting on Cozi TV with a marathon on Dec. 8, now we have more news on that series and another show. First off, Fantasy Island got a preview marathon on Dec. 8 and it will join the Sunday night line-up regularly beginning Sunday, December 29, 2013. The series will air Sundays at 8pm & 9pm. Leading in will be Magnum P.I. at 7pm and leading out will be Bionic Woman at 10pm to form a new Sunday night block. Starting Thursday, December 26, Cozi TV will add a new western to its weekday morning line-up. Joining the schedule will be reruns of the classic James Garner western, Maverick. The series will air weekdays at 11am replacing Run For Your Life. But that's not all for Maverick! The classic western will also air on Saturday nights to form a new Saturday night western block! Maverick will air Saturday nights at 8pm & 9pm into Alias Smith & Jones at 10pm. That's all the changes for now. Maybe come January they will add one of the series they announced already that are coming soon (Starsky & Hutch and Hart to Hart). Stay with us.

TV Land launched reruns of the HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm in February by adding it to its late night line-up but now it is getting the boot in late night during the week. It's getting kicked to the curb. The comedy was airing every night from 2-3am and Sunday late nights from 2-6am, but the Mon-Sat airings have been now dropped. The comedy, which has been a big bust in syndication (TV Guide, WGN, local stations, etc.), is now only airing Sundays from approx. 3:30-6am. More That '70s Show has replaced it on the schedule, with Ashton and company airing Mon-Sat approx. 2:30-4:30am. TV Land just launched The Golden Girls this weekend, so now their focus has shifted to that series that fits the schedule much more than Curb. Betty White's '80s series is having a week-long primetime tribute this week to each Golden Girl character from Mach 18-21, 7-10pm. Then, fans take over the air! Viewers can go online now (hurry, voting closes at 11:59pm ET on Wednesday, March 20) and choose their favorite episodes on TV Land's Facebook Page, then watch the results on Friday, March 22 from 7-10pm.

TV Land also has new reality series Forever Young premiering Wednesday, April 3 at 10pm for 5 weeks (to us it seems like a burn-off airings 10 episodes in 5 weeks and a series that really doesn't fit TV Land). The series, from the mind of Ashton Kutcher comes a unique social experiment: what happens when fun-loving, uninhibited twenty-somethings are unknowingly picked to live and work with strong-willed, opinionated seventy-somethings? As they compete in challenges designed to bridge the generation gap, they ultimately learn you don’t have to be old to be wise or young to be youthful! Anyway, stay with us for continued updates on TV Land. It doesn't seem TV Land will have a TV Land Awards event this year...well, at least not in April.

Antenna TV celebrates April Fool's with a "Fumbling Fools: The Three Stooges Marathon!" on April 1! Yes, celebrate April Fool's Day with a "fool" day of The Three Stooges. Antenna TV, which airs on 71 affiliates across the U.S. reaching 62% of TV households, kicks off its annual April Fool's Day marathon at 12 midnight ET on March 31 (technically April 1) and runs through 3am ET on April 2. The Fumbling Fools: Three Stooges marathon features 27 hours of yuks with 81 episodes of the Stooges. Some of the classic episodes airing are: "Pals and Gals, Some More of Samoa, Knutzy Knights;" "For Crimin' Out Loud, Dizzy Pilots, Phony Express;" "Out West, Men in Black, Hold That Lion;" "Sing a Song of Six Pants, Restless Knights, All Gummed Up;" and "The Hot Scots, Ants in the Pantry, Heavenly Daze."

Stay with us in the coming weeks as we announce the Antenna TV spring schedule that will begin in late April. What shows will be leaving and coming? You'll have to stay with us!

We told you about Antenna TV acquiring Diff'rent Strokes for January 2013, now we have the full January 2013 schedule! The new line-up will start on Wednesday, January 2, 2013 and will have Diff'rent Strokes air every Monday and Wednesday in primetime from 9-11pm and Sundays from 10-11pm, but we knew that from last time. Going through the new winter 2013 schedule, Antenna TV will make time changes from 11am-9pm on weekdays. The most notable change is that Three's Company will be on hiatus for now (which we mentioned last time as well) and it will last air for now after its Dec. 27 airing (well currently the rotation is in Three's a Crowd, so that will air). In primetime, All in the Family will kick it off in the 8pm hour but from 9-11pm we now have a two-hour block of sitcoms every weekday. Diff'rent Strokes is Mondays and Wednesdays, WKRP in Cincinnati on Tuesdays, Barney Miller on Thursdays and Good Times on Fridays. All of those shows will have other airings during the week, except WKRP. We have Barney Miller on Sundays from 8-9pm, Good Times weekdays 5-6pm and Diff'rent Strokes Sundays 10-11pm. Back to weeknights, 11pm-3am will now be black & white series such as Leave it to Beaver, Alfred Hitchock Presents, Burns & Allen and Jack Benny.

On Saturdays, Circus Boy returns to the schedule and will air Saturdays from 9-10am, replacing Totally Tooned In, which is now gone. More timeslot changes will occur from 1-4pm, while S.W.A.T. returns to the schedule at 4pm. It Takes a Thief moves out of primetime into the 5pm hour, leading into to an hour each of Adam-12 and Dragnet. Saturday nights will now be movie night as Antenna TV Theater tales over primetime from 8pm-4am. Early in the morning we will see the return of Here Come the Brides at 4am. Three Stooges and Benny Hill are no longer on the regular schedule, as they will be off of the late night Saturday line-up. Moving on to Sundays, Adventures of Rin Tin Tin is also back, airing Sunday from 9-10am leading into the Sunday black & white sitcoms from 10am-1pm. From 1pm-4pm we have the same schedule as Saturday leading into Suspense Theater at 4pm, then from 5-8pm also has the same schedule of shows as Saturdays. In Sunday primetime, Barney Miller remains from 8-9pm, but now Maude will air from 9-10pm into new addition Diff'rent Strokes at 10. That's a two-hour Conrad Bain block replacing WKRP, which is moving to Thursdays. Benson slides to 11pm-12am, as its parent show Soap is off the schedule completely. And finally from 12am-4am we have more black & white series like Leave it to Beaver, all leading into the encore of Suspense Theater at 4am.

View the FULL Antenna TV Winter 2013 schedule, so you can see where ALL of your favorite shows are. We hope to see Three's Company back from its rest soon, as it is one of their top rated shows and it is the most aired show on the network.

ABC Family has cast Lacey Chabert (Party of Five) and Grace Phipps (The Nine Lives of Chloe King) to guest star on the second season of original comedy series Baby Daddy, which will return with new episodes in Spring 2013. We will have an exact date very soon! Chabert will guest star in two episodes as Dr. Amy Shaw, a sports psychologist who begins working with Danny (Derek Theler) when he experiences a hockey slump. Before long, Danny decides he would rather pursue a romantic relationship with Amy, rather than a professional one. Phipps will portray Megan, the assistant manager of a neighborhood daycare who catches Ben's (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) eye when he tries to drop off Emma. Though Megan is initially not interested with Ben, believing he and Tucker (Tahj Mowry) to be a couple, he soon changes her mind. Phipps is currently set for two episodes, with the possibility of more.

The series stars Jean-Luc Bilodeau (Kyle XY), Derek Theler (90210), Tahj Mowry (Smart Guy) with Melissa Peterman (Reba) and Chelsea Kane (Dancing with the Stars). Baby Daddy is created and executive produced by Dan Berendsen (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch). Baby Daddy is a multi-camera comedy that shoots in front of a live studio audience in Los Angeles.

Probably the best place to watch classic Christmas episodes now is on Antenna TV! For the second straight year, spend the holidays with your favorite sitcom and drama stars as Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's multicast broadcast network, airs non-stop holiday episodes on both Christmas Eve and Day (December 24 and 25). In addition, for the second straight year, a Burns and Allen Show and a Jack Benny marathon will air on New Year's Eve, followed by the 3rd Annual Three Stooges marathon on New Year's Day.
Antenna TV, which airs on 71 affiliates across the U.S. reaching 61% of TV households, will feature a weekend of holiday programming with Christmas episodes beginning at 11am ET on Monday, December 24 and running through 11:59pm ET on Tuesday, December 25. Holiday episodes of Leave it to Beaver, Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best, Adam-12, Dragnet, The Partridge Family, Three's Company, Too Close for Comfort, Good Times, Sanford and Son, Maude, Hazel, Benson, All in the Family, WKRP in Cincinnati, Married with Children, Here Come the Brides, The Nanny, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Jack Benny Presets, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Monkees and S.W.A.T. will all air! Antenna TV will also air the original Yule Log uninterrupted from 5-9am ET on Christmas morning.

On New Year's Eve, Antenna TV will ring in 2013 with "The New Year's Eve Curtain Call with Benny and Burns & Allen," a Burns and Allen Show and a Jack Benny Program marathon (40 episodes/20 hours.) Beginning at 11am ET on Monday, December 31 and running through 7am ET on Tuesday, January 1, 2013. And when Antenna TV launched on January 1, 2011, the network made its debut with The Three Stooges. Antenna TV now airs a Three Stooges Marathon each year on New Year's Day to commemorate the anniversary. This January 1st, the marathon will air from 7am-3am ET (60 episodes/20 hours) immediately following Antenna TV's "The New Year's Eve Curtain Call with Benny and Burns & Allen" marathon.
View the Antenna TV Christmas episodes marathon schedule. Stay with us for further details on Antenna TV, including their new January schedule featuring Diff'rent Strokes in primetime on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-11pm and Sundays 10-11pm. Come on back!

A heaping order of family and laughter are on the menu when TV One premieres its latest original scripted series Belle's, a new comedy centered around widower William "Big Bill" Cooper who owns and operates his family's upscale soul food restaurant, on Monday, January 21, 2013 at 10:00 pm ET on TV One. The half-hour series, co-created by legendary Emmy(R) Award-winning producer Ed. Weinberger (Taxi, The Cosby Show), features an all-star cast including Keith David (The Cape, Crash), Elise Neal (All of Us, The Hughley's),Tami Roman (VH1's Basketball Wives), Ella Joyce (Roc) and Miguel Núñez (Juwanna Mann), and introduces young actress Nadja Alaya.
In addition to running the restaurant, Bill (Keith David) must deal with his two headstrong daughters: Jill (Elise Neal), the sensible hardworking manager of Belle's who also juggles being a single mom; and Loreta (Tami Roman), a stylish, self-absorbed prima donna whose ambitions alternate between a career in the music business and finding a rich husband. And if working with his daughters isn't challenging enough, Bill must deal with the temperamental chef at Belle's who also happens to be his - thorn-in-the-side sister-in-law, Gladys (Ella Joyce). Rounding out the family is cousin Maurice (Miguel Núñez), the irresponsible bartender and self-proclaimed ladies' man who is always in hot water; and Jill's savvy tween daughter Pam (Nadja Alaya), who seems to be the only one who has a handle on everyone and everything that happens in the family, and at Belle's.

Belle's takes a page from sitcoms of an earlier era by tackling hard hitting cultural issues through the prism of comedy and laughter. In the premiere episode, Jill rents out the restaurant to the Crawford family to host their annual family reunion. Just as the Coopers get ready to celebrate their sudden windfall, Big Bill is tormented to discover the Crawfords' once owned his wife's family during slavery.
In addition to Weinberger, the half-hour, six-episode series is co-created and executive produced by Belle's co-star, veteran comedic actor Miguel Núñez. Additional executive producer credits include Oscar Turner for Gallery Road Productions and Jubba Seyyid for TV One.

Happy Birthday Antenna TV! This January, Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's digital multicast channel, enters its third season on air with clearances on 70 television stations across the country, reaching 61% of TV households, as it turns two years old on Jan. 1. When Antenna TV launched on January 1, 2011, the network made its debut with The Three Stooges. Sticking to that tradition, Antenna TV now airs a Three Stooges Marathon each year on New Year's Day to commemorate the anniversary. This January 1, the marathon will air from 7am-3am ET on New Year's Day.
Whatchoo talkin' bout? The very next day, (Wednesday, January 2, 2013) Antenna TV will add the classic '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to its regular lineup! We hinted that a new show would be coming in January, now it is official! The Gary Coleman sitcom will be airing Mondays & Wednesdays from 9-11pm ET and also on Sunday nights from 10-11pm ET. In addition, current Sunday night staples, WKRP in Cincinnati and Barney Miller, will be moving to weeknights this January! Antenna TV will also add Antenna TV Theater, a Saturday night primetime movie block. We will have more on the actual schedule for January next month, so stay with us!

Antenna TV's 2013 lineup includes classic favorites such as: Leave it to Beaver, Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best, Adam-12, Dragnet, The Partridge Family, Good Times, Sanford and Son, Maude, Hazel, Benson, All in the Family, Diff'rent Strokes, WKRP in Cincinnati, Barney Miller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Jack Benny Presets, Gidget, The Flying Nun, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Monkees, S.W.A.T, Bachelor Father, McHale's Navy and It Takes a Thief. There are a few current shows missing from this list, but that doesn't mean anything until we see the schedule itself, as this is just a select list of shows. One show we know that will be "resting" for a bit starting in January will be Three's Company as it has aired the most on the network for the last two years. We hope it will rest up and be back later in 2013, but of course you can still watch it right now until the end of December (Mon-Thurs 7-8pm and 11pm-12am ET).

In addition to Tribune and Local TV, since its launch in 2011, Antenna TV has partnered with several broadcast groups including Cox, Gannett, LIN, Media General, Capitol Broadcasting, Hubbard, Gray, Raycom, Sarkes Tarzian, Journal Broadcast Group, Intermountain West, Morris Multimedia, Block Communications, Woods Communications Corp and Paxton Media Group.
Stay with us for the FULL Antenna TV January 2013 schedule as soon as we can announce it. Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum...

MTV2 has picked up two more sitcoms for its line-up, but this time two short-lived series. Short-lived comedies The Tracy Morgan Show and The PJs have been added to the schedule, both airing once a week in late night blocks. They were actually added to the schedule last week. The Tracy Morgan Show will primarily air Wednesday nights (early Thursday mornings) from 2-4am ET and The PJs will primarily air Thursday nights (early Friday mornings) from 2-4am ET. Both comedies were last seen on cable network TV One. In fact, Tracy Morgan Show still airs on TV One on Saturday mornings. These comedies won't air daily like the other MTV2 sitcoms like Saved by the Bell, Boy Meets World, Martin and The Wayans Bros., but it is good that they are at least airing them once a week. MTV2 also started airing That '70s Show from time to time in the late night, since MTV stopped airing it. The Tracy Morgan Show and The PJs will be airing more than Malcolm & Eddie and In Living Color, as those two only air from time to time now on MTV2.
The Tracy Morgan Show is about a family man who lives in a small Brooklyn apartment with his wife and two kids deals with the daily headaches of working at an auto garage while dreaming of expanding the business. The PJs is an animated comedy that follows the adventures of the Subbs and their friends, while taking a satirical view of the ups and downs of life in a big-city housing project. The series comes from Eddie Murphy.

Bent - Wednesdays 9:00PM and 9:30PM ET/PT on NBC
Premieres Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 9:00-9:30, 9:30-10:00PM ET/PT

Bent is a romantic comedy about a womanizing, surfer dude contractor and his beautiful, no-nonsense, type-A client, who work together to remodel each other's lives as they renovate her Venice, California home.

On the surface, Alex (Amanda Peet, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) and Pete (David Walton, Perfect Couples) could not be more different. The recently divorced Alex is a hard-working, high-strung lawyer who is raising her 10-year-old daughter, Charlie (Joey King, Ramona and Beezus), as a single mom following her husband's incarceration for insider trading.

Unwilling to let anything get in her way, she downsizes into a smaller house and hires the charismatic Pete, a free-spirited lothario and recovering gambling addict who desperately needs this gig with Alex to jumpstart his life - and prove that he is no longer irresponsible. Alex quickly realizes that she has met her match in Pete, who along with his motley construction crew, will not only tear apart her kitchen, but transform her worldview in the process.

Complicating the dynamic is Ben (Matt Letscher, Eli Stone), a successful doctor who Alex is dating. While not as smooth as Pete, he continually finds himself in a tug-of-war for not only the affections of Alex, but for her daughter Charlie.

Pete's home includes his narcissistic, roommate father, Walt (Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development), a serially unemployed actor who is still yearning for his big break. Meanwhile, Alex's family life incldues her wild younger sister, Screwsie (Margo Harshman, Sorority Row), who, unfortunately for Alex, seems to be cut from the same reckless cloth as Pete.

Cast Details:

• Amanda Peet as Alex
• David Walton as Pete
• Jeffrey Tambor as Walt
• Margo Harshman as Screwsie
• Joey King as Charlie

Amanda Peet (Alex) is an accomplished and versatile film actress who is best known for her diverse choice of roles in romantic comedies, dramas and thrillers. On television, audiences first warmed to Peet when she starred as Jack on the hit drama, Jack and Jill. She later starred as Jordan McDeere on Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip alongside co-stars Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford.

Her many big screen credits include the successful disaster film 2012, directed by Roland Emmerich and co-starring John Cusack; Gulliver's Travels, starring Jack Black and Jason Segel; the dramatic comedy Please Give, directed by Nicole Holofcener and co-starring Catherine Keener and Rebecca Hall; the Oscar-nominated thriller Syriana, also starring Matt Damon, George Clooney and Chris Cooper; A Lot Like Love in which she starred opposite Ashton Kutcher; Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda opposite Will Ferrell; the mafia comedy The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards; Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton; the thriller Identity, alongside John Cusack and Ray Liotta; High Crimes, opposite Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd; Changing Lanes, also starring Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Affleck and Sydney Pollack; and Igby Goes Down, where Peet appeared as Jeff Goldblum's mistress, a beautiful and privileged young woman who is hooked on drugs.

David Walton (Pete), a Boston native, started acting in high school but began his formal training at Brown University. He studied at The Actor's Center as well as The British American Drama Academy. Shortly after moving to New York City, Walton was quickly cast in a Naked Angel's production of One Day on Wall Street. His commendable performance caught the attention of an executive who cast him in the series Cracking Up, starring alongside Jason Schwartzman, Molly Shannon and Christopher McDonald. Since then, he has starred in several television series including The Loop, Heist, as well as Quarterlife and 100 Questions. He was last seen starring in the comedy Perfect Couples. On the big screen, Walton's most recent film successes include Fired Up, and Steve Antin's Burlesque, where he played the love interest of Stanley Tucci's character.

Jeffrey Tambor (Walt) has earned deep respect for being one of the most versatile and accomplished character actors in film and television. He has been awarded numerous honors for his professional work, including six Emmy nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a nomination for a Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Comedy Series. His unforgettable roles in such popular programs as The Larry Sanders Show and Arrested Development reveal his unique comedic gifts, while his appearances in films such as And Justice for All and Meet Joe Black display the depth of his dramatic sensibilities.

For six seasons beginning in 1992, Tambor had one of television's most memorable roles as Hank Kingsley, the self-centered sidekick to talk show host Larry Sanders on the critically acclaimed The Larry Sanders Show. He went on to star in the hilarious Emmy Award-winning sitcom Arrested Development for three seasons as twin brothers George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth. His vast credits include the two Hellboy films, The Hangover, The Invention of Lying, There's Something About Mary, City Slickers, Miss Congeniality, Dreamchasers, Mr. Mom, Brenda Starr, Radioland Murders, Doctor Dolittle, Pollock and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Other recent big screen features include Mr. Popper's Penguins, Flypaper, Paul and Win, Win.

Margo Harshman (Screwsie) was born in San Diego and is the youngest of four children. Her performing career began at the age of two, when her grandmother entered her in a local beauty pageant where she was quickly noticed. Margo's love of acting blossomed when she worked with Coast Kids Theatre in San Diego and at the age of 12 she found herself auditioning for theatrical and commercial jobs.

Her guest-starring roles on television include Modern Family, Boston Legal, 90210, Grey's Anatomy, Everwood and Without a Trace. She spent three years as Tawny, alongside Shia LaBeouf, on the hit cable series Even Stevens. She also starred in Run of the House with Joey Lawrence, and later appeared in Center of the Universe where she co-starred with John Goodman. Harshman's film credits include a variety of studio and independent features including Fired Up, the romantic comedy Keith, Simon Says with Crispin Glover, From Within and Sorority Row.

Joey King (Charlie) began her career at age four when she booked several national commercials for brands including AT&T, Eggo, Life Cereal and McDonalds. King was soon making the television show rounds, and by the age of six had appeared on CSI, Entourage and Medium.

King recently wrapped filming on Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises and is currently in production on the 3D fantasy picture Oz: The Great and Powerful, helmed by Sam Raimi, in which she will portray the role of China Girl. Other film credits include Crazy, Stupid, Love, the sci-fi action film Battle Los Angeles directed by Jonathan Liebesman, and as Ramona Quimby in the family movie Ramona & Beezus, sharing the screen with Selena Gomez. In addition to her work in front of the camera, King has lent her vocal talents to the hit animated feature films Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Episodes:

We received all six episodes for review purposes.

"Pilot" (March 21, 9:00PM) - Recently divorced Alex is a high-strung lawyer raising her 10 year-old daughter Charlie as a single mom. Unwilling to let anything get in her way, she downsizes into a smaller house and hires charismatic contractor Pete, a free-spirited, recovering gambling addict who is a ladies man and in desperate need of this gig. Upon hiring him, Alex quickly realizes that she has met her match in Pete, who along with his motley construction crew, will not only tear apart her kitchen but transform her worldview in the process. Jeffrey Tambor stars as Pete's narcissistic live-in father Walt and Margo Harshman stars as Alex's wild younger sister Screwsie.
Directed by Craig Zisk
Written by Tad Quill
Special Guest Star: J.B. Smoove as Clem, Jesse Plemons as Gary, Matt Letscher as Ben, Pasha Lychnikoff as Vlad, Susan Park as Simone
Co-Starring: Nathan Anderson as Lyle, Jacquie Barnbrook as Deb Gidley, Syndey Hamilton as Tara, Sharon Sachs as Gloria

"Smitten" (March 21, 9:30PM) - Fed up with her lack of a love life, Alex devises a way to take her relationship with her boyfriend Ben (guest star Matt Letscher) to the next level. Meanwhile, in spite of his feelings for Alex, Pete rekindles his romance with ex-girlfriend Natalie (guest star Diora Baird), but repercussions quickly unfold. Elsewhere, with hopes of winning over Alex, Pete and Ben vie for Charlie's attention.
Directed by Marc Buckland
Written by Tad Quill
Special Guest Star: J.B. Smoove, Jesse Plemons, Matt Letscher, Diora Baird, Pasha Lychnikoff
Co-Starring: Paul R. Grace as Joffrey, Angela Bullock as Casting Director, Sofia Pernas as Lea, Victoria Park as Linda

"HD" (March 28, 9:00PM) - When Pete and the crew spot Ben in a precarious situation with another woman, Pete is determined to expose Ben's transgression to Alex. Meanwhile, Walt and Screwsie help Charlie get back at a school bully.
Written by Erin Ehrlich
Directed by Jesse Peretz
Special Guest Star: J.B. Smoove, Jesse Plemons, Matt Letscher, Michaela Watkins, Pasha Lychnikoff
Co-Starring: Victor E. Chan as Tongan, Liz Benoit as Mrs. Roberts

"A-Game" (March 28, 9:30PM) - When Alex is invited to a wedding at her boss Bob's (guest star Larry Miller) home, she invites Ben, hoping he can aid in her efforts to impress the partner's wives. When a last-minute emergency arises, Ben is forced to leave and Pete comes in to try and save the day. Meanwhile, Screwsie is offered the catering job for the wedding and enlists Walt's help. Elsewhere, Alex's necklace goes missing and the crew falls under suspicion.
Directed by Phil Traill
Written by Aseem Batra
Special Guest Star: J.B. Smoove, Jesse Plemons, Matt Letscher, Robert Clendenin, Pasha Lychnikoff, Larry Miller
Co-Starring: Jenna Gerina as Anna, Wendy Braun as Julia, Max Artsis as Marc, Jonathan T. Davis as Chuck, Renee Percy as Rachel, Brandon Ford Green as Bartender, Kati Sharp as Sofia, the Valet, Joel Brooks as Gerald (uncredited)

"Mom" (April 4, 9:00PM) - When Pete's mom Vanessa (guest star Marcia Gay Harden) returns to town, Walt is determined to win back his ex-wife at any cost. Meanwhile, following Pete's no-show at work, Alex worries he may have succumbed to old habits. Elsewhere, Screwsie entrusts the care of her boss's less-than-friendly cat to Gary, who has alterior motives for his helpful ways.
Directed by Troy Miller
Written by DJ Nash
Special Guest Star: J.B. Smoove, Jesse Plemons, Pasha Lychnikoff, Marcia Gay Harden
Co-Starring: Tim Haldeman as Brian, Jeff Williams as Steve, Anna Ehaja as Dr. Patel

"Tile Date" (April 4, 9:30PM) - While on a romantic getaway to Napa with her boyfriend Ben, Alex experiences a romantic dream involving Pete that causes her to question her true feelings. Meanwhile, Alex's new neighbor Dan (guest star Kyle Bornheimer), fed up with the crew's antics and destructive behavior, threatens legal action. Elsewhere, Walt prepares for opening night of his latest theatre production and Gary professes his feelings for Screwsie.
Directed by Rob Greenberg
Written by Tad Quill & DJ Nash
Special Guest Star: J.B. Smoove, Jesse Plemons, Matt Letscher, Pasha Lychnikoff, Joel Brooks, Dorian Brown, Kyle Bornheimer
Co-Starring: Nick Fondulis as Tony Dodds

Analysis:

Bent is a single-camera comedy. There's no laugh track added. The series is produced by Universal Television and Rosalita Productions Inc. Tad Quill (Scrubs, Spin City) created the show and wrote the pilot episode. Craig Zisk (Nurse Jackie, Weeds) directed the pilot. The cast regulars include Amanda Peet, David Walton, Jeffrey Tambor, Margo Harshman and Joey King. Rounding out the ensemble are recurring guest stars J.B. Smoove, Jesse Plemons, Pasha Lychnikoff and Matt Letscher.

The "Pilot" opens with a scene of Pete getting out of bed with Tara, who he can't remember her name. Alex wakes up next to Charlie. After attending a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, Pete meets Alex to talk about remodeling her house. Pete talks to his construction crew about the job. Screwsie asks Alex about Pete. Pete talks to Walt and gives him a ride to Save On. Alex hires Pete for the job and the guys celebrate. Screwsie tells Alex that she thinks that she has met Pete in the past. Alex talks to Charlie at the beach about her father who is in prison. Pete later rescues Charlie from the roof and has a chat with her about her father. The boys have some drinks that night where Pete meets the babysitter/nanny Simone. They end up sleeping with each other. Alex ends up firing him after Dave drops her off the next morning. Alex and Screwsie talk about Pete. Pete talks to Charlie and takes her shopping to Timball's. Charlie practices playing the piano with Walt. Alex agrees to give Pete another shot at the job. Alex's boyfriend Ben also arrives at the store and briefly meets Pete. Pete shows Alex the new skylight he has installed.

I enjoyed the Pilot, but I feel like they tried to cram too many scenes and information into it. There's just so much happening in the pilot with all of the characters. With only six episodes produced, it appears a little rushed and stitched together. Episodes two-six have a slower pace that have fewer and longer scenes. It's unusual to see a single-camera comedy without any narration, characters talking to the camera, flashback scenes or quick cutaways these days, but the straighforward approach works fine for this series. The show doesn't really use a lot of music, but the 1-2 songs they use in each episode are effective for the scenes. There are a couple of Fleetwood Mac songs used in the Pilot and some romantic classics in other episodes. Some familiar faces make some guest appearances in episodes two-six. The lovely Diora Baird appears in her daisy dukes in the second episode as an ex-girlfriend of Pete. Other guest stars include Larry Miller, Joel Brooks (in 2 episodes), Marcia Gay Harden and Kyle Bornheimer.

The cast appears to have some good chemistry and work well together. The beautiful and funny Amanda Peet has appeared in a number of romantic comedies, so this isn't really new territory for her. It's always a joy to see her in films and on the small screen. David Walton has appeared in a couple of other short-run NBC comedies in Perfect Couples and 100 Questions. His characters have been similar to Pete, but this seems like the best vehicle for him. The construction crew of J.B. Smoove, Jesse Plemons and Pasha Lychnikoff is a unique bunch. The humor of the trio is a bit juvenile and slapstick in nature, but they add much of the comic relief to the show. J.B. Smoove is the standout of the group. He has the best lines and reminds me a lot of Jimmie Walker. Jeffrey Tambor is a bit underutilized in some of the episodes, but you know he will always bring the laughs. I think the father/son scenes between Pete and Walt are especially hilarious. They could have used more of them. The character of Ben is the least interesting and funny. It seems like he was added almost as an afterthought. I can understand why they included him, but it seems like he was just added to the pilot at the last moment. Margo Harshman and Joey King don't receive a lot of scenes compared to the rest of the cast, but they do well with their screen time.

Conclusion:

Bent has been pitched as a romantic comedy, but it doesn't always seem like one. The pilot episode is more like a family/general comedy. That's probably how it should be promoted to gain wider appeal. The main problem I see with the series is that it feels like there are three different shows in one. There's Alex's relationship with Ben, Screwsie, Charlie and Pete. Then there's the construction crew doing their thing. Finally, there's the storyline of Walt being an unemployed actor. The storylines and characters just seem too loosely connected at times. A consistently funny show like Modern Family can pull this off, but it doesn't work as well here. Many of the scenes in the pilot are very short and quickly edited together. They improved this in later episodes. I feel like everything was coming together for them by the sixth episode.

NBC ordered six comedy pilots for this season, but they really haven't had much success with any of them at this point. Up All Night is probably the best of the group, but it's still struggling in the ratings. Bent is a pretty decent effort by them. There's really nothing truly unique about the premise of the show, but after watching all six episodes it's a fun and entertaining series. I would like to see more from this talented and funny cast. All of the characters are a bit offbeat but likable. I was expecting more romance and dating, but the last few episodes have more of the romantic comedy type feel. The relationship between Alex and Pete is just a bit slow to develop. By the end of the sixth episode, I think viewers will want to see more of Alex and Pete together, as well as the budding relationship of Gary and Screwsie.

The series will be airing back-to-back episodes for the next three weeks at 9-9:30 and 9:30-10:00pm ET/PT. Unfortunately, this is a killer timeslot for them. It's hard to see them receiving much sampling because they will probably get lost in the shuffle. Any series would have had a difficult task going against American Idol, Criminal Minds and Modern Family (even when it's in repeats). It will be especially challenging for a rookie show with a weak lead-in. NBC hasn't really given the show much promotion and quietly placed it on the schedule. It seems like they are just burning off the 6 episodes as quickly as possible. I can understand their desire to have new programming every week, but this show deserved better treatment. I think the show would have had a better chance at gaining an audience if it aired in an earlier timeslot after Betty White's Off Their Rockers. If you are a fan of Amanda Peet, Jeffrey Tambor or any of the actors, this will be a series that you will want to quickly check out. There won't be a big time commitment because of the limited number of episodes produced.

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 3.5/5
Funniness: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5

-- Reviewed by Todd Fuller on 03/20/12

Discuss the show after you watch it on Wednesday, March 20 on our message board.

Related Links:

NBC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Bent Photo Gallery

Preview:

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Antenna TV has a nice joke marathon for you! We hinted a few weeks ago that a special marathon was coming April 1, and we can now reveal that to you! Celebrate April Fool's Day with a "fool" day of Benny Hill and the Three Stooges. Antenna TV, which airs on 61 affiliates across the U.S. reaching 58% of TV households, kicks off the April Fool's Day marathon with 27 hours of yuks (12 midnight ET on Sunday, April 1 through 3am ET on Monday, April 2) featuring The Benny Hill Show and The Three Stooges.

"Fool Me Twice" Marathon Schedule is as follows:
12 midnight – 7am ET The Benny Hill Show
7am – 10pm ET The Three Stooges
10pm – 3am ET The Benny Hill Show

The marathon begins at the stroke of midnight on Sunday, April 1 with The Benny Hill Show (14 episodes/7 hours.) The Three Stooges portion of the marathon begins at 7am ET and includes 45 classic Stooges episodes. The Benny Hill Show returns at 10 pm ET and with another 10 episodes running through 3am ET on Monday, April 2.
And don't forget Antenna TV starts their Spring schedule next week (March 26) and will add WKRP in Cincinnati to its line-up a week after this April Fool's Stunt.

Happy Birthday Antenna TV! This January, Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's digital multicast channel, celebrates one year on air with total clearances on 59 television stations across the country and a special birthday marathon. Last January, Antenna TV made its debut with The Three Stooges. In honor of that first milestone, on January 1, 2012 Antenna TV will air a Three Stooges Marathon from 8am ET to Midnight to commemorate the anniversary, as we hinted a few weeks ago.
In the first year on air, Antenna TV has cleared 57% of the country with affiliation agreements covering 8 of top 10 US markets, including WPIX-TV (11.4) New York, KTLA-TV (5.2) Los Angeles, and WGN-TV (9.2) Chicago, and 19 of top 25 markets. And this January, Antenna TV will add additional affiliates including: Atlanta (WATL-Gannett,) Las Vegas (KSNV-Intermountain West,) Buffalo (WGRZ-Gannett,) Lexington (WTVQ – Morris,) Chattanooga (WRCB- Sarkes Tarzian,) Ft. Wayne (WANE – LIN,) and Idaho Falls (KPVI- Intermountain West.) These new affiliates will increase Antenna TV's reach to 59 markets across the U.S. covering 57% of TV households. In addition to Tribune and Local TV, Antenna TV has partnered with several broadcast groups including Cox, Gannett, LIN, Media General and Capitol Broadcasting.
You'll start seeing these new affiliates in the next few weeks, with the first launching in Atlanta on WATL 36.3 on Christmas Eve, with the rest launching as early as Jan. 1. Check out the affiliates section for all your listing needs! And as always, stay with us for everything Antenna TV, such as programming updates and affiliate clearances!


It's Friday, so it is time for "Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows" for the coming week. This is where we list what sitcom stars are appearing on talk shows for the coming week, the stars are both current and past sitcom stars, so this is for all sitcom fans of all eras!
For the week of December 19-23, 2011, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! All times listed are Eastern. So get your DVR's (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!

Monday, December 19, 2011

• Henry Winkler (Happy Days) - Henry guest co-hosts The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

• Jeremy Sisto (Suburgatory) - Catch Jeremy on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly) - Tune in to see Melissa on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check listings.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

• Thomas Haden Church (Wings) - Thomas visits The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Christina Applegate (Up All Night/Samantha Who?/Married with Children) - Watch Christina on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12am on ABC.
• Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl) - Jason drops by Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Louis C.K. (Louie) - Louis appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Zack Ward (Titus) - Zack and Scott Schwartz from A Christmas Story chat with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
• Ashton Kutcher (Two and a Half Men/That '70s Show) - Ashton is a guest on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check listings.
• Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men/Spin City) - Tune in to see Charlie on a repeat of The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

• Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) (Community) - Childish Gambino is a musical guest on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
• Judy Greer (Two and a Half Men/Mad Love/Arrested Development) - Catch Judy on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12am on ABC.
• Jerry O'Connell (Carpoolers/My Secret Identiy) - Jerry drops by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Thomas Haden Church (Wings) - Thomas continues to make the rounds on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Maya Rudolph (Up All Night) - Watch Maya on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check listings.
• Patricia Heaton (The Middle/Everybody Loves Raymond) - Patricia is a guest on a repeat of The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations.

Friday, December 23, 2011

• Jay Thomas (Love & War/Murphy Brown/Cheers) - Watch Jay on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
• Margaret Cho (All-American Girl) - Margaret stops by The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.

Leave us comments on our message board or Tweet/Facebook us to let us know what you think of this Friday feature! We do listen!

As we hinted previously, Antenna TV will have a marathon of Christmas episodes on Christmas Eve and Day and then a marathon of Burns & Allen and Jack Benny Program on New Year's Eve! Spend the holidays with your favorite sitcom stars as Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's multicast broadcast network, airs a full weekend of holiday episodes on Christmas weekend, and a Burns and Allen Show and a Jack Benny Program marathon on New Year's Eve. Antenna TV, which airs on 52 affiliates across the U.S. reaching 57% of TV households, will feature a weekend of holiday programming beginning at 1pm ET on Saturday, December 24, 2011 and running through 11pm ET on Sunday, December 25, 2011. Programs include holiday episodes of: The Burns and Allen Show, Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, Hazel, The Flying Nun, McHale's Navy, The Monkees, The Partridge Family, The Monkees, Dragnet, Here Come the Brides, Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Nanny, Married...with Children, NewsRadio, Good Times, Sanford and Son, Too Close for Comfort, Three's Company, All in the Family and Maude. And if that's not all, watch The Yule Log from 3-7am ET bright and early on Christmas Day! View the complete schedule for the Christmas episodes on Christmas Eve and Day (scroll down below the regular schedule).

On New Year's Eve, Antenna TV will ring in 2012 with a Burns and Allen Show and a Jack Benny Program marathon (34 episodes/17 hours.) Beginning at 3pm ET on Saturday, December 31 and running through 8am ET on Sunday, January 1, the Burns and Allen episodes will feature the top rated episodes and the Jack Benny episodes will feature celebrity guest-star episodes like Lucile Ball, Bob Hope, and Carol Burnett! The marathon will have an episode each in an hour, so for example Burns and Allen Show at 3pm, followed by Jack Benny Program at 3:30pm, and then back to Burns & Allen at 4pm, and so on. Then on New Year's Day when the marathon is over by 8am ET, watch The Three Stooges all day on the first day of the year from 8am-12am ET! More info on that will come soon, as episode info is not available yet. For now, view the full New Year's Eve schedule of episodes for Burns & Allen and Jack Benny (scroll down below the regular schedule).
Antenna TV has some good stunts and surprises planned for 2012, so you'll want to keep it right here for the up-to-date news and schedule! Can't believe Antenna TV will be on the air a year by Jan. 1.


GSN (Game Show Network) announced recently that it has acquired the exclusive off-network rights to ABC's Dancing with the Stars from Disney-ABC Domestic Television, which will make GSN the only network on which previous seasons of the mega-hit dance competition can be seen. GSN has acquired seasons 4 through 13 (season 13 just finished last week on ABC), and will begin airing them in January 2012. The agreement also includes the upcoming 14th season that starts in March on ABC.
Dancing with the Stars episodes on GSN will feature a wide variety of celebrities who have brought glamour, humor, and even some lively controversy to the show - including Chaz Bono, Bristol Palin, Kim Kardashian, Cloris Leachman, Susan Lucci, Tom DeLay, Kate Gosselin, David Hasselhoff, Laila Ali, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, Michael Bolton, Florence Henderson, Jennifer Grey, Wayne Newton, Marie Osmond, Donnie Osmond, Melissa Joan Hart, Mel B, Shawn Johnson, Kelly Osbourne, Pamela Anderson, Nancy Grace, Ricki Lake, J.R. Martinez, and Kirstie Alley, among many others.
The first season (the fourth season) of Dancing with the Stars to air on GSN features a diverse cross-section of celebrities from television, movies, music, sports, fashion and society, each paired with a professional dancer.
Dancing with the Stars was last seen on cable on BBC America in early 2008 back when they aired season two with stars like Drew Lachey, Stacey Keibler, Master P and Kenny Mayne. No word if they hold the rights to seasons 1-3, but GSN doesn't have the rights to those seasons, so we won't see stars like Mario Lopez, Emmit Smith and Kelly Monaco. Stay with us for more information, such as the GSN premiere date and regular air times. Stay tuned!

The Me-TV Network and the local station in Chicago Me-Too (WMEU) will celebrate the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 with some marathons and stunts! The Me-TV Network will air a marathon of first episodes in a stunt called "Day of Firsts" on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. The first episodes marathons begins at 11am ET with Perry Mason. Other first episodes include The Streets of San Francisco, The Big Valley, Hawaii Five-O, Hogan's Heroes, Happy Days, Family Affair, The Brady Bunch, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gomer Pyle, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cheers, M*A*S*H and Taxi. The 12-hour marathon concludes at 11pm ET. The Me-TV Network is available now nationally, but as of now is only in Chicago, Milwaukee and South Bend. We hope to bring you some affiliate news in 2011, so stay with us, as it isn't easy.

Moving on to local station Me-Too in Chicago, Three Stooges fans in Chicago can ring in the new year on Me-Too with a 12-hour "Stooge-A-Palooza" marathon on Friday, December 31, 2010 beginning at noon CT. The marathon will be hosted by Rich Koz, who will also host a midnight countdown from Chicago's original Stooge headquarters! Each title was selected by Rich, who wanted to air episodes that are fan favorites. Plus, watch throughout the marathon for special segments with Rich, featuring his wit and wisdom about the Stooges! Ring in 2011 with Rich and The Stooges! Meanwhile, turn to Me-Too on New Year's Day for The Andy Griffith-thon, beginning at 11 AM CT on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011 for timeless Mayberry classics! From Aunt Bee's pickles to Barney's single bullet, these are some of the most popular titles in the series. The 12-hour marathon will conclude at 11pm CT. The Andy Griffith Show is regularly scheduled weekdays at 12 & 12:30 PM CT and Stooge-A-Palooza is regularly scheduled Saturday evenings at 7:00 PM, both on Me-Too Chicago. Me-Too Chicago can be seen on WCIU-TV 26.4, Comcast Chicago 247/358, RCN 22, WOW 171 and U-verse 23.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our annual sitcom actor and other notable TV deaths in 2010, as we pay tribute to these stars/producers one more time.

We are only 5 days away from the Antenna TV launch on Jan. 1! The launch weekend will remain the same but Antenna TV has made some schedule changes to its regular line-up for early weekday afternoons and Sunday mornings. Why? Sony Pictures Television could not get all of the tapes of the rare series to Antenna TV in time for launch. Also, some episodes are not acceptable copies and they are waiting for them to get remastered. The rest are rare Sony shows that are still on film and they don't have most of the episodes ready yet. As soon as they are ready, they will be placed on the schedule at a later date. Shows affected are: Burns & Allen, The Farmer's Daughter, Showcase '39, All-Star Theatre, Circus Boy, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok and Iron Horse. Thus, since most of the episodes for these are not ready, they will not be on the launch schedule but as I said, they will be placed on the line-up as soon they get a good amount of episodes on tape.
Starting next week, Jan. 3, weekdays from 1pm-4pm has changed from the original plan as well as Sundays from 7am-1pm. Weekdays in the 1:00pm hour will now be Father Knows Best not originally scheduled Burns & Allen. At 2:00pm, Dennis the Menace is now scheduled instead of Hazel. At 2:30pm another Dennis the Menace will air instead of The Farmer's Daughter. At 3:00pm Hazel is on instead of Father Knows Best. And at 3:30pm we get another Hazel instead of Dennis the Menace. To recap the weekday 1pm-4pm changes, Farmer's Daughter and Burns & Allen are no longer scheduled and we get more Father Knows Best, Hazel and Dennis the Menace. The rest of the weekday schedule that was originally planned will remain intact.
As mentioned, Sundays 7am-1pm will also change starting Jan. 9. Another block of The Three Stooges will air from 7am-10am replacing an hour each of Showcase 39, All-Star Theatre, and Circus Boy. From 10am-1pm we get an hour each of Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace and Hazel as they will now also air on Sundays now! This means The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok and Iron Horse are not premiering. We will let you know when those three, and also the two sitcoms on weekdays, will premiere as soon we get the information! Fans of Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace and Hazel are certainly happy though, as they are now getting much more airtime! Stay with us as usual for further information!
Keep on discussing Antenna TV on our message board!

Centric will make some schedule changes beginning next week. After having a special Christmas Day marathon, Sister Sister will now join the regular schedule on Jan. 3. Sister Sister has been airing on and off on sister network BET. It also currently airs on the cable network GMC every Saturday morning/afternoon. The sitcom starring Tia & Tamera Mowry, will air weekdays at 12:00pm & 12:30pm. Leading into Sister Sister will be the Centric premiere of the 2003 reality series Starting Over at 11am.
There are other schedule changes as well, such as The Unit joining the schedule airing weekdays in the early hour of 5am, following The A-Team at 4am. Miami Vice remains at 6am, along with another The A-Team at 7am. Among the other changes include another hour of In Living Color being added, weekdays in the 5pm hour and another hour of The A-Team weekdays at 11pm.
To recap, weekdays looks like this: Miami Vice at 6am, The A-Team at 7am, Centric Hits from 8am-10am, Soul Train at 10am, Starting Over at 11am, back-to-back episodes of Sister Sister, The Steve Harvey Show, and The Cosby Show from 12pm-3pm. Then from 3pm-5pm, we still have the Flick Centric movie, followed by back-to-back episodes of In Living Color at 5pm. At 6pm, it is an encore of The Steve Harvey Project, followed by back-to-back episodes of The Jamie Foxx Show and The Cosby Show from 7-9pm leading into an original episode of The Steve Harvey Project at 9pm. The 10pm hour remains In Living Color, with The A-Team now at 11pm, and more The Jamie Foxx Show in the 12am hour. The Cosby Show remains in the 1am hour, but now the Flick Centric movie starts at 2am leading into The A-Team and The Unit from 4-6am.
Weekends will have mostly marathons or stunts with some regular airings such as Sister Sister, The Cosby Show, In Living Color, and The Jamie Foxx Show airing in early evening, primetime and/or late night.

We apologize for the delay today in posting today's blog, as we were buried in the blizzard (or snow-icane, whatever you want to call it). 31.8 inches reported in my area!

We have a very exciting interview for you today. We have an interview with Antenna TV's Sean Compton (President of Programming at Tribune) about their upcoming launch. We get answers to various questions that you will all want to know about, including updates on affiliates, cable providers and of course the shows itself! As always with all of our interviews, it is in Seven Questions form. So let's first tell you a little bit each about Sean Compton and Antenna TV (as if you didn't already know).

We had the pleasure to once again interview Sean Compton, President of Programming for Tribune Broadcasting. Compton previously worked for Clear Channel radio for 16 years and was their VP Programming for 10 years before leaving in April 2008 to run Tribune programming as SVP, which includes the massive change for WGN America and now the creation of Antenna TV. Compton was promoted to President of Programming in May 2010. Compton also oversees programming for Tribune's local television stations and for WGN America. Compton is 36 years old and has worked in radio since he was in high school, and he also says his childhood hero was actually legendary NBC programmer Brandon Tartikoff. Compton is originally from Connersville, Indiana, which is between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, and he grew up watching those TV markets. See our previous interview with Sean back in 2008 regarding WGN America, when he brought back classic TV.

Antenna TV is a new digital network from Tribune Broadcasting that will debut on New Year's Day on multicast stations nationwide. 50 million homes will be reached in the first wave of clearances. Antenna TV starts broadcasting at midnight EST, on January 1, 2011 with more than 24 hours of The Three Stooges. The program lineup on Sunday, January 2, 2011 is built around a Benny Hill marathon. The network's regular programming schedule, featuring a combination of movies and classic television shows, include TV sitcoms All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Nanny, Married...with Children, Maude, Good Times, Three's Company, The Partridge Family, Dennis the Menace, Too Close for Comfort, Father Knows Best and Burns & Allen begins on Monday, January 3, 2011. Legendary announcer Gary Owens is the voice of the channel.



"Seven Questions with Antenna TV's Sean Compton"

SitcomsOnline: First off, I have to say I am personally very excited for Antenna TV's Jan. 1 launch. Most of the series that Antenna TV will be airing are some of my favorites, including Three's Company. I have to ask, how did this idea come about and how was it made into a reality?
Antenna TV's Sean Compton: We looked around the television landscape and through the cable and broadcast universe all groups are trying to appeal to younger demos. This includes our own group with WGN America and its younger appeal with recent additions. TV Land used to own the space but has jumped deep into original programming and with the recent successes they will go deeper in original programming. We see it as a huge opportunity, This TV, the MGM movie channel, is free to over the air viewers 24 hours a day. The only over the air, all movie channel. Antenna TV will be a great over the air destination for some movies but primarily classic sitcoms. Three's Company is a big win for us, as it hasn't had much exposure on cable in many years yet still has a huge fan base. The Three Stooges appeals to every demo. Benny Hill is a riot and Married... with Children is a great late night show.

SitcomsOnline: This world of digital television is really fascinating. It has really opened up the doors for older series to air again. Still, many people out there don't have televisions without cable or satellite. Antenna TV is a free digital station, but many of the viewers will still rely on cable to watch it. We know Comcast Cable has picked it up in Chicago on channel 353, but what about the rest of the markets? Is Comcast the main cable provider for Antenna TV or will more providers also carry it?
Antenna TV's Sean Compton: Most of the markets will have a cable home for Antenna TV. If you live in a large city you should go out and buy an HD antenna anyway. I've got DirecTV and Comcast in my home and I also have rabbit ears so I can watch the dot 2 and dot 3 choices out there as well. It's starting to get interesting as broadcasters are getting their dot 2's and 3's cranked up and its going to get competitive.

SitcomsOnline: As of launch on Jan. 1, Antenna TV will be in 50 million homes (thanks to mainly the Tribune stations) including the top 5 markets, which is great. Are you close to sealing deals with stations in other top markets like San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit and other markets like Louisville? We also hear that some markets already cleared will be getting sneak peek launches, like in Los Angeles. What will that be like?
Antenna TV's Sean Compton: The sneak peak is just some classic shows that will air on KTLA in Los Angeles to promote Antenna TV. There are a lot of OTA's (over the air) homes in Los Angeles and we want to tap into the KTLA audience and let them know it is coming. Regarding the other markets, we have signed a group deal with Local TV LLC. They own WJW in Cleveland, KDVR in Denver, WNEP in Wilkes Barre and many other markets. They are excited and sign on in early first quarter. There are other groups talking to us now and we have a number of offers for markets that we are working through now. There are a lot of affiliate interest for us out there, partially because we are committed to great programming. Zero paid programming, 24/7 movies and sitcoms. (View an Antenna TV promo!)

SitcomsOnline: The classic TV shows acquired by Antenna TV are either from Sony Pictures Television or DLT Entertainment. Does Antenna TV have an overall library deal with these studios or were these series specifically bought? If it is a library deal, can we expect schedule changes frequently with new additions? (Hoping for some Diff'rent Strokes, What's Happening Now!!, The Facts of Life, and other Sony greats.)
Antenna TV's Sean Compton: We did do an overall library deal. Jeff Wolf at Sony worked hard for several weeks putting this together with us. John Fitzgerald did the same for us at D.L. Taffner. You will see other shows weave in and out of the line-up over the next several years. Possibly we'll tap into other distributors for product as well.

SitcomsOnline: You previously mentioned to us that stunts and marathons will be done during the holidays. 2011 kicks-off with a marathon weekend of The Three Stooges and Benny Hill, but what else can we expect for other holidays later this year? I personally am hoping for a short-lived sitcom stunt one of these days, as Sony Pictures Television has plenty of short-lived, but good, series from the '70s and '80s. Among them are The Jeffersons spin-off Checking In, the Sanford & Son spin-offs Grady and Sanford Arms, the Who's the Boss? spin-off Living Dolls, and other short-lived fare such as One in a Million starring Shirley Hemphill, The Dumplings from Nicholl-Ross-West, Norman Lear's Hot L Baltimore, also Filthy Rich starring pre-Designing Women stars Dixier Carter & Delta Burke, and 704 Hauser, where a new family moves into the Bunker house from All in the Family.
Antenna TV's Sean Compton: We haven't thought it all through yet. Our big priority has been getting launched and affiliates set. As you know, I am a big fan of event programming. WGN America's Munster Mash on Halloween had monster, pun intended, ratings this past year. It is the third Halloween that we've aired it. We've done a 70's week, an 80's week, Valentine's Specials, etc. I imagine you'll see much of the same on Antenna TV especially around the holidays.

SitcomsOnline: Before we go further, I have to mention that Antenna TV will be airing two short-lived spin-offs on its schedule. The Three's Company spin-offs -- The Ropers and Three's a Crowd -- will be aired within Three's Company's hour timeslot (5pm-6pm and encores 12am-1am). That is very cool and to my knowledge, it never has been done. Back to questions, Antenna TV will also air movies, mainly during mornings and early afternoons. Will these films also be from specific studios and what are some of the films we can expect?
Antenna TV's Sean Compton: The films will come from the Columbia/Sony libraries. It's a very deep film library and prevents overlap from anything on This TV, which is fueled by the MGM library. I love Three's a Crowd and The Ropers (Three's Company spin-offs) being a part of the line-up. (Once the Ropers leave the Three's Company episodes, you'll see The Ropers scheduled in one of the half-hours, and later on Three's a Crowd in one of the half-hours after the final Three's Company episode airs.) They were solid spin-offs that at the time were short-lived and have had little exposure. Another show that I'm thrilled to have is Too Close for Comfort.

SitcomsOnline: Finally, it is really great Tribune is creating a network like this for the digital era. You have done a great job in preserving classic TV sitcoms first on Tribune's WGN America (where we previously interviewed you) and now with Tribune's Antenna TV. Will Antenna TV depend on Nielsen ratings like broadcast networks and cable networks? Or is the landscape different in digital substation world? Fans have also asked if these programs will be unedited or at least close to being unedited if there are less ads on digital substations?
Antenna TV's Sean Compton: Thank you for the kind words. We air the shows the way that the distributors supply us. We will do no editing on our end. We also will not be squeezing the end credits nor will we have an Antenna TV bug/logo on the screen during programming. Stations locally may decide to put theirs up, but nationally we will not display one. As far as ratings go, yes we will look at ratings but in the digital world it's driven a bit differently. The product we bought was done specifically to find opportunities. The Cosby Show, Cheers, Roseanne are on television in syndication and cable everyday, so we went after shows that haven't had the mass exposure in recent years. We won't live and die with this network by ratings in the first 2-3 years.

Our thanks to Sean Compton and Antenna TV. We wish them the best of luck on their launch on January 1! For more information on Antenna TV, continue to stay with us for info and don't forget to view their website http://www.antennatv.tv/. So, stay tuned right here on the blog for continued news and programming updates for this network.

Before we get to the rest of today's blog, we want to give you information on KTLA's preview of Antenna TV in Los Angeles that Sean talked about in our interview. In anticipation of this new programming, KTLA will broadcast a sneak peek of Antenna TV on its main channel, KTLA 5. Antenna TV is coming to KTLA's digital channel 5.2 in Los Angeles on January, 1 2011.
The first sneak peek will be this Saturday (Dec. 18) and will air from 2pm-5pm PT with an hour each of sitcoms Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. A few hours later in primetime on Saturday from 8-10pm PT, KTLA will air four episodes of Sanford & Son. Then on Sunday (Dec. 19), KTLA will give two episodes each of Gidget, Circus Boy, and The Monkees all starting at 9am PT. In late on Sunday, KTLA will air two hours of The Three Stooges from 11pm-1am with six classic episodes. And finally on Sunday, Dec. 26 KTLA will give LA fans a preview of Antenna TV's Sunday morning western block with The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin at 1pm, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok at 2pm, and The Iron Horse at 3pm.
View more information on KTLA's preview of Antenna TV.


Awards season is heating up with Golden Globes and the WGA Awards, now we have another. The 17th Annual Screen Actor Guild Awards (SAG) nominees have been announced. Leading the pack were Modern Family, Glee, 30 Rock and Mad Men. Among the broadcast networks, NBC led with 6 nominations followed by ABC and Fox with 4 each. HBO led overall with 9 nominations. TV Land had its first ever nomination, with Hot in Cleveland getting a nomination along with star Betty White. The awards will air Sunday, Jan. 30, on TNT and TBS at 8 PM ET/PT.
Here are the main TV nominees:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire, HBO)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, AMC)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Showtime)
Jon Hamm (Mad Men, HBO)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Glenn Close (Damages, FX)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, CBS)
Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, AMC)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer, TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC)
Ty Burrell (Modern Family, ABC)
Steve Carrell (The Office, NBC)
Chris Colfer (Glee, Fox)
Ed O'Neill (Modern Family, ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie, Showtime)
Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC)
Jane Lynch (Glee, Fox)
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family, ABC)
Betty White (Hot in Cleveland, TV Land)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
The Closer (TNT)
Dexter (Showtime)
The Good Wife (CBS)
Mad Men (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock (NBC)
Glee (Fox)
Hot in Cleveland (TV Land)
Modern Family (ABC)
The Office (NBC)

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


Stay tuned either tomorrow or early next week for an interview with Me-TV Network! And of course tomorrow will bring news and our weekly look at the coming week's talk shows with sitcom stars as guests. Come on back!

Almost 2 weeks ago we gave you the regular schedule for Antenna TV, which begins Monday, Jan. 3, 2011, but we now have the special Jan. 1-2 schedule! Antenna TV will launch at 12:00am ET on Saturday, Jan. 1 as soon as 2011 starts! Ring in the new year with a new network that will feature series of yesteryear! Originally the plan was to air first episodes on the first day of the launch (and new year), but they have decided to launch the network with two classic marathons.
Antenna TV launches with a Three Stooges marathon that starts at 12am on early Saturday, Jan. 1 through 3am on early Sunday, Jan. 2. That's 26 hours of non-stop hijinks from Larry, Moe & Curly! Taking over at 3am on that night will be the British comedy Benny Hill! The sketch comedy will run until 10am for an E/I series break, then Benny Hill is back for more comedy from 1pm-5am, before the regular schedule launches at 5am Monday, Jan. 3 with a movie. If you're counting, Benny Hill gets 23 hours worth of episodes (7 on Saturday night/Sunday morning and 16 hours Sunday afternoon to overnight).
Remember to view our story from two weeks ago to see what Antenna TV is airing regularly starting Jan. 3. You'll see classics like Burns & Allen, Hazel, Farmer's Daughter, Father Knows Best & Dennis the Menace to '70s hits like Partridge Family, Three's Company, Maude, Good Times, Sanford & Son, & All in the Family, and to weekend shows like Too Close for Comfort, The Monkees, The Three Stooges, Benny Hill, Here Come the Brides, Totally Tuned In, Adventures of Rin Tin Tin and more, plus more of your favorites from weekdays!
View the Antenna TV website for more info and to see if your market will carry this over-the-air network!

TV Land announced today that production has started on cable's highest-rated sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. The series, which garnered unprecedented ratings not only for the network but across cable, started production yesterday (Monday, November 1) and will return to the air with 20 fresh episodes starting Wednesday, January 19, 2011 in its 10:00 p.m. ET/PT timeslot. Hot in Cleveland stars acclaimed actresses Valerie Bertinelli (One Day at a Time), Jane Leeves (Frasier), Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me) and recent Emmy® Award-winner, Betty White (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls). The sitcom is the highest-rated and most-watched series in the history of the network and during its first season, it out-delivered big cable hits like Mad Men, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Army Wives, Project Runaway and more.
Season two picks up right where season one left off with Melanie, Joy and Victoria (Bertinelli, Leeves and Malick) trying to desperately "free Elka" (White) who was arrested after a stash of valuable jewels and goods - fenced by her mob-employed deceased husband - was found in her storm cellar.
In addition, Season One will be available on DVD on January 11, just in time to relive all ten hilarious episodes from the first season before the second season kicks off. The two-disc set is loaded with uproarious bonus material including: the original full-length pilot, bloopers, wardrobe featurette, we love our age featurette, a set tour, Victoria's (Malick) full-length Japanese "Lady Pants" commercial and more. The Hot In Cleveland Season One DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $26.99. Look for our DVD review closer to the release date!
And finally TV Land also announced today that beloved and acclaimed Emmy® award-winning actress and Oscar nominee Mary Tyler Moore (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show) will guest star on the second season premiere of the sitcom on Wednesday, January 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Moore will join the sensational veteran cast of Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White. The season premiere episode will be taped at CBS Radford, the same studio where The Mary Tyler Moore Show was taped 33 years ago (the series ended in 1977).
Moore's guest appearance will be the first time in 33 years that she and Betty White have acted on screen together since the groundbreaking hit The Mary Tyler Moore Show went off the air. Moore's role in the sitcom will involve White's character Elka, who in the season one cliffhanger, was arrested. Just who will Moore play? You'll gave to tune-in to see on Jan. 19! But one thing for sure is that, love is all around and Mary Tyler Moore is going to make it after all!