Tuesday, August 07, 2007
ION Television September and ABC Family September; TVComedyClassics.com Launches
RHI on ION Movie Weekend in September includes movies such as Fatal Error with Robert Wagner and Bridge of Time with Susan Dey; mini-series such as the six-hour Larry McMurtry's The Streets of Laredo and four-hour ones such as Ford: Man & His Machine and Degree of Guilt. The 1996 documentary Titanic will also air...not to be confused by the 1997 blockbuster movie.
To discuss and to read more about ION September, click HERE.
As for ABC Family, as I mentioned there will be no schedule changes in September to the regular schedule. However, two of their original series will have season finales, while one will have its season premiere. Kyle XY will have its fall season finale on Labor Day at 8PM, with an all-day marathon before the finale. The series will return in January with 10 additional episodes. Greek will ends its first season a week after on September 10 at 9PM. Meanwhile, the second season of family drama Lincoln Heights will start Tuesday, September 4 for 10 more new episodes. New animated series Slacker Cats will continue on Mondays at 10PM. On Sunday, September 16 ABC Family premieres its new original movie Big Liar on Campus, Ryan Pinkston fibs his way into the school. The movie also stars Kate Mara, Teri Polo, Craig Kilborn, and Carmen Electra.
A to be determined marathon is on Sunday, September 21...all-day. It will probably be a marathon of Ugly Betty or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, or another ABC series premiereing its new season that week. We will let you know, when confirmed.
FremantleMedia will launch TVComedyClassics.com, a new web portal that will make a selection of comedy programming from its archives available to consumers for download to own or rent. TV series from the UK such as Tommy Cooper Half Hour, The Howerd Confessions, George and Mildred, Love Thy Neighbour and Bless This House, among others, with new content being added regularly. The website will host comedy selections from FME's archives from across the decades, featuring performers like Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd, Eric Sykes, Sid James, Penelope Keith and Jim Davidson. The company is currently exploring content opportunities with other independent production companies and is looking to extend the TVComedyClassics brand locally around the world.
If we have more news we will be back.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Schedule Updates for TV Land and Nick at Nite; Who's the Boss? Scores for ION!
These changes are likely to spill over to September, but afternoons will be altered a bit as the Elvis movie will not be there in September. For now view these August 20 changes by clicking HERE!
Nick at Nite's change is for the week of Aug. 13. The wall to wall summer marathon that week is now The Cosby Show instead of Full House. We will have their September line-up shortly with new shows Home Improvement and George Lopez.
Tony Micelli and the gang have made their mark on ION Television...big time! ION Television scored a homerun for its launch of the 80s sitcom Who's the Boss? starring Tony Danza, Judith Light, and Alyssa Milano. Who cares about the Barry Bonds record, as Tony Micelli has been doing it longer than Barry.
Primetime airings of Who's the Boss? have delivered significant ratings increases among key adult demographics on ION Television. In the first two weeks following the popular program's July 9 debut, viewership in its 9-10 PM timeslot season-to-date increased 41 percent in women 25-54, and 33 percent in adults 25-54.
During the weeks of July 9 and 16, Who's the Boss? delivered 175,000 household impressions for women 25-54, and 259,000 impressions for adults 25-54, the highest weekly impressions performance in the 9-10 PM hour season-to-date.
Benefiting from a solid Who's the Boss? lead-in, Wonder Years enjoyed a six percent ratings increase in households and women 25-54 in its 10-11 PM timeslot during the weeks of July 9 and 16, representing a season-to-date increase of 22 percent.
We hope to have ION Television's September lineup this week...maybe by tomorrow. So come on back!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Mini-DVD Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 5 (Aug. 7)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season Five (Lionsgate, $24.98) brings all 18 episodes from the series' fifth season on this wonderful three-disc DVD set. Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, April are all back to battle Shredder, Krang and other villains! Like we mentioned in our last review, Season 4 DVD was finally the best DVD set as that had all 39 season four episodes. Prior to that, we were getting volume releases. Volume 6 had the last 11 episodes from season three, plus the first episode of season four. The third season had a total of 47 episodes, so they decided to split up that season into volumes, so volumes 3, 4, 5, and 6 covered season three. Season one had only 5 episodes, so that was on Volume 1. For season 2 there were just 13 episodes, so Lionsgate released that for volume two.
Season five has a total of 18 episodes, and we get ALL of those on this set, plus a few great featurettes with a nice pizza box style packaging.
The packaging is very cool and even better than the last set! The first six volumes were single disc sets so the packaging was simple. Then for season four we got a 3-D plastic-molded packaging of Raphael's head! But this time we get a pizza box style packaging! It is by far the best of the series and maybe among the best packaging I have ever seen on a DVD set! First we have to remove a clear slip sleeve. When we do that we get a little cardboard holder that is red holding a little pizza box! The back of the red cardboard holder we have red and white checked boxes, that pizza places are famous for. We have a synopsis of the set, with Special Feature Facts (like we have Ingredients on boxes of your favorite foods), we have two cool photos of Raphael and Michaelangelo, and two screen shots. The pizza box cover is like a real pizza box. But of course it is much smaller. If you have ever ordered those Pizza Book It pizzas, the box is a bit smaller than that. It also has those red & white checkered boxes. It also says Cowabunga Pizza, with a picture of a pizza and Donatello. Net Wt. 3 discs...very creative!! The back of the pizza box has the same info as we had in the back of the red cardboard holder. OK, now let's open the pizza box! I'm getting hungry!! In fact, it smells like actual pizza...I'm serious. Inside we have to take out the little pizza box digipak. The same cover and back of the pizza box is present in this little digipak. When we open the case once, we see disc one on the top and a photo of Raphael with his fork and chef's hat. Opening it one final time we see disc two in the middle now and disc three on the bottom. Now since this is a pizza box, each disc is shaped in a pizza! Disc one is pepperoni pizza, disc two looks like sausage pizza, and disc three looks like anchovies...yuck. No cheese pizza?? Just kidding, but this is indeed very creative. I hope no one tries to eat these discs. Great packaging...maybe the best ever, but it is a bit hard to put back together. Now that the new movie (TMNT) came out in theaters and now is on DVD, let's hope Lionsgate doesn't cheapen these DVD sets again for this classic animated series.
The episodes run a little over 23:30, with the highest being 23:36 and the lowest at 23:32. The menu screen is like a pizza menu which is quite nice with the options of Play All Episodes (that will be $3.75) and Episode Selection (that will be $4.25), with the theme playing (loops) in the background and each Turtle rotating and a pizza moving clockwise. Each disc's menu has the famous pizza checkered boxes...disc one is red & white (like the packaging), disc two is blue & white, and disc three is green & white. When we go to episode selection, we have a screenshot of the episode in a pizza and we also have the title of the episode. There are napkins on the side, too. There are 5 chapter stops placed, like the last set. One gripe that I have with the menus again are, that there are auto-trailers before the main menu starts. Annoying! There is a Trailer Gallery section on the main menu on disc three, so why do we need auto-trailers? The extras are all on disc three, thus they are listed on that disc only...under "Today's Specials." Very creative!
The video is on par with the other volumes, with dust and debris here and there but I think it is much better than the previous releases. The audio is also on par with the previous releases, not bad...and listenable.
Season four we had extras for the first time...this season we ALSO have extras! We continue the "Under the Shell" featurettes from the last set and also have a historic look at the Turtles. We have "The Turtles: A Ninjatastic Look Back." It runs 17:54 and has interviews with the voices of all four Turtles from the series...Cam Clarke as Leonardo, Barry Gordon as Donatello, Rob Paulsen as Raphael, and Townsend Coleman as Michaelangelo. This is a must watch for any Turtles fan. The we continue the "Under the Shell" profiles from the last set. This time we have "Under the Shell: Usagi Yojimbo" and "Under the Shell: "Baxter Stockman." Usagi Yojimbo's featurette runs 2:53 and has an interview with Townsend Coleman, who voiced this character that appeared in a few episodes. Find out the history of this rabbit. Then we have Baxter Stockman, which features clips and runs 3:25. Stockman is of course the scientist that worked for Shredder and also turned into that huge fly.
I urge fans to buy this set because the packaging is unbelievable and of course this series is so cool! Do we have another full season set with cool packaging and extras because of the new TMNT CG-animated movie coming to DVD this month? Maybe, maybe not. We will see if the quality dips for season 6.
Anyway, this set will be released this Tuesday, click on the link below to purchase all the thrilling season five episodes and you'll just love the pizza box style packaging that will make you want to eat pizza! This set is certainly 'cheesy'...literally!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
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Saturday, August 04, 2007
Mini-DVD Review: Darkwing Duck - Volume 2 (Aug. 7)
Darkwing Duck: Volume 2 (Walt Disney, $34.99) brings the next 27 half hours on DVD on a 3-disc set in this second volume set. So we now have the first 54 episodes on DVD! I believe the series had 91 in total, so we are more than half way done now. Join Drake Mallard turn into Darkwing Duck, along with help from Launchpad (from DuckTales), and Darkwing's adopted nine-year old daughter Gosalyn keep the city of St. Canard safe from villains like Bushroot and Negaduck. Gizmoduck from DuckTales even pops in from time to time to help out. The packaging on this set is similar in style to volume one. We get an outer box holding three slim cases. The box art features Darkwing in a night background holding up two fingers. The back of the box has three screenshots along with a yellow box showcasing info on the series and set. A nice picture of Launchpad is also there. The slim case art is different for each three...first we get Gosalyn, Darkwing and Launchpad falling from a building it seems, the second slim case has Darkwing and Gosalyn on a pirate ship and the third slim case has Darkwing hanging from a rope. The back of each slim case we have an episode list for each disc, three screenshots, a feature photo, and some words describing the series. Inside the slim cases we have no art, just plain white, the discs are on the right side of each. Each disc is blue with an artwork featuring the same art as the cover of each respective slim case.
Like the first volume, the episodes are in airdate order starting with the episode "All's Fahrenheit in Love and War" and ending with "The Darkwing Squad." The episodes all run in the 22:40-45 range or so, give or take a second. The menu screen has Play All, Set Up, and Episode Selection, with the closing theme song with sound effects in the background. Disc one also has a Sneak Peeks option, where see sneak peeks at other Disney movies/DVDs. Also on disc one there are auto trailers before the main menu starts...don't you just hate that? When we go to episode selection, the episodes are listed with a square screenshot from the episode. The Set Up option has Audio Options and Subtitles...Audio can be English or French, and subtitles only in English. We have about 5 chapter stops per episode. The menu is designed quite well and is easy to navigate, like volume one. The video and audio are both very good and on par with volume one. I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set, especially if you have Volume 1. If you never saw the show, pick it up because it is very fun and they certainly don't make cartoons like they used to! So buy this DVD and start saying, "I am the terror that flaps in the night...I am Darkwing Duck!" But you better hurry before that toy-maker Quackerjack takes all the DVDs!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
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Friday, August 03, 2007
WPIX Fall 2007 Schedule; Fox Revamps Fall Schedule
Some changes include Judge Mathis at 9am and 2pm, while staples Maury and Jerry will air 10 & 11am, leading into new talk show Steve Wilkos Show, which means Judge Lopez will move to 1-2pm. Sitcoms My Wife & Kids and According to Jim will be moving to 5-6pm, Friends at 6pm and Everybody Loves Raymond moving to 6:30pm. New sitcoms Two and a Half Men and Family Guy takes over 7-8pm. The same duo returns for more episodes from 11p-12am, but the half-hours are switched. Moving to midnight, we get the secondary episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, followed by Sex and the City at its new time at 12:30am. The secondary Friends is now at 1am, followed by Will & Grace, Frasier, and George Lopez will debut at 2:30am. Back to back South Park at 3am, the debuts of Reno 911 and Jury Duty in the 4am hour round out the night.
So what happened to the late night classic TV sitcoms? You know The Jeffersons, Good Times, Cheers. They will lose rights to Cheers after August, but the others are still under contract and will return when needed. The Honeymooners and Green Acres are also under contract still.
To view the full seven day schedule, click HERE.
Fox has made some changes to its fall line-up. The biggest move is Bones moving from Wednesdays at 9 to Tuesdays at 8 as of Sept. 25. Now airing Wednesdays at 9 (effect. Sept 19) is the new reality series Kitchen Nightmares, which was slated for Thursdays at 9, which will now be Don't Forget the Lyrics as of Sept. 6. Fox will also air another night of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader episodes for four weeks on Fridays at 8, before new reality series The Search for the Next Great American Band premieres in early October on Fridays at 8. New drama New Amsterdam, which was slated for Tuesdays at 8 will now be held for mid-season.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
TNT September 2007 Schedule; Boston Legal Premiere Date on ABC
Moving on to the actual schedule. On Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 3), TNT will present a marathon of The Closer from 10am-9pm, leading into a new episode from 9-10pm. Then starting September 4 a new schedule will start. Drama Las Vegas which airs Wednesdays at 12 midnight, will now also air 5 days week at 7am and 12 noon. A second episode of Angel was at 7am, but now that will be 5am, so the series will air 5am and 6am. Charmed, ER will remain with back to back episodes from 8am-12pm. At 12 noon before we had Without a Trace, now that moves to 1pm replacing Judging Amy, which will be leaving the line-up. The rest of the line-up will remain the same. No idea yet if October will have any changes or if this is indeed the fall schedule. We will let you know.
Stay tuned for more September/Fall line-ups in the coming days...we still have ION Television, Nick at Nite, WPIX in NY, and more!
Boston Legal fans take note! The ABC legal comedy-drama will have its season premiere on Tuesday, September 25 at a special time of 9:30pm, following a 90-minute Dancing with the Stars Performance Show. Boston Legal will also be a special 90-minute episode. Denny Crane!
Still early, so if we have more news we will post it. Come on back!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
FX Fall 2007 Schedule, Malcolm Joins Line-Up; New Series Jury Duty Has Classic TV Stars
Then on Monday, September 10 from 12pm-8pm, FX wil launch the newly acquired sitcom Malcolm in the Middle with an 8 hour marathon. The newly acquired series will air Monday-Friday in the daytime throughout the week.
FX doesn't really have a set schedule, as most of their series like That '70s Show and King of the Hill can jump around and air anytime. But for the most part, the new schedule will start on Tuesday, September 11, a day after the Malcolm launch marathon. The FX weekday schedule starts at 7am with back to back Malcolm in the Middle, followed by double shots of Dharma & Greg and Spin City. At 10am it will be the FX mid-morning movie. At noon we get a double take of Married with Children, followed by two episodes of King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle, King of the Hill, and That '70s Show. At 5pm a movie airs until 8pm, unless a movie is only 2 hours, then the movie starts at 6pm. If that is the case, then from 2-6pm we get an hour each of That '70s Show, Malcolm, King of the Hill, and more That '70s Show. At 8pm we get another movie. At 10pm we get original series such as Damages & Sunny in Philadelphia on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with That '70s Show on Mon, Wed, & Fri. 11pm will see a mix of original repeats. Midnight will have either movies or original encores. 1am sometimes will have filler programming such as Fear Factor and Married...with Children. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Practice will be relegated to weekends only from 7-9am. Movies will air the rest of the weekend with orginal encores late at night at times.
Jury Duty, the first-run court syndicated series from Radar Entertainment presided over by Judge Bruce Cutler and featuring three celebrity jurors coming this Fall, has signed on tons of classic stars to be jurors. Look for Ed Begley, Jr. (St. Elsewhere); Alexandra Paul & Traci Bingham (Baywatch); comedians Bruce Villanch, Elaine Boosler, Phyllis Diller and Paula Poundstone; Todd Bridges (Diff'rent Strokes), JM J. Bullock (Too Close For Comfort); Bernie Kopell (The Love Boat); Martin Kove (Cagney & Lacey); the legendary Debbie Reynolds; Tracy Scoggins (The Colbys); Charlene Tilton (Dallas); Jimmie Walker (Good Times); Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough); Dawn Wells (Gilligan's Island), Liz Sheridan (ALF), James Avery (Fresh Prince) and Growing Pains kids Tracey Gold and Jeremy Miller. For more on Jury Duty, which debuts on Sept. 17 go to juryduty.tv.
For those of you in the NYC market, you can catch the series on WPIX this September, but will have to set the VCR or TiVo as it will air 5 days a week at 4:30am!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
TBS September 2007 Schedule, The Office on Tuesdays, 'Sex' All Week-Long; My Boys Scores on TBS
Let's move on to the September 10 line-up. The Steve Harvey Show is moving from its afternoon slots to 6 & 6:30am, replacing The Cosby Show which will now move to the dreaded approx. 5:30am slot, where it will not air everyday. Saved by the Bell continues to air its two-hour block from 7-9am. The morning movie will move from 10am-12pm to 9am-11am now. Dawson's Creek which was at 9am will move to the dreaded approx. 4:30am slot, which like Cosby Show, will not be everyday. Home Improvement will get a two-hour block from 11am-1pm. Yes, Dear moves from late afternoon to early afternoon at 1-2pm. Just Shoot Me, which premieres August 6, will move from 1-2pm to 2-3pm. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air moves to an hour later at 3-4pm. The King of Queens will take over the 4-5pm slot followed by an hour of Seinfeld at 5-6pm. Friends will air at 6pm followed by a triple shot of Everybody Loves Raymond from 6:30pm-8pm.
Primetime will also be changing. Friends will kick-off Mondays and Thursdays with back-to-back episodes from 8-9pm. On Mondays it will lead into Family Guy from 9-11pm and on Thursdays a movie from 9-11pm. Tuesdays will see a Family Guy block from 8-10pm and then starting September 18 The Office will air Tuesdays 10-11pm. Wednesdays will see a House of Payne marathon from 8-10pm followed by back-to-back Family Guy episodes 10-11pm. Finally, Fridays will have Everybody Loves Raymond kick-off the night leading into Dinner and a Movie.
Effective week of September 17, you can now catch Sex and the City five nights a week on TBS at 11 & 11:30PM! Seinfeld will get the late Tuesday slot of 11:59PM and 12:30AM, while movies will air the rest of the week. Other notes: Parent'hood is missing from the schedule because its contract has expired. Drew Carey Show has also expired, as we noted in the August changes.
No word yet if this is indeed the Fall schedule or not, as usually TBS launches its fall schedule in October. We shall find out and when we do, we will let you know. So for now click HERE to view a list of these changes!
Sticking with TBS, the season premiere of original sitcom My Boys scored well for TBS last night. Continuing to ride a wave of comedy success, TBS has triumphed once again on the original comedy series front. Last night's return of the critically acclaimed sitcom My Boys scored extremely well with young adults, garnering a median age of 29. The show also outdelivered the series' November 2006 series premiere among adults 18-34 and scored an extraordinary 43% growth in that demographic when compared to the show's 2006 13-episode average. Last night's episodes averaged more than 1.6 million viewers, nearly half of them among the key adults 18-34 demographic. My Boys airs Mondays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), exclusively on TBS.
Other ratings highlights for the return of My Boys on TBS:
- Combined, last night’s back-to-back episodes averaged 801,000 adults 18-34, a 43% jump over last year's 559,000 premiere average for the first 13 episodes in that demographic. Last night's episodes also averaged 1,176,000 adults 18-49, up 12% vs. premiere telecasts of the show in 2006 (1,052,000).
- Demonstrating the successful strategy of stacking episodes to provide stronger flow, the 10:30 p.m. episode of My Boys last night showed growth over its lead-in 10 p.m. episode, with adults 18-34 up 4% and adults 18-49 up 6%.
- With My Boys joining the list, TBS now claims ad-supported cable's Top 8 sitcoms for the year to date among adults 18-49, with Tyler Perry's House of Payne ranking #1, The Bill Engvall Show ranking #2 and My Boys ranking #6. Rounding out the list are Friends (#3), Seinfeld (#4), Everybody Loves Raymond (#5), King of Queens (#7) and Sex and the City (#8).
Monday, July 30, 2007
TV One Schedule Change, September Highlights, Fall Preview
Then the series comes to the TV One schedule full-time starting Monday, August 6 in the weeknights at 9pm time-slot. The sketch comedy series has an encore play in the overnight at 4:30am. Both slots will replace Wanda at Large.
But that's not all Cedric...turning to September now, laughter comes full force to close out the holiday weekend on Monday, September 3 from 12-9PM, as TV One presents a marathon of Cedric the Entertainer Presents. This all-day marathon, which includes two more episodes never before seen on television at 8pm, replays in late night beginning at 11pm.
Other September highlights:
On Friday, September 28; Saturday, September 29; and Sunday, September 30, TV One presents a ROOTS: The Next Generations marathon weekend as all seven parts are aired over the weekend with Parts 1-2 airing on Friday beginning at 8pm, Parts 3-4 airing on Saturday beginning at 6pm and parts 5-7 airing on Sunday beginning at 6pm. The seven part 14-hour mini-series stars Georg Stanford Brown, Lynn Moody, Irene Cara, Stan Shaw, Marlon Brando, Richard Thomas, Debbi Morgan, and James Earl Jones.
The TV One fall schedule beginning on Monday, October 1 and will be announced soon, but we can tell you All of Us will be headed to the weekday schedule, as now the series has been canceled by The CW, so repeats now can air 7 days a week on TV One.
Stay tuned this week for more September schedules, such as TBS, TNT and FX!
We will be back with more news in a bit.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
TBS Original Sitcom My Boys Returns Tomorrow, Airing Mondays at 10PM
Last year, My Boys saw PJ and her boys through some humorous, yet realistic, times including on-the-job romance, a dating slump, the value of honesty in friendship and uncovering secrets kept from close friends. This summer promises more poker nights at PJs, beers at Crowley's Bar and amusing situations from the whole gang. Andy (Jim Gaffigan) will struggle with his move to the suburbs and another big bombshell from Meredith. Mike (Jamie Kaler), having exhausted every means to kill time while unemployed, strikes ups an interesting business alliance. Kenny (Michael Bunin) continues to search for love in all the wrong places. Bobby (Kyle Howard), who has comfortably settled in as one of the gang, reveals a shocking secret of his own. Brendan (Reid Scott) goes through a disturbing personality change that requires the entire group to get him back on track. Stephanie (Kellee Stewart) runs into some financial trouble this year but has better luck with dating.
Casting a big shadow over this summer is that PJ and Stephanie have purchased two two-for-one tickets to Italy. The entire summer sends them on a quest to find boyfriends to bring along as their dates. Or in PJ's case, on a journey to determine whether or not she even wants to bring a boyfriend at all.
My Boys premiered on TBS in November 2006, quickly scoring strong ratings and critical acclaim. It ended the year as ad-supported cable's #1 original sitcom among key adult demos, households and viewers. The show is being executive-produced by creator Betsy Thomas, Jamie Tarses, Gavin Polone and Eric Gilliland. It comes to TBS from Pariah and 2 Out Rally Productions, Inc., in association with Sony Pictures Television.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Mini-DVD Review: Tales from the Crypt - The Complete 6th Season (July 24); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Summer Sucks on TV Land and Nick at Nite
Tales From The Crypt -- The Complete Sixth Season (Warner, $39.98) brings the Cryptkeeper back to tell fifteen more spine-tingling stories that are guaranteed to give you nightmares (well, if that kind of stuff actually scares you, that is). The set contains the 15 episodes of the series that aired on HBO in the 1994-1995 season on a three disc set. Among these episodes include tales of a predatory lawyer learning a rough lesson, psychiatric patients that are being treated unfairly getting their justice, wives getting a little bit of revenge, harvesting the souls of the dead, and more. And the guest stars are pretty impressive, including Catherine O'Hara, Rita Rudner, Isaac Hayes, Hal Williams, Debbe Dunning, Wayne Newton, Corey Feldman, Hank Azaria, Ben Stein, and John Lithgow. And if that isn't enough, Alfred Hitchock and Humphrey Bogart mysteriously come back to life to do an episode... well thanks to computers... in the episode "You, Murderer." I also love this episode because of the introduction to the episode, where the Cryptkeeper becomes "Fearest Gump" and offers Alfred Hitchcock a "shockalet" while sitting next to him at a bench!
The set comes in double slimcases and the video and audio quality are perfectly fine, with English subtitles to go along with the episodes. The runtimes for the episodes are all over the place, going as low as 20 minutes to as high as 27 minutes, but this kind of fluctuation is somewhat normal for premium cable programs. The set doesn't exactly go all out when it comes to the special features, but there is one: a Virtual Comic Book special feature of "Whirlpool." Basically, this is a 15 minute story from the original comic book that the series was based upon, which could have potentially been boring, but isn't because the Cryptkeeper actually reads the story and gives an introduction, just like an episode of the television series. It is actually kind of fun to watch. I think all of you boils and ghouls will just scream about this set!
-- Reviewed by skees53
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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, July 28, 2007
"Summer Sucks on TV Land and Nick at Nite"
By Solomon Davis
I recently watched the latest episode of TV Land's new original series Back to the Grind this past Wednesday night featuring actors Marla Gibbs and Sherman Hemsley doing the actual job they did on the sitcom The Jeffersons.
Before the show started, I asked myself, "Why is Sherman Hemsley being featured?" I wondered that because he was never really seen working at his job on The Jeffersons and not only that he was the owner of the chain of dry cleaners and never worked at the cleaners. TV Land didn't know this before putting this program
together? Even with the goof of having Hemsley featured on this show, I found it to be flat out boring because once again people at TV Land can't think out the box and entertain its viewers. Wouldn't it have been FUNNIER if they featured Sherman and Marla Gibbs not being able to do their fictional jobs? At least that would have created some water cooler talk like, "wow I thought Sherman would do well working at a dry cleaners." So the fact that we know Marla Gibbs can do housekeeping and Sherman can work in a dry cleaners now what? TV Land needs to go back to the DRAWING BOARD and come up with another original programming idea because this show just didn't make sense.
Nick at Nite's Wall to Wall Summer Marathons are really a REPEAT-THON since the last half of the marathon is a repeat of the first half which means that if you start watching at 9pm make sure you grab the remote at 1am because it will be nothing new to see. Why does Nick at Nite have to repeat a 4-hour marathon when the network can just have a 9pm to 1am marathon and air regularly scheduled programming? Nick at Nite's marathon style is like going out to dinner and a movie with friends from 9pm to 1am and then turn back around and go to the same restaurant for dinner after having going there earlier in the evening. Are they thinking about the people in this country who work the 3pm to 11pm shift and feel that they would be more interested in watching TV from 1am to 5am? So maybe the first half of the marathon is for the viewers who work 9am to 5pm because they figure it's no way we would be awake after 1am. So if that is the case then what about Friday nights when the day shift viewers are OFF the following day? That's something else they didn't think about when coming up with the idea of this wall to wall "pointlessthon."
So basically both Nick at Nite and TV Land is not doing a good job this summer in pleasing the viewers and we will just have to see what happens in the fall because both networks have given us nothing to smile about this summer season.
TV Land's original programming was just the worst and fell a couple of notches down on the entertainment scale since airing the Mr. T self-help series, I Pity the Fool. That series kept viewers tuned in for 30 minutes unlike the TV Land's Back to the Grind which keeps viewers tuned out. And the Nick at Nite repeat-thon is something we will have to deal with the rest of the summer by just tuning in at 9pm or 1am so we won't see a repeat schedule. They should change the title of the marathon weeks to "Back-to-Back Marathon Week: The Repeat Edition." And TV Land should rename its original shows "Waiting for the Fall
Programming."
Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.
DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.
Friday, July 27, 2007
AmericanLife TV August 2007 Highlights and Changes
So what about the Saturday Comedy Block? It is before and after the new Boomer Solutions LifeStyle Block now. There is now only one episode of The Color Honeymooners (just at 7pm), followed by My Favorite Martian at 8pm and F Troop at 8:30pm. Chico and the Man is now at 1am (going into Sunday) and Welcome Back, Kotter is at 1:30am.
Other August highlights:
Thursday, August 2
* Combat!: Richardo Montalban, known for his role of Mr. Rourke in Fantasy Island, guests in "Gadjo" (7:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Saturday, August 4
* My Favorite Martian: Doris Packer guest stars in "We Love You, Miss Pringle" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Sunday, August 5
* I Spy: Carroll O'Connor guests in "It's All Done with Mirrors" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).
* L.A. Law: Sela Ward guest stars in the first of two episodes, "The Venus Butterfly" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "Fry Me To the Moon" (August 12).
Tuesday, August 7
* Combat!: Robert Duvall guests in two upcoming episodes, "Cry for Help" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "The Partisan" (August 21).
Thursday, August 9
* Kung Fu: Tim Matheson guest stars in "The Soldier" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Tuesday, August 14
* China Beach: Don Cheadle guests in "Promised Land" (12:00 a.m. ET/PT).
Wednesday, August 15
* The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.: Ed Asner guest stars in two upcoming episodes, "The Double-O-Nothing" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "The U.N.C.L.E. Samurai Affair" (August 22).
Sunday, August 19
* I Spy: Michael Conrad guests in "So Coldly Sweet" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Friday, August 24
* The FBI: Martin Sheen guest stars in "The Condemned" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Tuesday, August 28
* China Beach: Megan Mullally guests in "The World, Part Two" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).
Thursday, July 26, 2007
WGN Fall 2007 Schedule; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: ABC Day 2
To see the FULL 7-day Fall 2007 schedule, I urge you to click HERE!
Moving on to the final day of the 2007 Summer TCA Tour, it is ABC's second day. Up at the panel today are the cast & crew of: Nightline, i-Caught, GRΣΣK, Kyle XY, Samantha Who?, MEN IN TREES, Private Practice, and Big Shots. Basically they gave us some hints on what to expect and answered questions. MEN IN TREES had 5 episodes leftover from last season, since it hasn't aired since like February, a new episodes will be created to air before these 5 to remind people of the show.
The Lost panel at Comic-Con is at 5pm PT today, so no news yet!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
TCA Summer 2007 Tour: ABC Day 1; Off-Network Syndication Series Premiering this Fall
Fall premiere dates for the 2007-2008 season were announced today for the ABC Television Network by Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment, including a three-night Dancing with the Stars premiere event, with two nights of performance shows leading into a special Wednesday night results show, and a slight change in the Friday line-up.
Monday, September 24
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (special 90-minute premiere)
9:30-11:00 p.m. The Bachelor (special 90-minute premiere)
Tuesday, September 25
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (performance show)
Wednesday, September 26
8:00-9:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Results Show Special (special day and time)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Private Practice
10:00-11:00 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money
Thursday, September 27
8:00-9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty
9:00-10:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy
10:00-11:00 p.m. Big Shots
Sunday, September 30
7:00-9:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two-hour season premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10:00-11:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters
Tuesday, October 2
8:00-8:30 p.m. Cavemen
8:30-9:00 p.m. Carpoolers
9:00-10:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Result Show (regular day and time period premiere)
Wednesday, October 3
8:00-9:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies
Sunday, October 7
7:00-8:00 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos
Friday, October 12
8:00-9:00 p.m. 20/20 (new time period premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Women's Murder Club
10:00-11:00 p.m. MEN IN TREES
Monday, October 15
9:30-10:00 p.m. Samantha Who?
Tuesday, November 27
10:00-11:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (special preview following the finale of Dancing with the Stars)
Tuesday, December 4
9:00-10:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (regular time period premiere)
Boston Legal will have its season premiere on its normal night and time, but ABC has not decided when yet. Could be during week 2 or 3 of the season, I think.
Panels and sessions today: Executive Session, Break/Writing Time, Pushing Daisies,
Women's Murder Club, Cavemen, Cashmere Mafia, Carpoolers, Dirty Sexy Money.
Other ABC press tour notes:
- Harold Perrineau (Michael) will return to Lost next season! Details will be announced at Comic-Con tomorrow.
- ABC confirms Football Wives will not be picked-up now, while Traveler has been officially canceled.
- ABC is shooting a new pilot for Cavemen, and the current pilot will be used as a later episode later in the season.
- ABC is looking to develop a spin-off of Dancing with the Stars titled Dance X. The series is a bit hit in the U.K. The spin-off features teams of dancers coached by two Dancing With the Stars judges. The two teams compete against each other, and dancers get eliminated as the show goes on.
- Some fans were not happy of the direction Grey's Anatomy went to for the second half of last season. ABC will assure to fix that.
- Dana Delaney and Nathan Fillion will join Desperate Housewives this fall! It's official!
The fall season is on the horizon. Here are a list of off-network series premiering in syndication this fall:
- All of Us (Daytime CW)
- Chappelle's Show (daily)
- Cold Case (weekends)
- Degrassi: The Next Generation (daily)
- Family Guy (daily)
- George Lopez (daily and on cable on Nick at Nite)
- Half & Half (daily)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (daily)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (weekends)
- Reno 911 (daily)
- The Dead Zone (weekends)
- The Surreal Life (daily)
- Two and a Half Men (daily)
Check your local listings to see what local channels will air these series in your market.
Classic series such as Baywatch (daily) and Saved by the Bell (weekends) return to local channels this fall as well.
For further updates and to discuss fall 2007 syndication, click HERE!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Nick at Nite August Highlights; CBS Schedule Change
Week of August 6: Roseanne
Week of August 13: Full House (Mon-Fri), Fresh Prince (Sat-Sun)
Week of August 20: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
No word yet if August 27 will also have a marathon or not or if the marathons ends after August 26.
Home Improvement and George Lopez join the Nick at Nite family sitcom line-up this fall. More to come on those.
CBS has issued an urgent program advisory effective tonight. 48 Hours Mystery will replace Pirate Master, effective tonight (Tuesday, July 24) at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
The remaining five episodes of Pirate Master will be streamed on CBS.com every Tuesday starting tomorrow beginning at 3:00 AM ET/12:00 AM PT. Pirate Master will also be made available to partners of the CBS Audience Network.
Monday, July 23, 2007
TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 2; Hallmark Channel Brings Back Waltons; Carey New Price Host
The Hallmark Channel effective today brought back The Waltons to its old 8am & 9am weekday slot. Murder, She Wrote will be moved to 2 & 3pm. That series has done very well since joining the network. It will also remain in its 11pm and 12am slot. Due to The Waltons returning, some other series get minor time changes, like M*A*S*H goes from 4-6pm to 5-7pm. I urge you to click HERE to see what the rest are!
It is official! Drew Carey is the new host for The Price is Right. He announced it on tonight's taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.
"I actually had lunch with an AP reporter today, we had a big, long lunch," Carey told Letterman. "I couldn't tell him anything because we were negotiating the deal. And they approached me right after the pilot for Power of 10, and they called me, I said, 'No.' Then they called me a month later, they said, 'What if we really' — they called my agent: 'What if we really go after Drew.'
"This is like a month later after I did the pilot for Power of 10 and I said, 'Well, what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘Well, you know, I mean, maybe this kind of money.' I go, 'What kind of schedule?' He said, 'I don't know,' so I met with them and stuff and we've been negotiating ever since. Couldn't say anything, but during your 'Harry Potter' bit — honestly it was like 15 minutes ago — they called me. It's a done deal. I'm the new host of The Price Is Right.
Carey said that he's not sure when he's going to start working on The Price Is Right, which is expected to start taping new episodes in August, but did say that already "my girlfriend was on the phone with a personal shopper from Bergdorf's."
"Well, history says that this will be a nice long career for you as the host of The Price is Right," Letterman commented.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
2007 TCA Awards Winners; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 1
PROGRAM OF THE YEAR: Heroes (NBC)
OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM: Friday Night Lights (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: The Sopranos (HBO)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: The Office (NBC)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS & INFORMATION: Planet Earth (Discovery)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMING: Kyle XY (ABC Family)
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES, MINI-SERIES & SPECIALS: Planet Earth (Discovery)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA: Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
HERITAGE AWARD: The Sopranos (HBO)
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: Mary Tyler Moore
Related:
2007 Nominees
2006 Winners
Fox is up at the TCA Summer Press Tour today and tomorrow. They announced fall premiere dates nearly two weeks ago, so the focus of their announcements will be other things.
Among the notes from Day 1: Hit summer series Hell's Kitchen and So You Think You Can Dance will return next summer for fourth seasons. Fox also has ordered 13 additional episodes of this year's newest summer series Don't Forget the Lyrics, hosted by Wayne Brady. Fox will have some milestones for its Saturday primetime and late night programming this fall. Cops will be entering its 20th season and a 20th Anniversary Special will air September 18. Cops will also celebrate episode #700 on November 10. MAD TV will enter its 13th season and its 300th episode will air this season.
Up at the session panel today after the Executive Session were the cast & crew of Back to You, K-Ville Bones, New Amsterdam, So You Think You Can Dance. Lunch was Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader themed.
It is still early, we will be back with more Fox Day 1 news. Come on back on this unusually busy Sunday.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Mini-DVD Review: Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection; Solomon's Weekly Rant: TV Land Confidential
The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection (Universal, $39.98) brings 45 classic unedited Woody Woodpecker cartoons and 30 other unedited classic cartoons from the legendary Walter Lantz to DVD on a classic 3-disc set for the first time ever! 8 of these shorts were nominated for Academy Awards. The set also goes to the vault for classic documentaries, including Walter, Woody, and the World of Animation documentary.
On this set we not only get Woody Woodpecker cartoons, but also Oswald the Luck Rabbit, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, some Cartune Classics, and some Swing Symphonies. Each shorts runs approx. 7 minutes. There are a few around 6 and a few just a bit over 8 minutes. There are no chapter stops, which is acceptable here because the episodes are very short. There are 75 total shorts, but 45 of them are Woody Woodpecker (15 on each disc), 10 Classic Cartunes, 5 Swing Symphonies, 5 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, 5 Andy Panda and 5 Chilly Willy shorts. The video is remastered and it looks great! You see some dust and debris here and there, but these are from the '40s, and some cases like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, from the '30s! The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it. Packaging has a nice brown outer box (like a tree, so Woody can peck it) with Woody in the middle with Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, & Wally Wallrus on the front cover...the back cover has information on the set and has some screenshots of the shorts along with a big photo of Woody. A box titled Rare Vintage Bonus Features is also listed on the back of the box. Inside the box is a digipak. The front of the digipak has Woody in the middle surrounded by screenshots but they are just in the background. The phrase Woody is known for, "Guess Who?!!" is also mentioned on the front. The back of the digipak has a nice long story on the great Walter Lantz. There is a photo of him as well, with Woody on his arm. Opening the case once, we get a very nice disc by disc breakdown, which is very colorful and has lots of pictures. Opening the case one last time, we get to the discs. We have four panels. The first panel, all the way to the far left, has a history of the episodes found on each disc for Woody Woodpecker. The next three panels hold each disc. Woody is on the cover of each disc. He is along one disc one, joined by Andy Panda on disc two and Chilly Willy on disc three.
The menu screen has Play All, Cartoon Selection, Bonus, and Languages. The main menu has Woody pecking to start and then we hear Woody's famous laugh. Languages section has us in English only, but subtitles can be added for English, Espanol, and Francais. Bonus Features are on each disc, so they are spread out evenly. Cartoon Selection is where we can choose the classic shorts.
Moving on to the extras. As I mentioned, they are evenly placed on each disc. The extras are all from the vaults and are not new material. Since this is a classic collection, might as well dig stuff up from the archives. Disc one has two classic documentaries: Walter, Woody and the World of Animation (13:46) and Cartoonland Mysteries (10:49). Obviously, if you're buying this set, you're fascinated by classic cartoons, so you will love these. Disc two has behind the scenes bits from Walter Lantz. Six short segments running between 2-5 minutes or so. We have Origin of Woody Woodpecker (Episode 1), Drawing Woody & Andy (Episode 5), Creating the Stories (Episode 6), Animating Woody (Episode 8), Development of Woody (Episode 9), and Directing Animated Cartoons (Episode 10). On the last disc we have a full episode of The Woody Woodpecker Show. It runs 22:51 and is the Halloween episode. It is from 1957-58 I believe when it aired on ABC. It was later revived in 1970 by NBC with more episodes. And in the 80s it was packed together for syndication we saw different themes and stuff in syndication. I remember this one the best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5zwBBFJ63c (I hope we get that on a future set as an extra). I always remember the episodes had a Woody episode, then a Chilly Willy episode, then another Woody episode. WNYW in my area aired the show weekday afternoons in the late 80s/early 90s. I loved it! Anyway, this Halloween episode has b&w bits with Walter Lantz and the episodes are in color of course. The episode sponsor is presented by Kellogs, is intact! The episode also has the only original episode created for this series, titled "Spook-a-Nanny."
I highly do recommend any fan of classic cartoons and Woody Woodpecker to pick-up this set. If you remember the show from local syndication in the late 80s/early 90s, you'll be fascinated by this because these shorts were made for theatrical cartoons and not television. This set covers Wood from 1940-1952. So we still have way more Woody cartoons to cover. Woody changed a bit in appearance from the 40s to the 70s, he looked smaller by the 60s and 70s (he seemed to have looked much younger). Those are the ones I remember the most. So we will see that change in appearance if we get another set. Let's hope we do and we get all of the Woody shorts released. I want all of the Chilly Willy shorts too. Anyway, heh-heh-heh-HEH-heh yourself to clicking and buying this set below, because you'll never 'guess who' will be pecking your way on to your TV screen!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(5/5 stars)To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com
Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
The Woody Woodpecker Show TV.com Page
Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, July 21, 2007
"TV Land Confidential is Sloppy"
By Solomon Davis
TV Land still manages to entertain viewers in a sloppy way when introducing new original programming. TV Land's original programming has always been a good idea but the way it's organized takes the fun out of watching the show. TV Land Confidential which had its second season premiere on July 11 (I also watched the second episode of the season on July 18) looked to be a complete and total rush job. It was so obvious from watching the show that it was just thrown together very quickly. What was the big rush in putting the TV Land Confidential together? It would have been more entertaining if TV Land took the time out to focus on certain shows and not several shows at once.
The TV Land Confidential season premiere that featured Oddball TV Characters all of a sudden went from TV show to TV show in a span of 5 minutes. The show never gave viewers a chance to focus on one set of oddball characters because you knew another discussion was starting before you could go to the refrigerator. It reminded me of a 10 cent version of I Love the '70s from VH1 only TV Land's version was a bad imitation. At least VH1 focused on a certain topic, TV Land tried to discuss the history of television in 30 minutes. It would have made more sense to discuss just certain oddball characters like the Sweathogs, Lenny & Squiggy, and Mork from Ork. It would have been a better fit for the 30 minute time frame instead of a mention of every oddball character since a TV set was invented.
It was the same thing on July 18 when viewing TV Land Confidential that focused on TV Finales. Instead of choosing three finales that could have been discussed in full detail, TV Land discussed a TV Finale every 20 seconds. This unorganized mess made my eyes feel like they were on an express TV train speeding to its next destination called 10:30pm (which in this case was the premiere of Back to the Grind...which I have not viewed yet). It's a shame TV Land has the right ideas but just lack the ability to neatly present those us to viewers. Wouldn't it have made more sense for TV Land to EXPAND the length of TV Land Confidential to 60 minutes so that more shows could be mentioned in detail (like Balki) rather than a rush job? Or they could have split them into parts, like Oddball Characters Part 1 and Part 2. There is not one person in the TV Land programming department that can think outside the box. I wonder what year that's going to change? 2014??
Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.
DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.
Friday, July 20, 2007
TV Land August Schedule Changes; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: The CW; ABC August Change
That was just weekends, now let's go to weekdays. As we said before TV Land Goes West is also on Mondays, and that will not change. Bonanza from 8a-12p and Gunsmoke from 2-6p. Tues-Fri mornings and afternoons will get a bit of a makeover from the original August schedule. Cheers will return and air 8:30am. Sanford & Son will air 9-10am, Bonanza and Gunsmoke follow until noon leading into the Elvis movie, 2-5pm will see back-to-back episodes of Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver. Gunsmoke will air at 5pm. In primetime, Cosby Show replaces Good Times from 8-9pm and Sanford & Son will air 9-10pm instead of The Jeffersons. Then we have the marathons from 10p-4:30a. Changes to the marathons are: Mondays from 10p-12:05a is now The Jeffersons instead of Cosby Show. Andy Griffith Show marathon will air Tuesdays from 8-11p leading into Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so no M*A*S*H marathon. Wednesday nights from 2:20-4a is now Three's Company instead of All in the Family.
So these changes are last minute, so the September schedule we posted might change now. We will let you know when we do. Munsters, Addams Family, Green Acres are reduced to just weekends in August. For now, please click HERE to view the changes in a list form.
The CW was up today at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel were the cast & crew of various series and an Executive Session. The show that had a panel were: Aliens in America, Life is Wild, CW Now/Online Nation, Gossip Girl, Reaper. They announced the fall premiere dates for their series:
MONDAY
8:00-8:30 PM EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS [October 1]
8:30-9:00 PM ALIENS IN AMERICA (New Series) [October 1]
9:00-9:30 PM GIRLFRIENDS [October 1]
9:30-10:00 PM THE GAME [October 1]
TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BEAUTY AND THE GEEK [September 18]
9:00-10:00 PM REAPER (New Series) [September 25]
WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL [September 19]
9:00-10:00 PM GOSSIP GIRL (New Series) [September 26]
THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM SMALLVILLE [September 27]
9:00-10:00 PM SUPERNATURAL [October 4]
FRIDAY
8:00-10:00 PM FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN [September 21]
SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM CW NOW (New Series) [September 23]
7:30-8:00 PM ONLINE NATION (New Series) [September 23]
8:00-9:00 PM LIFE IS WILD (New Series) [October 7]
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (Encore Presentation)
ABC will alter its Monday and Tuesday schedules for August. Mondays will now be Wife Swap, Fat March, and Supernanny. It was supposed to be Wife Swap, Supernanny, and i-Caught. Fat March was originally for Tuesdays at 9. Tuesdays will be back-to-back Just for Laughs, which ABC renewed for an additional 13 episodes (making it 19 in all now), followed by Primetime: Crime and i-Caught. Primetime: Crime was originally for 10pm.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
59th Annual Emmy Awards Nominations; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: CBS Day 2
BEST COMEDY SERIES
Two and a Half Men (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: Desperate Housewives. I had this category all right except for that.
BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ricky Gervais, Extras (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this category all right, except Gervais was in and not Zach Braff.
BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Mary Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, though I had Teri Hatcher instead of Dreyfus.
BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. Again I had only one wrong, I had Michael Urie over Neil Patrick Harris..
BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Conchata Ferrell, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Holland Taylor, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Jenna Fischer, The Office (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: No Nicolette Sheridan again???
BEST DRAMA SERIES
Boston Legal (ABC)
House (Fox)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
Heroes (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: No Lost or Friday Night Lights?
BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos (HBO)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FX)
Kiefer Sutherland, 24 (Fox)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, but Michael C. Hall is sort of.
BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Edie Falco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Minnie Driver, The Riches (FX)
Patricia Arquette, Medium (NBC)
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. Why Hargitay again?
BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Terry O'Quinn, Lost (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
Masi Oka, Heroes (NBC)
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos (HBO)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
T.R. Knight, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None. I had this all right, but I chose only 5. Knight was the 6th pick.
BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Lorraine Bracco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Aida Turturro, The Sopranos (HBO)
SURPRISE OMISSION: None, though Patricia Wettig over Turturro would be better.
View the full list of nominations by clicking HERE. The 59th Annual Emmy Awards air Sunday, September 16 at 8pm on Fox.
Today is also Day 2 for CBS at the TCA 2007 Summer Press Tour. Not much news to report, but CBS did release a few things. In a first for network television, CBS today announced a new viewer-centric marketing initiative to keep audiences informed if their favorite television show is delayed due to sports or news overrun. CBS Eye-lert, which launches this fall, will enable viewers to be notified via email and text message if the start time of a program will be delayed.
Through the coordination of CBS Interactive, broadcast operations, email and phone systems, viewers can subscribe to CBS Eye-lert by registering on CBS.com, CBSNews.com and Sportsline.com. This fall, when an NFL game runs beyond 7PM ET, thus causing a delay on the Network, viewers will be notified by email or text message prior to primetime and again once the specific start time of the primetime show has been determined. That way they can adjust their viewing or recording plans.
At the session panels today, cast & crews of Jericho, Power of 10, Viva Laughlin were up. There was a nice Survivor: China themed lunch for the media. And no Drew Carey said in the Power of 10 panel that no decision has been made yet for him to be the new host of The Price is Right.
More to come...come on back.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
TCA 2007 Summer Tour: CBS Day 1; TBS Adds 'Just Shoot Me', Ratings News for New Sitcom; Our Emmy Picks
Viva Laughlin, the new mystery drama with music, will have a special preview on Thursday, Oct. 18 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) following CSI before moving to its regular Sunday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) time period on Oct. 21 to take advantage of a two-week window in the schedule without football overruns.
CBS Fall Premiere Dates:
Wednesday, Sept. 19
8 p.m. Kid Nation
Thursday, Sept. 20
8 p.m. Survivor: China
Sunday, Sept. 23
7 p.m. 60 Minutes
9 p.m. Cold Case
10 p.m. Shark
Monday, Sept. 24
8 p.m. How I Met Your Mother
8:30 p.m. The Big Bang Theory
9 p.m. Two and a Half Men
9:30 p.m. Rules of Engagement
10 p.m. CSI: Miami
Tuesday, Sept. 25
8 p.m. NCIS
9 p.m. The Unit
10 p.m. Cane
Wednesday, Sept. 26
9 p.m. Criminal Minds
10 p.m. CSI: NY
Thursday, Sept. 27
9 p.m. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
10 p.m. Without a Trace
Friday, Sept. 28
8 p.m. Ghost Whisperer
9 p.m. Moonlight
10 p.m. NUMB3RS
Saturday, Sept. 29
8 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
9 p.m. Crimetime Saturday
10 p.m. 48 Hours Mystery
Thursday, Oct. 18
10 p.m. Viva Laughlin (special preview)
Sunday, Oct. 21
8 p.m. Viva Laughlin (time period premiere)
TBS will add the hit '90s sitcom Just Shoot Me to its afternoon line-up starting August 6. It will air weekdays at 1:00 & 1:30pm, shifting the Steve Harvey Show hour to 12 & 12:30pm. Thus, NewsRadio will be leaving the line-up. In addition, it looks like TBS will not renew the contract for The Drew Carey Show, because starting August 27, an extra Cosby Show episode will air at 6:30am weekday mornings. Anyway, I'm not sure how long TBS will run Just Shoot Me. It is coming to TV Land in January and then it will also come back to local channels next June. TBS could share it with TV Land, so who knows, Discuss these pre-fall schedule changes, by clicking HERE.
Sticking with TBS, last night's premiere of the new sitcom The Bill Engvall Show scored big. The series' debut telecast last night delivered 3.9 million viewers and 2.8 million households, securing a place among ad-supported cable's Top 3 sitcom telecasts (original or acquired) of all-time among households and Top 5 original sitcom telecasts of all-time among key adult demos and viewers. The premiere garnered a 3.0 coverage household rating/2.5 national rating. It ranked as ad-supported cable's top program for the entire day in delivery of adults 18-49, adults 25-54, viewers and households.
Set in a Denver suburb, The Bill Engvall Show casts the Blue Collar Comedy headliner as Bill Pearson, a family counselor whose own family is unpredictable, somewhat absurd and a little mixed up themselves. Nancy Travis plays his wife, Susan, who is trying to make sure their three children turn out all right. Filling out the rest of the family, Jennifer Lawrence plays Bill and Susan’s teenage daughter, Lauren, while their sons are played by Graham Patrick Martin as Trent, a sports and video game enthusiast, and Skyler Gisondo as Bryan, a musically talented neat freak with a pet snake. Tim Meadows and Steve Hytner co-star as Bill's best friends.
Today we will give our preview of what we think the nominations for the Emmy's will look like. The real nominations are tomorrow (Thursday) morning, so we will give you those then. But for now...here are our predictions for the main acting categories for the 59th Annual Emmy Awards:
BEST COMEDY SERIES
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: Two and a Half Men, Weeds or Scrubs could sneak in. The winner will be Ugly Betty or The Office, I think.
BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Tony Shalhoub, Monk (USA Network)
Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Zach Braff, Scrubs (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Braff could be left off again and maybe Jason Lee will be in. Eric Mabius is a long shot.
BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Mary Louise Parker, Weeds (Showtime)
Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Marcia Cross could be in here. Look for this category to be almost totally different than last year. Ferrera will be the favorite.
BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTOR
Kevin Dillion, Entourage (HBO)
John Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Rainn Wilson, The Office (NBC)
Michael Urie, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Jeremy Piven, Entourage (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: Tough category. HBO and NBC stars will rule this list. Urie will be the huge underdog.
BEST SUPPORTING COMEDY ACTRESS
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty (ABC)
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds (Showtime)
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl (NBC)
Nicollette Sheridan, Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Jenna Fischer, The Office (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Nicollette better get nominated this year! She was great again. Other ladies who can get nods are Becki Newton, Conchata Ferrell and the great Kathryn Joosten.
BEST DRAMA SERIES
Lost (ABC)
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
The Sopranos (HBO)
Heroes (NBC)
MY THOUGHTS: Tough category. House could get snubbed this year. Brothers & Sisters could be in here over FNL. 24 had a bad year.
BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Hugh Laurie, House (FOX)
James Spader, Boston Legal (ABC)
James Gandolfini, The Sopranos (HBO)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (FOX)
Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)
MY THOUGHTS: Kyle Chandler and Kiefer Sutherland would not be surprises if they get nominated. Patrick Dempsey and Matthew Fox are long shots.
BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Edie Falco, The Sopranos (HBO)
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer (TNT)
Minnie Driver, The Riches (FX)
Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: I think Pompeo will make it this year. Connie Britton, Calista Flockhart or Patricia Arquette could also sneak in.
BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTOR
Terry O'Quinn, Lost (ABC)
William Shatner, Boston Legal (ABC)
Masi Oka, Heroes (NBC)
Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos (HBO)
Michael Emerson, Lost (ABC)
MY THOUGHTS: Please give the nomination and win to O'Quinn. He deserves it.
BEST SUPPORTING DRAMA ACTRESS
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Patricia Wettig, Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Lorraine Bracco, The Sopranos (HBO)
MY THOUGHTS: ABC will rule this category. Chandra Wilson and Elizabeth Mitchell could also be here.
Nominations are announced tomorrow morning. Come on back here and we will give you the official nominations and you can compare those to our picks!
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Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Tuesday, October 27
Tyler Perry's Assisted Living - "A Long Day's Journey" (BET, 8:30PM ET/PT)
After losing his job, Jeremy decides to move to the backwoods of Georgia to help his grandfather, who has purchased a rundown home for the elderly.
The Ms. Pat Show - "A Family Thing" (BET, 9:00PM ET/PT)
enise gets carried away when Kareem plans a special date night; Janelle shares big news with Junebug and Terry's aunt shocks everyone with the truth about his father.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 26)
Tuesday, October 27
- Owen Wilson (Stick) - Catch Owen on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Gabourey Sidibe (Difficult People/The Big C) - Gabourey appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Parker Posey (Search Party/The Return of Jezebel James) - Parker is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Bowen Yang (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens) - Bowen stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Bradley Whitford (Perfect Harmony/Trophy Wife) - Bradley appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Cynthia Nixon (And Just Like That.../Sex and the City) - Cynthia and the cast of The Gilded Age are guests on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Tim Daly (Newlyweds/Wings) - Tim discusses Newlyweds on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Tony Shalhoub (We Are Men/Stark Raving Mad/Wings) - Tony talks about We Thought They’d Never Leave on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
- Andrew Rannells (Nobody Wants This/Girls/The New Normal) - Andrew talks about Nobody Wants This on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/20/26 - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Golden Age Collection (Blu-ray)
01/27/26 - The New Fred and Barney Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/11/26 - Tom and Jerry - The Complete CinemaScope Collection (Blu-ray)
03/24/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Vault - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
04/11/26 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD)
04/21/26 - Famous Studios Champion Collection (Blu-ray) (DVD)
05/19/26 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series - 75th Anniversary Edition (DVD)
05/19/26 - Looney Tunes Cartoons - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (DVD)
06/16/26 - Difficult People - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
06/30/26 - Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
07/14/26 - The Office - The Complete Series - Superfan Extended Episodes (Blu-ray)
07/28/26 - The Bill Dana Show - The Complete Series (DVD)
07/28/26 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series - 75th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)
07/28/26 - The Paper - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
08/25/26 - Perfect Strangers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/08/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Vault - Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
09/22/26 - Bridget Loves Bernie - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
10/20/26 - The Quick Draw McGraw Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
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