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FX has closed a 10/90 deal (10 episode test run, if it does well the back-90 episodes get picked-up) with Lionsgate Television and Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury for the new untitled sitcom starring comedy legends Martin Lawrence and Kelsey Grammer. Prolific comedy veterans Bob Boyett and Robert Horn, whose half-hour credits collectively include Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, Full House, Living Single and Designing Women, will executive produce and write the Lionsgate Television-produced show. Executive producers also include Kelsey Grammer, Martin Lawrence, Brian Sher, Stella Bulochnikov, Michael Green and Sam Maydew. The new sitcom marks the much-anticipated return to television of both Lawrence and Grammer, who play two Chicago lawyers from vastly different backgrounds who unexpectedly meet in court on the worst day of their lives. Brought together by fate and greed, they develop a partnership and friendship, forcing each other to find the balance between the ethical and the unscrupulous in both their professional and personal lives.

FX has ordered 10 episodes of the sitcom and, as is standard with the 10/90 model, if the series meets designated ratings thresholds over its first 10-episode run, the network will trigger an additional 90-episode order. The 10/90 model is a unique syndication model crafted by Debmar-Mercury for multiple sitcoms, including FX's own Anger Management and the upcoming FX George Lopez series Saint George, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet The Browns, and Revolution's and Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? The Martin-Grammer sitcom will air exclusively on FX until the off-network episodes start airing in broadcast syndication in fall 2017. We will have MUCH more information on this series soon, including the title, other members of the cast and when it will premiere with its 10-episode test run. Stay tuned.




Hello, Angels! From Monday, July 1 through Friday, July 5 from 6:00am-4:00am ET each day, Universal HD will air the classic '70s drama Charlie's Angels "From the Beginning" with a marathon that will consist of all 116 episodes. This marathon will even feature the two-hour movie that started off the series as the pilot episode. What better way to spend your 4th of July week than with the Angels. No beach and bikini's needed since we have these Angels! Now is your chance to relive, discover or catch-up on every single episode of this iconic series starring Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, Tanya Roberts, David Doyle, and John Forsythe as the voice of Charles Townsend. Universal HD airs the drama in HD and the series airs in various late night and early morning slots, along with a Friday primetime airing at 9pm and alternate Thursday marathons from 10am-7pm.

Stay with us for more information and also we will have more news on Charlie's Angels soon as it will be part of a special classic marathon on sister network Cloo soon. We will announce when and what the marathon is soon! For now, enjoy five days of non-stop Angels action on Universal HD!

Cloo is getting into the holiday mode with a Christmas episode marathon set for Sunday, Dec. 23 that they are calling the Cloo Countdown to Christmas Marathon. It will be a mix of classic sitcoms and dramas, along with newer dramas. This marathon features special Christmas themed episodes from Laverne & Shirley, Family Ties, The Odd Couple, Taxi, Happy Days, MacGyver, Mork & Mindy, Monk, Psych, The Dead Zone & House. Kicking it off will be two Christmas episodes of Taxi from 6am-7am, leading into the Christmas episode for The Odd Couple at 7am. Three Family Ties Christmas episodes will follow from 7:30am-9am. Three continues to be the magic number as three Christmas episodes of Laverne & Shirley will follow from 9am-10:30am. Next, Happy Days doubles the three count with six Christmas episodes airings from 10:30am-1:30pm. Spin-off series Mork & Mindy starring Robin Williams will follow with its only Christmas episode at 1:30pm. Classic drama MacGyver will end the classic TV portion of the marathon with a Christmas episode at 2pm.
Then the rest of the time will feature more newer dramas with Monk airing from 3-6pm with three Christmas episodes. Holiday episodes of House, Psych, and The Dead Zone round out the rest of the schedule from 6pm-6am.

Elsewhere on Cloo, Christmas Eve through Dec. 26, they will present the "3 Wise Guys" marathons that will feature episodes from Psych, Burn Notice, & House. Each series will air for 24 straight hours. And then it's the ladies' turn with the "3 Wise Gals" marathons that feature episodes from In Plain Sight, Charlie's Angels & Fairly Legal from Dec. 28-30 in 24-hour blocks. If you want more Charlie's Angels, you can catch Farrah and the girls on sister network Universal HD with the Charlie's Angels Christmas Eve Marathon on Monday, Dec. 24 starting at 6am. And finally on New Year's Eve, end 2012 with the MacGyver New Year's Eve marathon that runs 24-hours beginning at 6am on Monday, Dec. 31.

As we mentioned earlier this month, Disney Channel is in the very early stages in developing Girl Meets World, a sequel to Boy Meets World. Now we have more news! Ben Savage (Cory Matthews) and Danielle Fishel (Topanga Lawrence Matthews) will reprise their roles in this new pilot, according to TVLine. The "potential" sequel series picks up more than a decade after Boy Meets World ended its ABC run and finds Cory and Topanga happily married and raising their 13-year-old daughter, Riley (from whose point of view the story is told). The pilot is still in the very early stages of development with Boy Meets World creator and executive producer Michael Jacobs at the helm.

Like we said, there is still a long way to go. A pilot needs to be ordered. Then it would need to cast everyone and tape the pilot. And then if Disney Channel likes it, it could be ordered to series. Hopefully the process speeds up and we actually get this on TV sometime in 2013, but a lot has to happen. We have a good start!
Read Danielle Fishel's blog entry on her thoughts and explanation on this series. All fans should read this so you know what Girls Meet World could bring should we get this series on TV.

USA Network has acquired an off-network sitcom! The popular sitcom Cheers will be joining the USA Network line-up this January replacing Becker and Wings. The sitcom will air regularly Saturdays at 3am & 3:30am, but as with Wings & Becker, it will fill some half-hour during early morning slots on any given day as dictated by movie lengths. Cheers' first actual airing will be Wednesday, January 4 at 6am. Hopefully Cheers gets a more of a regular slot soon, or at least on another Universal-owned network like Universal HD. Cheers will continue airing on cable on Hallmark Channel, WGN America and ReelzChannel TV as well. As for Becker, since it will be leaving USA Network, the only place to catch it will be on ReelzChannel TV. Also as of January, Universal HD will remove Becker (maybe Universal networks are losing rights?), as well as Hogan's Heroes, so you might want to watch both of these sitcoms on Universal HD in December before they leave in January. And with it leaving USA Network, Wings will not be seen anywhere now.
In other Universal-owned cable network news, Cloo (formerly known as Sleuth) will have some cool Old School Saturday marathons in 2012 that they usually do once a month. We'll reveal to you what some are soon, so stay tuned for that. And yes, Universal HD is removing Becker and Hogan's Heroes in January, but they will continue to air Charlie's Angels and TJ Hooker, so don't worry classic TV fans. Unfortunately, the Friday night Universal Rediscovered TV block (the short lived series block from 9-11pm) will also be removed in January for a classic series block featuring an episode each of Charlie's Angels and TJ Hooker.


FX has announced release dates for two of its returning hits, as well as a brand new animated comedy series. FX opens the new year with the return of the Emmy Award®-winning hit drama Justified on January 17, and will continue to run Tuesdays at 10 PM ET/PT. Starring Timothy Olyphant. FX's acclaimed animated comedy series Archer returns for its third season starting January 19 and will air Thursdays at 10 PM ET/PT. Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy that revolves around the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) and the lives of its employees. Archer's three part series "Heart of Archness," which aired this past September, gained 26% in P18-49 (1.37 vs. 1.08 million), 34% in M18-49 (1.04 million vs. 775,000) and 12% in Total Viewers (1.72 vs. 1.53 million) over its second season. And finally, FX will premiere its newest series with the animated comedy Unsupervised, which will premiere on January 19 at 10:30 ET/PT and will air immediately following Archer. This series is a comedy about optimistic best friends "Gary" and "Joel" navigating the harsh landscape of teenage life and trying to do what's right without any parental guidance whatsoever. The series was created by and is executive produced by Rob Rosell, Scott Marder and David Hornsby, all who currently serve as writer/producers on FX's hit comedy series It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It features an outstanding voice cast including Justin Long, Kristen Bell, Fred Armisen, Romany Malco, Kaitlin Olson and Alexa Vega, along with Rosell and Hornsby.

Universal HD will continue to air classics Charlie's Angels and T.J. Hooker this fall along with classic comedy Hogan's Heroes, and the sitcom Becker. There is not much to report, but we will highlight the month anyway. You can continue to catch T.J. Hooker weeknights at 6pm & 3am and Charlie's Angels weeknights at 7pm & 2am. These two also air every other week every Wednesday in marathons from 8am-6pm. Universal HD will air a 24-hour Charlie's Angels Labor Day marathon on Monday, Sept. 5 starting at 6am. As of now, nothing is planned for the 35th anniversary on Sept. 22 or anything to tie in with the new series premiering on ABC on the night of the 35th anniversary. Also, catch the 90-minute pilot for the classic Charlie's Angels on Wednesday, Sept. 28 from 4:30-6pm and also the watch the 90-minute pilot for T.J. Hooker the next day (Thursday, Sept. 29) from 6pm-7:30pm.
Elsewhere, movies air during the day on Mondays and Thursdays, with The Unit on Tuesdays, and as we mentioned above "classic" Wednesdays. Fridays will still feature sitcoms Hogan's Heroes and Becker from 8am-10am with an immediate encore following from 10am-12pm. Nash Bridges marathon airs from 12pm-6pm. Also airing on the network in primetime are House, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and also The Unit. And Hack airs every Saturday morning at 6am and Sunday mornings at 5am. The rest of the weekend features movies, WWE or some sports.
The Friday night URTV block will feature more short-lived series. Joining the schedule next Friday (Aug. 26) will be the drama Wanted at 9pm, replacing Clubhouse. Effective Friday, Sept. 9, Love, Inc. will replace Life On A Stick at 10pm. At 10:30pm, Aliens In America continues to air in September.
Yes, there aren't really any schedule changes, but there is still plenty of good TV on this network, so we have to report it. Stay with us if anything changes in October and come on back tomorrow for another fall 2011 schedule!

ReelzChannel will air the 2011 Creative Arts Emmy Awards this season! ReelzChannel's mini-series The Kennedys garnered 10 nominations, making Reelz the fourth most nominated cable network. Spike Jones Jr. is producing the Creative Arts Emmys for the 17th time. The Creative Art categories recognize technical and other similar achievements in television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as art directors, costume designers, cinematographers, casting directors, and sound editors. Several of the awards The Kennedys is up for will be part of the telecast. The awards will be taped Sept. 10, then aired Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. ReelzChannel is on DirecTV channel 238, Dish Network channel 299, and available on your cable or satellite system.
The broadcast has aired on E! Entertainment Television the past 9 years.

Universal HD has a weekly block on Friday nights from 9pm-11pm called "Universal HD Rediscovered" and they will be adding some new ones this summer! First up, the drama Clubhouse returns to the block and will replace drama Wolf Lake starting Friday, June 3 at 9pm. Then a week later on Friday, June 17, the short-lived Fox sitcom Life on a Stick from 2005 (13 episodes, 8 unaired) will replace the 2003 series A Minute with Stan Hooper (13 episodes) at 10pm. And then the final change will be in the last-hour starting Friday, July 22 at 10:30pm, as The CW sitcom Aliens in America from 2007-08 (18 episodes) will replace the short-lived In-Laws from 2002-03 (15 episodes). It's great to see Universal HD continue to air short-lived sitcoms every Friday night. I personally am hoping they air something like The Knights of Prosperity, Crumbs and The Class soon. Something older, like from the 90s or earlier would be nice, too, but they seem to focus on the sitcoms of the last decade. To my knowledge, Life on a Stick and Aliens in America are premieres on Universal HD, so watch! Previously airing this year were comedies such as Out of Practice, Andy Richter Controls the Universe and The Bad Girls Guide. So as soon as every episode airs, they move on to another series.
Universal HD airs the '70s classic Charlie's Angels weekdays at 7pm & 2am and also in marathon blocks such as on every other Wednesday from 8am-6pm. They also air the '80s drama T.J. Hooker every weekday at 6pm & 3am and those every other Wednesday marathon blocks from 8am-6pm. Also airing on this network are The Unit, Hack, Nash Bridges and sitcoms Hogan's Heroes and Becker. The latter two still air on Fridays from 8am-12pm. Movies and some airs of Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent round out the schedule. There is nothing new to the line-up besides the additions to the Universal HD Rediscovered block.

Actor Jeff Conaway, best known for his roles in the movie Grease and the TV sitcom Taxi, has died. He was found unconscious on May 11 after suffering from pneumonia with sepsis. Conaway was placed in a medically induced coma at Encino Tarzana Medical Center and never recovered. His family took him off life support on May 26 and he died the following day at the age of 60.

Conaway appeared in the Broadway musical Grease for several years in different roles, including the lead male character, Danny Zuko. In 1978, he played Zuko's (John Travolta) buddy Kenickle in the movie Grease. He made his film debut in the 1971 romantic drama Jennifer on My Mind. Other film credits for him included Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Jawbreaker, Ghost Writer, and Do You Wanna Know a Secret?.

Conaway's television career began in 1975 when he appeared on two episodes of Happy Days as Rocko. In 1978, he was cast as the vain, struggling, but goodhearted actor Bobby Wheeler in Taxi. Conaway left the series after the third season in 1981 due to reported drug abuse. He received two Golden Globe nominations in 1979 and 1980 for his role. Some of his other regular television roles were on the 1983 short-lived fantasy-spoof series Wizards and Warriors, the 1985 drama Berrenger's, a stint on the soap The Bold and the Beautiful in 1989-90, and the sci-fi series Babylon 5 from 1994-1999. His sitcom guest appearances included Mary Tyler Moore, Who's the Boss?, The Love Boat, Hope & Gloria, and George & Leo.

In early 2008, he appeared on the VH1 reality series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew for two seasons. He had battled drug and alcohol addiction for many years. Mr. Conaway is survived by his sisters, Michelle and Cara. He will be deeply missed.

What are your favorite Bobby Wheeler episodes/moments? Discuss them here.

Today we continue our fall schedule barrage with a lesser known network, but they are adding two classic series! The network is Universal HD and we last covered them a few months ago when we announced they have acquired The Unit. We also mentioned that they air short-lived series on Friday nights, and come this October, they will be changing up the line-up again. Universal HD's Fall 2010 schedule begins Friday, October 1 with the additions of classic Sony Pictures series Charlie's Angels and T.J. Hooker. They both will air weekdays and also in stack blocks. Charlie's Angels will air weekdays at 6am and 3am with a stack on Mondays from 9am-7pm. Meanwhile, T.J. Hooker will air weekdays at 7pm and 2am with a stack on Tuesdays from 9am-7pm.
As for the short-lived series, joining the line-up on Fridays starting Oct. 1 will be medical drama 3 lbs at 9pm, followed by sitcoms Out of Practice at 10 and Andy Richter Controls the Universe at 10:30. These will be replacing the current batch of Cuts, Love Inc., Sex Love & Secrets and Love Monkey. Leaving the schedule completely will be Six Feet Under, Nash Bridges and That's Life, while Becker will only air Fridays now from 11:30am-2pm & 4:30pm-7pm with Hogan's Heroes from 9:30am-11:30am & 2pm-4:30pm.
Marathon wise, there will be a Six Feet Under 48-hour marathon during Labor Day weekend (Sept. 5-6), a Charlie Angel's 24-hour marathon on Columbus Day (Oct. 11), and a 24-hour marathon of short-lived drama Haunted starring Matthew Fox on Halloween (Oct. 31)
View the FULL Universal HD Fall 2010 schedule that starts Oct. 1!

Today we also pay tribute to legendary producer Bernie West. He was an Emmy-winning screenwriter and producer who worked on the classic sitcoms All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Three's Company. He was part of the famous trio of producers known as "NRW" (Nicholl-Ross-West). Mr. West died on Thursday, July 29 at his Beverly Hills home of complications from Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. West won his Emmy in 1973 for writing, with Mickey Ross, the "Bunkers and the Swingers" episode on All in the Family. He received two other nominations as a producer for his work on All in the Family and Three's Company. In 1971, he and Ross submitted a script for All in the Family to Norman Lear and began what Bernie referred to as his first steady job. They worked on the CBS sitcom from 1971-74, where they were writers, script consultants, story editors and eventually, with Don Nicholl, producers. West and Ross created the character of Maude, played by Bea Arthur, on a 1972 episode of All in the Family that spun into another long-running CBS series. And he and his partners worked on the 1974 pilot script of NBC's Chico and the Man.
Nicholl, Ross and West (NRW) later wrote and produced for The Jeffersons, which ran for 10 years (1975-1985), and then Three's Company for eight seasons (1977-1984). Other series included The Dumplings (1976) and two spin-offs of Three's Company: The Ropers (1979-80) and Three's a Crowd (1984-85). Don Nicholl passed away in 1980, while Mickey Ross passed away last May (2009), so now all three members of NRW are no longer with us.
Before Mr. West was producing, he was acting. Among his early acting credits were appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Dixon of Dock Green, The Arthur Murray Show, The Jack Paar Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Phil Silvers Show, Car 54, Where Are You? and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. He also was on an episode each of All in the Family and What's Happening Now!! years later.

Mr. West will be deeply missed and his mark on classic sitcoms was certainly made with NRW. Pay tribute to Mr. West by watching his three classic sitcoms All in the Family and Three's Company on TV Land and The Jeffersons on TV One. Mr. West was 92.