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Blog DVD Review: Popeye The Sailor: 1941-43, Volume 3

Welcome to another edition of the weekly Blog DVD Review. This week we take a look at Warner Home Video's Popeye The Sailor: 1941-43, Volume 3. Popeye is of course the classic TV sailor who eats his spinach and gets energy to save Olive Oyl from Bluto! See my Blog DVD Review of Popeye The Sailor: 1941-43, Volume 3:

Popeye The Sailor: 1941-43, Volume 3 (Warner, $34.98) brings 32 more classic unedited Popeye cartoons along with more bonus features to DVD on a classic 2-disc set! So far, we got the first 60 theatrical shorts (1933-38) on the volume one set on four-discs and then we got the next 31 Fleischer Popeye cartoons (1938-1940) on a two-disc set. We are now finished with the Fleischer Popeye cartoons after the episode "Baby Wants a Bottleship." We get that as the second episode on disc two. Then Popeye continued on with more cartoons from Famous Studios (1942-1957), so we have started those on this as well beginning with the infamous episode "You're a Sap, Mr. Jap." The War was going on in then and Popeye was going after the Japanese.
Each short on this set is in black & white and runs anywhere between 6-8 minutes. There are no chapter stops again, which is acceptable here because the episodes are very short. The video is remastered once again and it looks great! No editing of the episodes because of ethic reasons either...it is from the original masters. So you get to see Popeye battle those "Japs!" Well, blow me down! The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it.
Packaging has a nice light blue outer box this time with Popeye showing a big fist t Bruno and Bruno not backing down on the front cover...the back cover has information on the set and has some screen shots of the shorts along with a big photo of Popeye stepping on Bruno as he took him down. There is also a section detailing the special features, but it is more detailed inside the case. Inside the box is a digipak case, as we had on the last set. The front of the digipak has a full-body shot of Olive Oyl. Opening the case, we get a very nice disc-by-disc breakdown for disc one on the left side, which has lots of screen shots and artwork of Popeye's nephews below that. We also get the episode number, title, if it has commentary and by who, and the list of special features per disc. The two discs are on the right side, overlapping each other unfortunately, once again. The discs are all in that light blue color, matching the color scheme of the set. Disc one's artwork has Popeye with showing his muscles while holding a Spinach can and disc two has Bluto holding his hands together tightly. When we take out both discs, you can see more photos in the packaging itself. The back of the digipak case has the disc two breakdown (similar to disc one's), more screenshots, and artwork of Bruto holding Olive Oyl as Popeye creeps up from behind.
The menu screen has Play, Episodes, Special Features, and Languages. But before the main menu screen comes, we get auto trailers on both discs, disc one has the pirating is not good promo and disc two has trailers for other Warner Home Video products (Charlie Brown, Smurfs, Tiny Toons, Freakaoid!). The ethic message saying that these shorts were never intended to stereo-type, blah blah, are on this set like we saw on the volume one DVD. We didn't get that on the volume two DVD for some reason, though. The main menu has the theme playing in the background (and it loops), with the same color and artwork as the box cover. Languages section has us in English only and subtitles can be added for English or French as well. Special Features are on both discs, and are listed in a list form on the menu. Episodes is where we can choose the classic shorts. If it has commentary or a Popeye Popumentary, we can also select that from here, but we can also do that in the special features section. All very similar to the previous sets.
Moving on to those special features. As I mentioned, they are evenly placed on both discs. So, here we go, we have a lot once again: Disc one has three Popeye Popumentaries. The first is called "Directing the Sailor: The Art of Myron Waldman" (7:20), as we learn more about the art of the great Myron Waldman. Inteviewed are Mark Hayerson, Myron Waldman himself, wife Rosie Waldman, Steve Sanchfield, and Jery Beck. Then we have "Popeye: The Mighty Ensign" (7:47), as this feature they talk about the great Popeye. Interviewed are Glenn Mitchell, Frank Gladstone, Steve Sanchfield, Will Friedwald, Mark Kausler, Eric Goldberg, Myron Waldman, and Rosalie Waldman. The final Popumentary is about Popeye's nephews, "Pip-eye, Pup-eye, Poop-eye, and Peep-eye: Chips Off the Old Salt" (3:40), as we learn how they were developed. Originally they were Popeye's kids in a dream, but later were developed as his nephews. They look very much like Popeye, don't they? Interviewed here are Glen Mitchell, Bob Jaques, Frank Gladstone, Dan O'Shannon, Jorge Gutierrez, and Sandra Equihua. Then we have three classics from the Inkwell vaults. The first one is "The Clown's Little Brother" from 1920 running 4:50. Then we have "The Cartoon Factory" from 1924 running 7:20. And finally "Koko Needles the Boss" from 1927 running 6:21. None of these had sound, so some might find them boring. Finally we have three audio commentaries on this disc, they include commentaries from Historians: Jerry Beck and Steven Waldman and Director: Bob Jaques.
Moving on to disc two, it has a retrospective documentary titled "Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation 1921-1930" (27:41). This is the best extra on this set and it details the animation in the '20s. So cool, but so old at the same time. There are a lot of interviews on this to list, but SOME include Donald Crafton, Michael Barrier, Leonard Maltin, Will Friedwald, Jim Healy, and many more. Then we have another classic from the vault from Western Electric titled "Finding His Voice" from 1929 that runs 10:46. Then finally, we have four more commentaries on this disc, they include commentaries from Historian: Jerry Beck; Cartoonist: Kali Fontecchio; Animator: Mark Kausler; and Directors: Bob Jaques, John Kricfalusi, and Eddie Fitzgerald.
I once again highly do recommend any fan of classic cartoons and Popeye to pick-up this set. If you have the first two volumes, then a no-brainer, you have to get this to continue the classic collection. If you haven't gotten those, get those first and then get this volume. It is well worth it! Let's hope we get a volume four very soon and it is packed with special features just like this set and the preceding sets. We are all done with the Fleischer cartoons and have started on the Famous Studios cartoons, those lasted 15 years, so we have a long way to go. I just hope we get four-disc sets again like volume one, as two-disc sets would take forever to get through. Anyway, watch Popeye go to war for America as he battles the "Japs." So all fans should be on deck to buy this set! So toot-toot your way in buying it!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(5/5 stars)

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Early Show Celebrates 5 Decades; This TV Comes to Houston in December; Beaver's Tony Dow An Artist?

All this week CBS's Early Show has been looking at the past 5 decades in every way, including of course television. We didn't get word until about Wednesday, so it was too late to promote it...but we will recap it here today. On Monday, Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith took a walk down memory lane and had a chat with the former child stars of the 1950's, who made TV's golden age shimmer. Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver) of Leave it to Beaver, Jon Provost (Timmy) of Lassie, Paul Petersen (Jeff Stone) of The Donna Reed Show, Keith Thibodeaux (Little Ricky Ricardo) of I Love Lucy all joined The Early Show to reminisce of the good old days of TV. View the 50s segment.
On Tuesday, Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith sat down with four leading ladies of the 1960's, Barbara Eden (Jeannie) of I Dream of Jeannie, Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) of Gilligan's Island, Barbara Feldon (Agent 99) of Get Smart and Kathy Garver (Cissy) of Family Affair to chat about how their characters changed their lives. You can view this 60s segment.
On Wednesday, The Early Show celebrated the 1970's. There were no actual reunions or stars on, though, but they talked about the 70s and dressed in 70s clothing. Gloria Gaynor did perform her hits, though. View the 70s segment.
On Thursday it was time to celebrate the 1980's. Actress Joan Collins, who played Alexis Carrington, John Forsythe's vindictive ex-wife on Dynasty, helped to set the bar when it came to malicious scheming, cat-fighting and starting fashion trends. Today, Collins continues to challenge herself with writing books and columns, as well as roles on television and the big screen. The legendary 75-year-old actress sat down with Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith to chat about her iconic status during the '80s and dish on her secret to looking youthful. You can view that here.
Finally, today it was the '90s turn. Talk show host Maury Povich talked with Harry Smith and Julie Chen about Maury and other 90s talk shows. Tabloid talk shows in the '90s were loud and controversial and oftentimes over the top, but as crazy and uncensored as it may have been, it helped to define the decade. View this video.

We of course mentioned a few weeks ago that new digital station This TV has launched in a few markets on Halloween, now This TV will launch in Houston on December 1 as one of KPRC's (Channel 2) digital stations. This TV will replace the NBC WeatherPlus signal that currently airs on KPRC's digital signal 2.2 and at channel 320 on Comcast cable.
This TV is from MGM and Weigel Broadcasting and airs TV series such as Patty Duke Show, Mister Ed and The Outer Limits. The network mainly airs MGM movies, such as The Misfits, They Call Me Mister Tibbs, Diggstown, The Terminator, The Three Amigos and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.

The actor most notably recognized as 'Wally' on the classic television sitcom, Leave it to Beaver is set to showcase his artistic talents in Paris, France. Tony Dow will display an abstract sculpture in Paris' historical Louvre museum this December. The showcase will run from December 11 to December 14.
Since the end of his run on Leave it to Beaver Dow has worked on several television shows as a director and producer, as well as acting here and there.
Dow, 63, now lives in Los Angeles and has expressed excitement about his upcoming debut stating, "Having something shown at the Louvre is about as good as you can get... I'm a little humbled by the whole thing but grateful nonetheless." Dow also stated, "Of course, I'm really proud of Leave It to Beaver and my directing career in television...but this is interesting because I don't think they know anything about that at the Louvre."

TV Land Orders Two More Originals; Married with Children Reunited?; Fox Ends MADtv

It was only yesterday when we announced TV Land has ordered an addition original series for 2009, now TV Land has ordered two more. TV Land has ordered two more nonscripted original series, placing series orders for How'd You Get So Rich?, produced by Mark Burnett and featuring Joan Rivers, and a British format adaptation of First Love, Second Chance.
TV Land has ordered six half-hour episodes of How'd You Get So Rich?, in which Rivers will visit big estates across the country and interview their well-heeled occupants. The series is executive produced by Mark Burnett and Zoo Productions.
Produced by Granada America, First Love, Second Chance reunites long-broken-up couples to see if any chemistry remains. TV Land has ordered six episodes of this 60-minute series. It is unclear when these series will actually launch, but it will be sometime in 2009.

In the '80's television sitcom Married With Children, David Faustino played girl crazy little bro Bud Bundy. Entertainment Tonight has the Bundys together again -- but has Bud been replaced by Seth Green? It's all a part of David's new Web comedy Star-ving coming to Sony's Crackle.com in January for 13 episodes. The funnyman plays a former child star, down on his luck in life and love but thinks everything's about to change when a Married With Children, big screen adaptation is announced. Ed Asner (Mary Tyler Moore Show) also will be in this series. For more info on this, tune into Entertainment Tonight...tonight. Check local listings for time and channel in your area.

Fox has announced the final season of Emmy Award-winning sketch comedy series MADtv. Now in its 14th year, MADtv will air its 326th and final original episode in May 2009. MADtv airs Saturdays (11:00 PM-Midnight) on Fox.
Since its debut in October 1995, MADtv has earned four Emmy Awards and 41 nominations, as well as many other awards. The politically incorrect, fast-paced late-night series is best known for its signature characters, celebrity impersonations and pop-culture parodies.
The current MADtv cast is Bobby Lee, Keegan-Michael Key, Nicole Parker, Crista Flanagan, Arden Myrin, Johnny Sanchez, Erica Ash, Matt Braunger, Eric Price and Lauren Pritchard. MADtv has also helped launch the careers of several well-known actors and comedians including Michael McDonald, Alex Borstein, Orlando Jones, Mo Collins, Debra Wilson, Frank Caliendo, Artie Lange, Nicole Sullivan, Will Sasso, Stephnie Weir, Aries Spears and others. The Saturday-night staple has featured wildly popular impersonations of Whitney Houston, Connie Chung, Kenny Rogers, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres and Morgan Freeman.
Over the last 14 seasons, MADtv has featured guest appearances by numerous celebrities including Ryan Seacrest, Queen Latifah, Jessica Simpson, Susan Sarandon, Carlos Mencia, Regis Philbin, Neil Patrick Harris, Shakira, Carmen Electra, Nicole Richie, Mandy Moore, Pamela Anderson, LL Cool J, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Tyra Banks, Jessica Alba, Serena Williams, Jay-Z, Halle Berry, Kathy Bates, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Romijn, Missy Elliott and Jeff Probst, among others.
Fox has not announced a replacement, if there will be any. The hour could go back to local stations for programming.

TV Land Orders Make My Day, Originals Update; Night Court Reunion on 30 Rock; ABC Family New Season Dates for Kyle XY and Teenager

TV Land is about to make your day. Continuing its push into original non-scripted series, TV Land has ordered a hidden-camera series, Make My Day, from producer Michael Davies and Sony Pictures Television.
Make My Day revolves around people who are unwittingly put through a series of "weird and wonderful" surprises and coincidences set up by friends and family members. TV Land has ordered six episodes of the hour-long series. It's based on a successful format from British production company Monkey Kingdom that aired on the U.K.'s Channel 4 in 2001-03. To me this sounds like Nick at Nite's now defunct series Hi-Jinks. Make My Day will premiere on TV Land's primetime schedule next year, on the TV Land PRIME block, most likely on Wednesday nights.
Coming soon to TV Land PRIME, the countdown to the next exciting season of TV Land's highly rated original series High School Reunion is on! The second season of this successful TV Land original series brings together high school alumni from Chandler, Arizona 20 years after their graduation as they gather for two weeks in exotic Kauai, HI. The fun is slated to begin on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. Other originals include new series The Cougar launching April 15, 2009 and the new season of She's Got the Look on June 10, 2009. The 2009 TV Land Awards are slated for Sunday, June 14, 2009.

We are having sort of a Night Court reunion tomorrow night on NBC. Three of the cast members from the hit show will guest star on NBC's 30 Rock at 9:30pm tomorrow (November 13) as themselves. Series star Harry Anderson (Judge Harry Stone), Markie Post (Public Defender Christine Sullivan), and Charlie Robinson (Clerk Mac Robinson) will reunite. Also in the episode, Jennifer Aniston returns to primetime television as a free-spirited, "fatal Attraction"-like stalker named Claire Harper. She randomly shows up in New York to visit Liz (Tina Fey) and Jenna (Jane Krakowski). Claire zeroes in on Jack (Alec Baldwin) upon first sight and claims him for her own. She is dressed very well from the videos, I've seen. Very stunning.
Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), distressed and let down over the new page uniforms, turns to Tracy (Tracy Morgan) for some cheering up. To make Kenneth smile again, Tracy has a surprise involving the cast of Night Court.
The only thing that would have made this "reunion" better if they had Dan Fielding himself, I guess John Larroquette is busy on ABC's Boston Legal. Roz (Marsha Warfield) and Bull (Richard Moll) would have been nice to see as well. Oh well, three stars is better than nothing! Click click (as the Night Court theme goes)!

Following ABC Family's celebrated "25 Days of Christmas" programming event, ABC Family will start the new year strong by bringing back two of its hit original series this January. The break-out summer hit The Secret Life of the American Teenager returns on a new day (Monday) with twelve all-new one hour episodes beginning Monday, January 5 from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT. And season three of Kyle XY will premiere a week later with ten all-new one hour episodes beginning Monday, January 12 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT, on a new time.

Lifetime's Rita Rocks Ordered for Full Season; 35th Annual People's Choice Awards Nominees

Rita Rocks, Lifetime Television's first original sitcom in 10 years, has been picked up for a full season. Lifetime ordered seven additional episodes, bringing the first season order total to 20 episodes. The family comedy starring Nicole Sullivan premiered on October 20 and, in a unique programming strategy, stripped original episodes for a full week before moving into its regular timeslot (Tuesdays, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT).
In addition to Sullivan, the traditional sitcom Rita Rocks stars Richard Ruccolo as Rita's husband Jay and Tisha Campbell-Martin as her friend and band mate. Natalie Dreyfuss, Kelly Gould also star as Rita's daughters. Raviv Ullman plays her teenage daughter's ever-present boyfriend.
In Rita Rocks, Sullivan stars as Rita Clements, an overworked wife and mother trying to find time to find herself. Once the lead singer of a Bangles cover band, Rita traded in a life in rock clubs for carpools and the PTA. With the hope of getting a little bit of the old Rita back, she forms a garage band with postal carrier Patty (Tisha Campbell-Martin) and unemployed neighbor Owen (guest-star Ian Gomez).

The nominees were for The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards are now in. We will only mention the TV categories. Winners will be revealed during the live broadcast of The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards which will be hosted by Queen Latifah from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) on CBS. The first awards show of 2009, The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards honors fan favorites in television, movies and music.
PEOPLE Magazine, in celebration of its own 35th birthday, will team up with People's Choice to present the first ever People's Choice Award for Favorite Star Under 35, in recognition of this dual milestone. Beginning today www.pcaVOTE.com and www.people.com will exclusively feature this unique poll, giving fans the opportunity to choose their favorite star, under the age of 35, by narrowing down from a group of Hollywood's biggest celebrities, chosen by PEOPLE's editors. The TV nominees are:

FAVORITE TV DRAMA
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)

FAVORITE TV COMEDY
Samantha Who? (ABC)
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Ugly Betty (ABC)

FAVORITE ANIMATED COMEDY
Family Guy (Fox)
The Simpsons (Fox)
South Park (Comedy Central)

FAVORITE SCI-FI / FANTASY SHOW
Heroes (NBC)
Supernatural (The CW)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox)

FAVORITE COMPETITION / REALITY SHOW
American Idol (Fox)
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)

FAVORITE GAME SHOW
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fox)
Deal Or No Deal (NBC)
JEOPARDY! (Syndicated, CBS Television Distribution)

FAVORITE MALE TV STAR
Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)
Hugh Laurie (House, Fox)
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men, CBS)

FAVORITE FEMALE TV STAR
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?, ABC)
Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters, ABC)
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU, NBC)

FAVORITE TALK SHOW HOST
Ellen DeGeneres (Syndicated, Warner Bros.)
David Letterman (CBS)
Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa (Syndicated, ABC Studios)

FAVORITE SCENE-STEALING GUEST STAR (NEW CATEGORY)
Luke Perry on Law & Order: SVU, NBC
Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother, CBS
Robin Williams on Law & Order: SVU, NBC

FAVORITE TV DRAMA DIVA (NEW CATEGORY)
Holly Hunter as Grace Hanadarko on Saving Grace, TNT
Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin on Weeds, Showtime
Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson on The Closer, TNT

FAVORITE NEW TV DRAMA (All new shows, vote on PCAVote.com)
90210, The CW
Crusoe, NBC
Easy Money, The CW
Eleventh Hour, CBS
Fringe, Fox
Knight Rider, NBC
Life on Mars, ABC
The Mentalist, CBS
My Own Worst Enemy, NBC
Privileged, The CW

FAVORITE NEW TV COMEDY (All new shows, vote on PCAVote.com)
Gary Unmarried, CBS
Kath & Kim, NBC
Valentine, The CW
Worst Week, CBS

View the full press release, including nominees for the movies and music categories.

TV One December 2008, Acquires Jeffersons, Sanford & Son; ABC Schedules Season 5 Lost Premiere; More Network Notes

This December on TV One they are going all out in celebrating with holiday episodes of sitcoms and more, including the launch of Half & Half on Kwanza and classic sitcom The Jeffesons and Sanford & Son on New Year's Day. But first we have to talk about some schedule changes. The weekday 7-9am block has changed and will now be actual series programming rather than original repeats. Starting Monday, December 8 following Amen from 6-7am will be All About the Andersons at 7am, followed by back-to-back episodes of Comics Unleashed from 7:30-8:30am and the sitcom Good News at 8:30am. 9am-11am will continue to be originals, while 11am-4pm continues to be the daily marathons. Also on this date, TV One launches its HD channel TV One HD!
To the highlights we go, Saturday, December 13 is the beginning of the TV One "12 Days of Christmas" Promotion that features a mix of holiday series, movies, and specials to keep viewers filled with joy and Christmas spirit leading up to Christmas Day. First up is a Christmas Sitcom marathon on December 13 beginning at 7am through 10pm featuring Christmas-themed episodes of Amen, Martin, Roc, Wanda at Large, Living Single, Eve, The Hughleys, Good News, The PJs, All of Us, and Good Times.
On Sunday, December 14 from 3-6pm, you can catch a block of Amen Christmas episodes leading into the animated Christmas special Santa Baby at 6pm about a little girl who gets a wish for Christmas returns to TV One for the holidays and stars the voices of Patti LaBelle, Gregory Hines, and Eartha Kitt. This special has an encore broadcast on Sunday, December 21 at 7pm (and Saturday, Dec. 20 in the daytime at 12pm).
From Monday, December 15 through Friday, December 19, TV One devotes the 8pm-12am timeblock exclusively to "The 12 Days of Christmas" themed programming including sitcom episodes of Martin, Living Single, Good Times, Amen, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, All of Us and For Your Love from 8-11pm, original Christmas specials at 11pm, and the holiday film The Kid Who Loved Christmas starring Sammy Davis Jr. premiering Friday, December 19 at 10pm.
On Saturday, December 20 beginning at 6am, the holiday fun starts bright and early as TV One continues the "12 Days of Christmas" programming with a holiday marathon mix of sitcoms, holiday specials, movies that will give viewers the warm and fuzzy feel of holiday time at TV One. Sitcoms airs from 6am-12pm, 2pm-7pm, and late nights from 3-6am. Catch holiday episodes of Where I Live, Amen, All of Us, Eve, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, Good Times, The PJs, and Living Single on this day.
From Monday, December 22 through Wednesday, December 24, the TV One "12 Days of Christmas" themed programming begins each night at 5pm and continues all night with sitcoms, movies, and specials to keep viewers Christmas Cheer at a high level as we get closer to the biggest holiday of the year. Sitcom episodes airs from 5pm-1am these three days. Catch episodes of Good Times, Roc, The PJs, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, Wanda at Large, Parent'hood, Martin and Eve from 5-8pm, with blocks of All of Us (Mon), Good Times (Tues), and Martin (Wed) from 8-10pm. The fun continues from 10pm-1am with holiday showings of For Your Love, Cedric, Eve, Living Single, The Hughleys, Good Times, Roc, The PJs, and Martin.
On Thursday, December 25, TV One gives viewers 24 hours of Christmas on Christmas Day itself starting at 6am with themed movies, music, and specials keeping the holiday cheer at a high and then beginning at 5pm, the annual TV One sitcom Christmas Day Marathon closes out our "12 Days of Christmas" promotion with Christmas-themed episodes from sitcoms For Your Love, Roc, Martin, Good Times, Living Single, Parent'hood, Wanda At Large, Cedric, The PJs, All of Us, Eve, and The Hughleys.
TV One sure knows how to showcase sitcom Christmas episodes! I hope you all got that! One thing missing is Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, as it has left the line-up. It was airing Saturdays 7-8am but was replaced by Parent'hood on Dec. 6 and holiday specials/marathons for the rest of the month. No word on when it could return.
We're not done with TV One! Three shows will launch with big marathons! On Friday December 26 (Kwanza), beginning at 8pm, TV One introduces Half & Half to its sitcom lineup with a 24-hour Mega-thon that will keep viewers laughing all night long as they are introduced to the characters in the latest series added to the TV One sitcom landscape. Half & Half, starring Essence Atkins, Rachel True, Valarie Pettiford and Telma Hopkins, is a sitcom about two 20-something half-sisters who share the same father. They are completely unlike each other, but they live in the same apartment building, creating a situation of conflict and love especially with their often feuding mothers. Half & Half joins the TV One weeknight lineup on Monday, December 29 airing back to back episodes in the 7pm & 7:30pm timeslots Monday-Friday. It will replace an episode each of Martin and Eve. Half & Half will also air in the 4-5am hour replacing All of Us and Good Times in the hour.
As a sneak peak to January, TV One has acquired two classic '70s sitcoms: The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son! On New Year's Day, Thursday, January 1, beginning at 10am through 6am, the classic sitcom The Jeffersons makes its bow on TV One in a New Year's Day marathon taking viewers on a trip down memory lane with George & Weezy (Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford) and the hilarious cast of characters that will keep viewers laughing and reflecting all day long. The Jeffersons joins the TV One weeknight lineup on Monday January 5. More on that in our January highlights next month.
Finally, on Friday, January 2 beginning at 9pm through 9pm on Saturday, January 3, TV One premieres another classic sitcom Sanford and Son to its sitcom landscape in a 24-hour Mega-thon that introduces viewers to cantankerous junk dealer Fred Sanford (played by the late Redd Foxx) and his son Lamont (played by Demond Wilson) who run a junk business in a Los Angeles Watts neighborhood. Sanford & Son also joins the TV One weeknight lineup on Monday January 5 (more on that next month).
Recently President-Elect Barack Obama mixed up these two sitcoms by saying "I'm coming Weezie," when discussing McCain's Health Care plan. So maybe now Obama will know the line is "I'm coming to join you Elizabeth."
Both The Jeffersons and Sanford & Son are NOT exclusive to TV One, so TV Land will continue to air both series as well, but TV One will give them better timeslots obviously. Discuss all of TV One's December programming in our TV One December 2008 Highlights.

We were among the first to report the Lost season 5 premiere date and time on our message boards on Friday, but if you haven't heard, Lost will launch its fifth season on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 with an "all-night event." The first hour will be a recap one-hour clip show from 8-9pm ET/PT, followed by the two-hour season premiere from 9-11pm ET/PT. So, the promos that aired on Election Night on ABC were correct about the two-hour premiere.
Lost will then air Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT starting the following week, as the show returns to Wednesdays after moving to Thursdays last winter. ABC has not announced what it will do at 8pm and 10pm on Wednesdays yet, but adding Lost to anchor Wednesdays is a good move. I'm guessing Private Practice will follow Lost, with new docudrama Border Security USA could lead off the night. Dirty Sexy Money is possibly on the move to another night and the jury's still out on Pushing Daisies. ABC is expected to announce their midseason winter schedule this week. We will bring it to you first either here or on the message board...depending on the timing. So keep checking back!

In other network news, NBC has picked-up the back nine episodes of sophomore crime drama series Life, giving it a full 22 episodes, despite low ratings. Life joins Kath & Kim and Knight Rider in surprising NBC full season orders. Life moved back to Wednesdays last week, but this time at 9pm, after disappointing in its Friday at 10pm slot. Speaking of Knight Rider, NBC is looking to change the direction of the series and we will get the direction back to the style of the '80s series...making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping regular people. Finally! This new style was dumb and a disgrace to the franchise I thought, and it is no wonder the ratings are bad. NBC is expected to start the changes on episode ten, which will be part one of a two-part episode. Episode ten will air in January (possibly after an NFL game), with episode nine as the fall finale on Nov. 26 (good riddance to this new style). Due to this change, three major stars, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison are leaving the show after 13 episodes. There are no immediate plans to add new regulars to the show, as now the show will focus on the five remaining characters: Mike (Justin Bruening), Sarah (Deanna Russo), Billy (Paul Campbell), Zoe (Smith Cho) and of course K.I.T.T. The producers also are looking to do stunt guest castings. Maybe more Hoff? Could this save this revival series?
Meanwhile, Fox has ordered a full season of the Family Guy spin-off series The Cleveland Show...and it hasn't even premiered yet. The show will now launch in Fall 2009 rather than this coming Spring. No reason was given for the delay in airing, but my guess is it would be better to launch in the fall. No word on what will happen to the other Fox animated series that was set to come, Sit Down, Shut Up. I would think that is still slated for this Spring. We'll let you know, as soon as we do.

Week 7 Numbers (First Four Nights); How the Sitcoms Did

Week 7 numbers (first four nights, Mon-Thurs):

Households: ABC: 7.6/11.6; CBS: 6.8/10.4; NBC: 5.8/8.9; Fox: 3.5/5.3; The CW: 2.0/3.0; MNT: 0.7/1.1.
Total Viewers: ABC: 11.79 million; CBS: 10.73 million; NBC: 9.38 million; Fox: 5.73 million; The CW: 3.04 million; MNT: 1.06 million.
Adults 18-49: ABC: 3.5/8.5; NBC: 3.4/8.4; CBS: 3.2/7.9; Fox: 2.3/5.5; The CW: 1.5/3.5; MNT: 0.4/0.9.

Analysis: Week 7 saw the first full week of November Sweeps and the Presidential Election changes our normal Tuesday numbers. Hurray we got the final first four nights network averages for the first time in weeks! Through the first four days, ABC has the lead in all categories, as the Election coverage helped but primarily because CBS's coverage did nothing, with CBS in second in HH/viewers but third in 18-49. NBC is third in HH/viewers and 2nd in 18-49 thanks to the SNL special and their Election coverage. So an atypical week.
Last week, CBS won week 6 in HH/viewers, while Fox won in 18-49 for the second straight week. ABC was second across the board in all categories. Fox was third in HH/viewers, while CBS and NBC were tied for 3rd in 18-49. NBC was fourth in HH/viewers for the week.
Monday ABC was on top thanks to of course Dancing with the Stars. The 92-minute episode did a below normal 17.09 million...the reason probably was NBC's SNL Election special. The sitcom Samantha Who followed and also did a below normal 8.72 million, down from previous week. A new Boston Legal followed with just 6.72 million, down nearly two million from the previous week, as SNL hurt it. NBC was next but its regular line-up of Chuck , Heroes and My Worst Own Enemy were preempted for a special Monday Deal or No Deal at just 7.18 million (this series is no longer a force), but the surprise of the night was the two-hour SNL Presidential Bash at a solid 14.44 million and an impressive 5.6 18-49 rating. Next up was CBS, the usual second place network on Monday, with new episodes of its comedies and a new CSI: Miami. The Big Bang Theory did a series best 9.67 million, this show continues to shine and How I Met Your Mother followed with 9.4 million. From there CBS went downhill as probably SNL hurt it, Two and a Half Men followed with 12.76 million, but seems lower than normal and a new Worst Week only mustered 8.28 million, losing to the 8-9pm comedies for the second time. At 10pm a new CSI: Miami did a below normal 12.74 million. Fox was next with the should have not been renewed Sarah Connor at just 5.17 million and on its last legs Prison Break at 5.23 million. The CW had its usual decent numbers with Gossip Girl doing a solid 3.16 million, up a bit from previous week and the resurgent One Tree Hill did 3.02 million, but down week-to-week for the second straight week.
Tuesday it was an atypical night. We got Presidential Election coverage for the night on all nets but The CW. Congrats to President-Elect Barack Obama! ABC lead the election coverage with its ABC News Vote 2008 doing 13.23 million in primetime. Dancing with the Stars: The Results aired Wednesday at 8 this week and Eli Stone was preempted. NBC was second actually with its election coverage, as NBC News Decision '08 did 12.1 million in primetime (for 3rd, CNN was 2nd). But it beats the regular line-up of The Biggest Loser and Law & Order: SVU, as both shows were preempted. CBS suffered the most on this night, as their usual big three guns NCIS, new drama The Mentalist and Without a Trace were preempted for CBS's Campaign 2008 coverage doing only 7.41 million in primetime. Fox also missed its regular line-up of House and to a lesser extent Fringe, as Fox You Decide 2008 did just 4.73 million in primetime. The CW aired a new episode of 90210 doing 2.95 million, down a bit from previous week and a new episode of Privileged did 1.84 million, down a tad week-to-week.
Wednesday saw CBS edge ABC. CBS started with Old Christine at a below normal 6.5 million, down from previous week. Gary Unmarried was back after a week off and did just 6.33 million, as both comedies were down because of Dancing with the Stars. CBS aired Criminal Minds at 9pm and it did a solid 14.3 million, up from previous week and at 10pm CSI: NY was down two million doing 11.8 million, as it seems the return of Law & Order on NBC hurt it a bit. ABC was next as Dancing with the Stars: The Results had to air on Wednesday this week due to the Election, as the show did 15.85 million, below normal but still #1 by miles at 8pm and much better than usual Pushing Daisies. Private Practice followed with a solid gain doing 9.17 million, up from previous week and Dirty Sexy Money did 6.15 million...up a bit from previous week. What a show! Fox was next with a new Bones at a solid 10.17 million, but second place at 8pm this week, though it seems Dancing didn't affect it. A House repeat, just what we need, did 6.65 million...which is good. NBC opened the night with a series low for Knight Rider doing just 5.12 million, down nearly two million from its previous episode two weeks ago. I find it hard to believe Dancing affected this male-driven show. Next up was the Wednesday premiere of Life doing doing nothing with 5.94 million and the season premiere of Law & Order did 7.94 million, but it wasn't big like last season. The CW had a new Top Model doing 3.82 million, down a bit from previous week and Stylista followed with only 1.82 million, up a bit week-to-week.
Thursday CBS won the night but saw declines. CBS opened with Survivor: Gabon at 12.01 million, down a million from previous week. A new CSI followed with 18.18 million, also down a million from previous week. The new Eleventh Hour followed and did 10.9 million, down week to week as well. ABC opened the night with Ugly Betty doing 8.92 million, up from previous week. Grey's Anatomy followed with 15.74 million, up week to week again and #1 in 18-49 with a 6.0 rating. At 10pm a new Life on Mars did 8.71 million, up from previous week for the second straight week. Looks like it is going up now. We should be hearing a back nine renewal soon. NBC was fourth with a new My Name is Earl doing 6.7, up from previous week, new sitcom Kath & Kim followed with only 5.63 million, but up from the previous week a bit for the second straight week. The Office followed with 8.54 million, down a million from previous week. The Oprah episode of 30 Rock did 8.07 million, down from previous week. Jennifer Aniston and the Night Court cast guest star this week, but can 30 Rock go up or down? ER did a third place 8.61 million, down from previous week. Fox was off the map with two new episodes of Kitchen Nightmares at just 4.42 million, followed by its regular slot episode at just 4.7 million, but up week-to-week. Smallville on The CW did 4.46 million, up from previous week as this is the #1 show on The CW it seems, followed by Supernatural at 3.24 million...down some from previous week.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but CBS won Friday with their dramas, as Ghost Whisperer did very solid as usual, and a repeat of NCIS at 9pm did over 11 million in prelim numbers again, giving NUMB3RS a season high at 10pm. NBC's disappointing Crusoe continues to do bad, as does Lipstick Jungle at 10pm.
Saturday numbers saw ABC win in the preliminaries overall and in 18-49 thanks to College Football.
Tonight should be a victory for either ABC, CBS or NBC. NFL football will come into play. ABC of course has the Sunday line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. CBS will be solid, and will have an NFL overrun to help them in the 7pm half-hour, and NBC will be solid with the SNF game, with the best game in weeks between the Giants and Eagles. Fox will be solid but not as good as last week with their animation.
As for the week, I believe ABC should hang on for the win in HH, viewers and 18-49 but it depends on how NFL overrun does for CBS tonight. NBC will beat CBS in 18-49 for the week I think because of the NFL game. NBC will be third overall though, with Fox in fourth across the board, followed by CW and MNT. What to watch for this week? We will have a normal week again, the only stunts are the CMA Awards this Wednesday on ABC and a Supernanny stunt on ABC Friday with a special episode at 8pm and the backdoor pilot Super-Manny at 9pm. Expect ABC to be in the lead for the first four nights again this time next week thanks to a strong CMA on Wednesday.

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of October 27-Nov. 2)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - The annual Treehouse of Horror Halloween special did an impressive 12.4 million and an excellent 6.2 18-49 rating...too bad it cant do anything near this each week.
• King of the Hill (Fox) - 8.5 million and a 4.2 18-49 rating was above average thanks to the great lead-in.
• Family Guy (Fox) - 9.99 million and a 5.1 18-49 rating...this show does better than The Office but no one says a word.
• American Dad (Fox) - 7.09 million, a bit better than usual but still a weak link on this night.

Monday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 9.67 million is a series best! This show surprises everyone and is very solid in the ratings and quality.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 9.4 million, didn't build on the lead-in but it did in 18-49 from a 3.7 to 4.1, making this also a winner for the week.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - Even a below normal 12.76 million makes this the highest rated sitcom of the week.
• Worst Week (CBS) - Only 8.28 million, as a repeat of Gary Unmarried did better than that the previous week.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - Below normal 8.72 million this week, down nearly two million week-to-week, as viewers flocked away from ABC and CBS this week from 9-11pm for NBC's SNL Presidential Bash.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Old Christine (CBS) - 6.5 million only for a new showing, but it faced Dancing with the Stars: The Results at a special night and time. Can it go back to building each week again?
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Only 6.33 million after being preempted on this night the previous week.

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 6.7 million for a new episode, up from previous week's 6.27 million.
• Kath & Kim (NBC) - 5.63 million for a new episode...up from the previous week and slowly going up a bit in viewers after the 4.99 million two weeks ago.
• The Office (NBC) - 8.54 million for a new episode...down a million week-to-week though. Maybe Thursday NFL hurt it?
• 30 Rock (NBC) - 8.07 million tuned in this week, down from the premiere's 8.66 million...but not bad still. Can it continue to stay solid?

Friday Sitcoms

• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - Final numbers are not in yet...but the prelim numbers show 1.72 million. Bad yes, but up week to week so far.
• The Game (The CW) - Prelim numbers show just 1.68 million...same as above.

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Airing tonight (Sunday) is Fox's animated comedies from 7-10 (new from 8-10).

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, 30 Rock were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Samantha Who?, Old Christine) or just plain old terrible (such as Worst Week, The Game).

Blog DVD Review: Route 66 - The Complete 2nd Season

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Review! Today we take a look at Roxbury Entertainment's Route 66 - The Complete Second Season. Route 66 ran from 1960-1964 and starred Martin Milner, George Maharis (1960-1963) and Glenn Corbett (1963-1964). See skees53's Blog DVD Review of Route 66 -The Complete Second Season:

Route 66 - The Complete Second Season (Roxbury Entertainment, $49.98) -- takes you on a roadtrip through America, and allows you to see all of the drama and misfortune that two guys somehow manage to run into each and every week. For those unfamiliar with the series, Route 66 stars Martin Millner (as Tod) and George Maharis (as Buz) as two guys (from different backgrounds) that just happen to have come together to take a road trip (for several years, apparently) all throughout America. Every week, they end up somewhere different in America, going everywhere from California to Texas to Massachusetts. While they meet many different people along the way, they somehow manage to find themselves running into those that they'd rather not run into, including murders, racists, drug addicts, and other mentally unstable folks. Sometimes, while on the journey, they find themselves in trouble, and perhaps have their own life at risk. The series was perhaps one of the first dramas to take on serious situations that were relevant in the time, and many situations which are still very much relevant (if not more so) in the modern era. The Complete Second Season contains 32 original and unedited episodes on eight discs.
The season begins with "A Month of Sundays," where Buz finds love in a dying woman. In "Good Night, Sweet Blues," Ethel Waters plays a dying jazz singer that wants to get her old jazz band together one last time. In "Birdcage on My Foot," the guys have to deal with a heroin addict. It just so happens that there are people in a small Maryland town that look exactly like Buz (they happen to be played by Mahris' own relatives) in "The Mud Nest." In "A Bridge Across Five Days," Tod and Buz are working in a shipyard with a recent release from a mental hospital.
Tod is accidentally given a psychosis-inducing drug at a party that may cause suicidal tendencies in "The Thin White Line." In "To Walk with the Serpent," Tod and Buz face people that have plastic explosives. Slim Pickens guest stars in "A Long Piece of Mischief."
Julie Newmar guest stars in "How Much a Pound is Albatross," where she plays a woman cruising on her motorcycle (without any license tags). Ed Asner guest stars in "Shoulder the Sky My Lad," where the guys find that anti-Semitism is still alive and well. Buz is temporarily blinded in an accident in "Even Stones Have Eyes," and finds love at a school for the blind, but what will he do when he regains his sight and can no longer attend the school?
Cloris Leachman and Tuesday Weld guest star in "Love is a Skinny Kid." A school boy falls overboard on an excursion boat in "Two on the House," and claims he was pushed. The guys discover a woman with two identities at an amusement park in "Between Hello and Goodbye."
The set comes packaged just like the first season did, in a huge box containing two "volumes" of discs. Each disc within the set contains exactly four episodes and each case contains not only a listing of the episodes on each disc, but also an episode description, a list of guest stars, and filming locations. The only thing missing (and it isn't a huge deal) is original airdates!
The menus are very nicely designed, although there is a slight flaw, and that is in the fact that the episodes are listed in a circular fashion on some of the discs, which makes navigating the menus sometimes counter-intuitive. For example, you may sometimes have to use the "up" button on the remote to go down on the menu. I shouldn't complain, though, because they obviously put some time into creating these menus. While there are no scene selection menus, you will find chapters placed within each episode.
It is amazing to see how great the video and audio quality is on the episodes. The episodes aren't totally perfect, though, as there is some grain here and there, but the picture quality is generally clear and the audio sounds great. The episodes have all been remastered from the original copies this time, so you won't find anything unnatural in the episodes this time (like a 2000 era Sony logo or a 1980s Columbia Pictures logo). The only bad news is that the episodes do not contain subtitles or closed-captioning. Every episode on the set is (supposedly) unedited, with each running somewhere around 50 minutes or so.
The packaging says that the set contains original 1960s commercials, BUT I was unable to find these ANYWHERE on the set! I don't know if I merely overlooked them or if this was just a mistake on the packaging (the first season did contain such commercials). The other special feature that the set promises, however, can be found. That would be the cast biographies with video clips. This is a very nice feature for those that love guest stars. Basically, on each disc, you can go to a menu that lists every single guest star contained on the episodes on the disc that you are viewing. When you select a guest star, you get a filmography for that cast (usually not a complete one, just as much as they can fit on the screen), and you can watch a clip of that guest star in the episode. This is a very useful since the series is loaded with guest stars.
This is one of those series that I had never watched prior to seeing the series on DVD, but I am QUICKLY becoming a fan of the series! Generally, these older anthology dramas don't appeal to me, but this show is full of entertaining drama that contains plots that are actually relevant. The series is almost cinematic in quality and is very much enjoyable. Fans of true classics, as well as fans of good drama are certain to get their kicks on Route 66!

Reviewed by skees53
(4.5/5 stars)

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Related links:
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Fox 2008-09 Midseason Schedule; ABC Episode Cuts for Midseason; Interviews with Leonard Stern and Lydia Cornell On The Web

Fox has announced the winter portion of its 2008-09 midseason schedule. The wait is almost over as Fox announces premiere dates of new and returning series as well as revisions to its 2008-2009 midseason schedule.
January starts with the not-to-be-missed blockbuster premieres of 24 and American Idol. We announced already 24 would launch with a two night premiere. American Idol returns for Season Eight with a two-night, four-hour premiere event as well, on Tuesday, Jan. 13 and Wednesday, Jan. 14 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.
All-new episodes of House, Bones, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Hole in the Wall will air on new nights in midseason. Get real on Mondays with all-new episodes of House leading into real-time drama 24, as Emmy-winning medical drama House moves to Mondays 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and has its time period premiere Jan. 19 followed by the time period premiere of 24 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. It looks to me Fox is afraid how 24 would do with a rookie or a declining series like Sarah Connor as its lead-in, so Fox is moving House yet again to help (or save?) 24.
Fringe will air in its regular time period Tuesdays (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) after American Idol starting Jan. 20 to try and become a "real" hit.
Lie To Me, the compelling new drama from the producers of 24, debuts Wednesday, Jan. 21 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT after American Idol and stars Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, the world's leading deception expert who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if someone is lying, but why. Fox obviously believes in this show over its other new drama...and that drama was much highly touted at upfront, so something must have went wrong creatively.
Bones moves to Thursdays from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT beginning Jan. 15 followed by the final two all-new episodes of the season of Kitchen Nightmares in its 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT time period. On Thursday, Jan. 29 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT, Chef Gordon Ramsay steps into another kitchen to serve up a fifth course of Hell's Kitchen, the unscripted series that puts wannabe restaurateurs through a rigorous one-of-a-kind culinary boot camp. Fox is moving Bones once again...what has moved more--Bones or House?
On Friday, Feb. 13, Fox presents a thrilling new action-packed lineup featuring the return and time period premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles from 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT and the highly anticipated series premiere of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Dollhouse reunites Whedon with Eliza Dushku, who stars as a member of a highly illegal underground group of individuals who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Current game shows Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Don't Forget the Lyrics! will air on the night until Feb. 13.
Saturday remains the same, as does Sundays except Hole in the Wall will return and air Sundays 7:00 and 7:30 PM ET/PT beginning Jan. 18. Current batch of Animation Domination will remain the same this winter.
Fox has not announced when Prison Break and 'Til Death will return, but it is likely they will return sometime in Spring 2009. My bet is Prison Break will take over one of the Friday slots when returning for its final episodes. Also, Fox has yet to announce premiere dates for their two new animated series (Sit Down, Shut Up & The Cleveland Show), but that will also likely be in the Spring.
Check out the full Fox Winter portion of its 2008-09 mid-season schedule, it includes all dates for the BCS games.

Meanwhile at ABC, due to so many series coming this midseason on ABC, they have cut the episode orders for upcoming new procedual dramas Castle and The Unusuals from 13 episodes to 10 episodes. Nothing is wrong creatively wise, but ABC has a lot of stuff coming. Scripted series wise this winter, ABC has Lost as well as six new scripted series launching in midseason, the aforementioned Castle & The Unusuals, hourlong Cupid and comedies In The Motherhood, Better Off Ted and The Goode Family. Not to mention the return of long-running sitcoms Scrubs and According to Jim. They could be joined by the Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) produced comedy starring Courteney Cox (Friends), called Cougar Town, which was fast-tracked last week with a pilot order targeted for midseason. Unscripted wise look for The Bachelor to return and new reality series True Beauty and docudrama Border Security USA. ABC also could return Here Come the Newlyweds, or maybe they will save it for summer.
ABC has however canceled upcoming single-camera sitcom starring Alyssa Milano called Single with Parents and it won't launch this midseason due to creative reasons. ABC released the following statement: "Unfortunately, we could not agree on the creative direction for this show and have decided not to move forward with this project." That is too bad because I thought the cast was great and the clips they released were funny. They need to put Alyssa Milano on one of their current series, preferably a drama like Lost or Grey's Anatomy.

Two websites have announced new interviews. Legendary TV producer Leonard Stern talks about the classic TV series Get Smart and his participation in the DVD release of Get Smart: The Complete Series Gift Set, in an interview on the Internet radio show TV Time Machine (http://www.tvtimemachine.com/), hosted by TV historian Jim Benson. From 1965-1970, Leonard Stern served as executive producer and frequent writer and director on Get Smart, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart Secret Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. Mr. Stern talks extensively about providing commentary for the current DVD release of Get Smart: The Complete Series Gift Set, his views on last summer's Get Smart movie starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, and the amazing longevity of his classic TV spy spoof. So check out tvtimemachine.com for this interesting audio interview!
Last week if you all recall, we interviewed Lydia Cornell (Too Close for Comfort) on our Seven Questions feature, and now our buddy Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has also interviewed Lydia! The interview was posted in time for Election Day and covers lots of political questions for Lydia that we didn't go into. It is very interesting, and you can call it a "spin-off" of our interview! He also asks her lots of questions related to Too Close for Comfort. Chris does a great job, as usual! Go and check out his interview; it is the feature story on his website this month!

WGN America's Newhart Thanksgiving Marathon; Sci Fi Channel Picks Up Reruns of Invasion & Moonlight

WGN America will celebrate Thanksgiving with an all-day marathon of the '80s sitcom Newhart! Yes, on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27 from 12pm to 3am ET (that's 9am-12am PT) you can enjoy classic episodes of Newhart, including both Thanksgiving episodes ("Don't Rain On My Parade" and "Thanksgiving for the Memories") in the 8pm ET hour. The classic 30-episode marathon concludes with one of the best series finales ever, "The Last Newhart." If you're a new fan thanks to WGN and have not seen it yet, then I won't spoil it.
Newhart starred Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and his wife who owned and operated a historic inn located in a small Vermont rural town that was populated by eccentric characters. The show aired on the CBS from 1982 to 1990, and was Bob Newhart's second hit sitcom.
View the Newhart episodes airing in this Thanksgiving Day Marathon. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we announce what WGN America will air on Christmas Eve/Day...it will be lots of classic holiday episodes. They also have a classic series marathon, similar to Newhart, planned on New Year's Eve/Day...so stay tuned for that info also in the coming weeks!
In other WGN America programming news, ALF will not be airing Monday nights 9-10pm ET anymore starting Nov. 24, it will however still remain on the very strong Sunday line-up.
Remember you can catch Newhart every Sunday night on WGN America's Outta Sight Retro Night in the 8pm ET (5pm PT) hour.

Sci Fi Channel has picked up rerun rights for two short-lived series from Warner Bros. Television. They have picked up ABC's one-year-wonder Invasion from 2005-06 TV season and CBS's one-year-wonder Moonlight from this past season, 2007-08.
Invasion was one of my favorite series in 2005-06 and it told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and begin to take over the bodies of the town's inhabitants through a cloning process (first by merging with and then unknowingly replacing them). Eddie Cibrian and William Fichtner starred.
Moonlight had a huge cult following yet CBS canceled it. The series follows private investigator Mick St. John who was turned into a vampire by his bride Coraline on the couple's wedding night fifty-five years earlier. In the present day, he struggles with his love for a mortal woman, his friendship with Josef Kostan, and his dealings with other vampires in Los Angeles.
Sci Fi Channel will air both series back-to-back on Friday nights starting Friday, January 23, 2009. Invasion will air Fridays at 8pm ET and Moonlight will air Fridays at 9pm ET...low and behold that was Moonlight's night and time on CBS! Fans will certainly be pleased...too bad new episodes can't be made.
Don't forget to tune in to the Mork & Mindy all-day, day after Thanksgiving marathon on Sci Fi Channel on Friday, November 28!

Hallmark and TV Land Make Schedule Changes; ABC and Fox January News

Hallmark Channel has made a schedule change that will start this coming Monday (November 10). Cheers will leave the line-up from 4-5pm and be replaced with more Little House on the Prairie. So, this means Cheers only lasted two weeks in its weekday slot with a second Little House returning to the hour. As of now, Cheers is totally off the line-up, because if you all recall when Cheers started on weekdays, its weekend airings were removed.
We will keep you up to date if anything else comes out of this, but as of now, no more Cheers on Hallmark. If I were to guess, it could return in January when they launch I Love Lucy. This network has had trouble launching sitcoms besides M*A*S*H, which is a shame because they have two coming in 2009 (I Love Lucy, Golden Girls).

As for TV Land, we already told you about the late afternoon change that started this past Monday (Nov. 3) with Hogan's Heroes at 4pm and Leave it to Beaver at 5pm, now more changes are happening next week. Originally we stated, Scrubs was set to move Nov. 10 from 9-10pm to 10-11pm, but it seems that is not happening. Now on that week, we will get a week-long Cosby Show marathon! The Cosby Show Marathon airs Monday, November 10 through Thursday, November 13 form 8pm-2am and Friday, November 14 from 8pm-10pm and 12am-4am (it is preempted Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 10p-10:30p for Myths & Legends).
A few changes are also coming starting that week for at least the rest of November. In the 7am hour, back-to-back episodes of Scrubs will replace two episodes of M*A*S*H. So, Scrubs is out of primetime. In the weekdays at 1pm hour, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will replace Beverly Hillbillies for the rest of the month at least. And in late nights, for the week of November 10 from 2-3am will be Sanford & Son replacing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition encore (weeks of Nov. 17 and 24 it will be more Cosby Show in the hour). Finally, Three's Company is back regularly starting Nov. 10, at least for the rest of November, airing weeknights from 3-4am ET/PT!
So what will happen to TV Land PRIME after Cosby Show's marathon week? Cosby Show will now air 8-10pm from Mon-Sat for at least through the end of November, with 3rd Rock from the Sun now staying in its 10-11pm Mon-Thurs slot. Replacing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 11pm will be ... CSI, from sister station Spike TV (which airs it at 3pm and 8pm weekdays)! CSI will also air at 12 midnight, replacing M*A*S*H. This is for at least the rest of November (weeks of Nov. 17 and 24), we do not know yet if CSI will still be airing in December. For the final two weeks in November at least, this is how TV Land PRIME looks: 9PM Cosby Show, 10PM 3rd Rock from the Sun, 11PM CSI. With more Cosby Show leading in at 8PM and more CSI leading out at 12AM, as Scrubs and Home Edition are relegated to daytime...again for at least the end of the month.
So it seems M*A*S*H is not airing AT ALL the final two weeks of November and Beverly Hillbillies has been reduced to weekend blocks and in the Thanksgiving marathon. I don't expect CSI to air beyond these two weeks, but we'll see. Will these changes be in effect in December? We shall soon find out!
For now, view the full updated TV Land November 2008 schedule, so you don't get confused.

ABC has released part of their January plans. They have released Mondays. Originally it was supposed to be True Beauty (new Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks produced reality show) from 8pm-9:30pm followed by The Bachelor from 9:30-11pm. Now it will be The Bachelor from 8-9:30pm, followed by sitcom Samantha Who? staying put at 9:30pm despite no Dancing and True Beauty in the 10pm hour. This new night will launch Monday, January 5. On that date The Bachelor will have a two-hour premiere leading into the premiere of True Beauty. So, Samantha Who? will air in between those two starting Jan. 12. No other ABC January details are in yet, but we could expect Lost, as last night we saw promos saying "two-hour premiere in January." If I were to guess, Lost will air on Wednesdays. Also, last night promos for unscripted docudrama series Border Security USA started playing, and we could expect that in January as well, perhaps with Lost. ABC premiere of Scrubs and animated comedy The Goode Family are among the other items that could launch in January on ABC, with on the bubble shows like Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies perhaps benched. I want to clarify, that Scrubs is not coming Dec. 2 as I mentioned earlier in the week, the original plan of According to Jim remains starting Dec. 2.
As for Fox, they have announced they will launch 24 with its usual two-night/four-hour event on Sunday, January 11 and Monday, January 12 from 8-10pm. Then starting January 19, it will air in its 9-10pm slot. No word on what will air at 8pm, it could be new series Dollhouse though. American Idol obviously will return in January as well, perhaps Tuesday, Jan. 20. We will keep you up to date.

ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas 2008, Special Election Day Blog DVD Review: Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush

Last month we gave you the Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas schedule for 2008. The Countdown airs from Nov. 16-30, but now we have the actual 25 Days of Christmas schedule for 2008!
25 Days of Christmas starts off with a Dr. Suess night including the ABC Family premiere of the special Dr. Seuss' The Hoober-Bloob Highway. Also airing that night are double airings of the Jim Carrey holiday movie Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the holiday special Dr. Seuss on the Loose. Other movies airing the first week are The Polar Express, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter movies, and the basic cable premiere of Cars. Things get rolling the first weekend with all-day events with sitcom Christmas episodes of Step by Step and Sabrina the Teenage Witch in the mornings, followed by movies such as Home Alone 3, Home Alone 4, Eloise at Christmastime, and Richie Rich's Christmas Wish.
Other new highlights for the month include lots of America's Funniest Home Videos & Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Christmas episodes, the TV premiere of the special Cranberry Christmas, the basic cable premiere of the classic animated special A Garfield Christmas, the ABC Family premieres of classics Mickey's Christmas Carol & Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, the basic cable premiere of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the ABC Family original special A Miser Brothers' Christmas, the ABC Family Original Movie Snow 2 Brain Freeze starring Tom Cavanagh and Ashley Williams, and the ABC Family Original Movie Christmas in Wonderland starring Patrick Swayze and Carmen Electra.
We also get many items we have seen before such as Full House Christmas episodes, the holiday specials, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, Jack Frost, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys, Frosty's Winter Wonderland, The Little Drummer Boy, Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July, Pinocchio's Christmas, and more! Other movies include Santa Clause 2, Jingle All the Way, All I Want for Christmas, Holiday in Handcuffs, A Carol Christmas, White Christmas, and it wouldn't be Christmas without A Very Brady Christmas!
Check out the full night-by-night ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas schedule for 2008!

Well, today is Election Day and we urge you all to get out and vote. We also will celebrate Election Day with a blog DVD review that is very fitting, as we say goodbye to George W. Bush! We take a look at Comedy Central/Paramount's Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush: Thanks for the Memories!. The DVD includes one episode each of Bush from South Park, That's My Bush, Lil' Bush and Lewis Black's Root of All Evil. See skees53's Blog DVD Review of Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush: Thanks for the Memories!:

Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush: Thanks for the Memories! (Comedy Central DVD, $14.98) gives George W. Bush a sendoff from the White House in a way that only America's favorite TV network devoted to comedy can do. The DVD compiles some memories of the past eight years into a single disc for your enjoyment. The DVD includes one episode each from South Park, That's My Bush, Lil' Bush and Lewis Black's Root of All Evil.
The DVD begins with the South Park episode "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce," where Cartman decides to "prove" that Kyle was responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11... but Kyle finds a group of conspiracy theorists that say that they can prove that Kyle was NOT responsible, and that in fact, George W. Bush was responsible for the attacks. Unfortunately, finding out this knowledge (even if it is wrong) lands Kyle and Stan in a position where they have to run from Dick Cheney trying to kill them with a careful shot.
In the That's My Bush episode "An Aborted Dinner Date," we find George trying to have a romantic evening with Laura, but he also has a commitment to meet with people on both sides of the abortion issue... a very butch feminist that is pro-choice and an aborted fetus that is (of course) pro-life. It isn't going to be a romantic evening, that is for sure!
In the Lil' Bush episode "Iraq/First Kiss," George has to find the perfect gift for his father for Father's Day, so he goes to the first place we'd all think of to look for it—Iraq. In the second part of the episode, the gang is trying to see who will be the first to kiss a girl.
Besides the three sitcom episodes included, there are other Comedy Central programs (or clips) included, such as a full episode of Lewis Black's Root of All Evil (featuring a trial between Dick Cheney and Paris Hilton), clips from Last Laugh '06, Last Laugh '07, Mind of Mencia, and standup comedy from Comedy Central.
The DVD is presented in a pretty standard case with a drawing of Bush standing in front of the White House collecting his memories and preparing to move out... complete with his copy of "My Pet Goat," the missing 2000 Florida ballots, a bowl of pretzels, a picture of Karl Rove (affectionately autographed "Turd Blossom"), and a "Mission Accomplished" banner hanging on the White House. Oddly enough, when you watch the DVD, you'll notice that the main menu is exactly the same as the cover art. And if you like that cover art and menu art, you'll be even more pleased to know that they included a poster with the exact same artwork inside the case.
The audio and video quality are about what we would come to expect for series as recent as these--pretty good. In fact, there really aren't any problems to note in this area. The only unfortunate thing about the DVD is that there are no special features at all, although in a sense, a compilation such as this one can stand on its own without special features.
This isn't a bad DVD to pick up if you can find it cheap somewhere, but really, if you are a fan of the series included on here, you'd probably be better served to just pick up season sets of those series. The episodes presented aren't exactly episodes that stand out, but rather seem to just be random episodes about Bush. Still, this DVD can provide a few hours of laughter while Bush is outside having his "Heckuva Moving Sale."
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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This TV Launches with Mr. Ed and Patty Duke; TV Land Changes; Samantha Who and Kath & Kim Renewed

Back in late July we told you new digital station "This TV" was launching in October, and as promised, they have launched! They launched on Halloween with a a marathon of scary movies like Amityville II & Amityville 3-D. This TV is owned by MGM and Weigel Broadcasting...Weigel also owns the popular Me-TV and Me-Too.
As of now, clearances are only in Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Columbus, Albany, Richmond, and Dayton, OH. They are primarily airing MGM movies like 12 Angry Men, Something Wild, & Great Balls of Fire, but a few MGM TV series have been mixed in as well such as the original Outer Limits, The Patty Duke Show and Mister Ed. They all air between 4-7am ET on weekdays, 4-10am on Saturdays, and 6-9am on Sundays. This TV also airs children's programming such as Miss Mallard Mystery, Paddington Bear, Flight Squad, Robinson Sucroe, Animal Crackers, Spider Riders and Ripley's Believe It or Not! ...these air weekdays 7-10am and Sundays 8am-11am. Another block airs on Saturday mornings from 10am-1pm with children's series such as Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures, Busy World of Richard Scarry, and Wimzie's House.
If you get this in your area right now, call yourself lucky to see Patty Duke & Mister Ed!

TV Land has made a schedule change starting late this afternoon (November 3). Hogan's Heroes goes from weekdays 5-6pm to weekdays from 4-5pm, replacing Beverly Hillbillies, which will remain 1-2pm. Now airing 5-6pm on weekdays is more Leave it to Beaver! Also, it seems 3rd Rock from the Sun is doing well for TV Land, in addition to its TV Land PRIME marathon this week (Nov. 3-7, 9pm-12am), it will get weekend plays from 12-7pm this Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 8-9). TV Land has also added a marathon of Three's Company this Saturday night (November 8) in the overnight from 2am-6am. Tune in!
View the full TV Land November 2008 highlights that we gave previously.

ABC has picked-up a full season of sophomore sitcom Samantha Who? It is no surprise, as the sitcom is a solid player for the network. It also is critically acclaimed with Christina Applegate winning a Golden Globe and Jean Smart winning an Emmy for the show. ABC will air 20 episodes this season, with three already have aired (fourth one airs tonight at 9:30pm ET/PT). Usually non-freshman shows already have 22 episode orders, but due to the strike last season, most second year shows got only 13 episode orders. The sitcom joins fellow ABC sophomore series Private Practice in getting picked up for a full season. They will not air the normal 22 for Sam, because they have a lot coming this mid-season comedy wise like The Goode Family, Single with Parents, Better off Ted...and returning series According to Jim and Scrubs. Speaking of those latter two, both could launch in December now. Previously as we stated, According to Jim was set to launch Dec. 2, Tuesdays 9-10pm, but I now hear that will be Scrubs. It is not official yet, but as soon as it is, I'll let you all know. Jim would air Tuesdays 8-9pm I think leading into Scrubs starting the following week, Dec. 9. Both shows have 18 episode orders.

Meanwhile, NBC has a fast trigger...in a good way though. They have picked-up nine more episodes of freshman sitcom Kath & Kim, despite low ratings. The last two airings have only been 4.99 and 5.44 million in its Thursday slot, but I guess NBC believes in the show and liked the little jump to 5.44 million after the series low? I cannot believe they picked-it up for a full 22 episodes already, but good news for fans of Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. The show has been blasted by critics.

Week 6 Numbers; How the Sitcoms Did

Week 6 numbers (first three nights, Mon-Wed):
NOTE: Thursday is not in this week in our network averages once again (so sorry!), but we do have final program numbers for Thursday in the analysis below:

Households: CBS: 7.8/12.; Fox: 7.7/11.8; ABC: 6.9/10.6; NBC: 4.8/7.4; The CW: 2.0/2.9; MNT: 0.8/1.2.
Total Viewers: Fox: 12.56 million; CBS: 12.2 million; ABC: 10.92 million; NBC: 7.57 million; The CW: 2.83 million; MNT: 1.19 million.
Adults 18-49: Fox: 4.2/10.8; CBS: 3.2/8.0; ABC: 2.9/7.4; NBC: 2.8/7.1; The CW: 1.4/3.6; MNT: 0.5/1.2.

Analysis: Week 6 saw Fox way above normal for the three nights thanks to two nights of World Series and November Sweeps started Thursday! I apologize again we only have final averages for the first three days (thru Wednesday). It seems we won't get first four nights network averages in time for each week's blog. But I do again have Thursday final program numbers and network averages, just not four day averages. I don't have time to go through and recalculate so, I'll give you the final Thursday averages in HH: CBS 9.0/15, ABC 7.0/11, NBC 4.9/8, Fox 2.4/4, The CW 2.4/4, MNT 0.8/1, so you can determine yourself how things look after the first four days. So looking at those numbers and the first three days averages on the top, I am projecting for the first four days, CBS has the lead in HH/viewers, with Fox in first (for now?) in 18-49. Fox is also for now in 2nd in HH/viewers, but will probably be over taken by ABC at week's end. NBC will be in fourth in all categories.
Last week, CBS won week 5 in HH/viewers, while Fox won in 18-49 thanks to baseball. Fox was also second in HH/viewers thanks to baseball, with ABC third. ABC tied with CBS for 2nd in 18-49. NBC was fourth across the board and only mustered a 2.2 18-49 rating for week 5 without the Sunday Night Football game. Bad shape.
Monday ABC was on top thanks to of course Dancing with the Stars. The 92-minute episode did 18.88 million and a 4.2/10 in 18-49...up from previous week again. The sitcom Samantha Who followed and did 10.47 million, up nearly a million week-to-week. A new Boston Legal followed with 8.58 million, up from the previous week. Series finale is December 8...so the final episodes should be mustering up a bit. Fox was actually in second with Game 5 of the World Series (which they only got up to the 6th inning due to rain), as the game did 13.24 million and Fox averaged 12.1 million in primetime. Thank god they didn't air Sarah Connor and Prison Break. Next up was CBS, the usual second place network on Monday, with repeats of its comedies and a repeat of CSI: Miami. The Big Bang Theory did 7.93 million, not bad at all for a repeat and How I Met Your Mother followed with 7.26 million, yes, it was a repeat but needs to a little better. Two and a Half Men repeat and new a special Monday edition repeat of Gary Unmarried followed with 11.88 and 8.65 million. Yes, that is a better retention than Worst Week. At 10pm a repeat of CSI: Miami did 10.59 million. NBC followed with its drama line-up. Chuck started it off with 6.7 million, down a bit from previous week, Heroes followed with 8.19 million...down from previous week, a big disappointment for this season for NBC. New series My Worst Own Enemy at 10pm did only 5.29 million...down again from previous week. The CW had its usual decent numbers with Gossip Girl doing a solid 3.05 million, up a bit from previous week and the resurgent One Tree Hill did 3.21 million, but down week-to-week.
Tuesday it was CBS in viewers and Fox in 18-49. CBS had the always reliable NCIS opening the night off with 17.26 million, up a tad from previous week, new drama The Mentalist followed with a solid 16.07 million, up from previous week and Without a Trace did a decent 12.19 million, up from previous week. ABC was next in viewers with the holiday classic special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (and You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown) doing a solid 10.38 million for the hour. Dancing with the Stars: The Results followed with 17.44 million...again up over a million from previous week, as finally Cloris Leachman is gone! Eli Stone followed and did only 6.92 million, down over a million from the previous week for its third outing. It was consistent for the first two airings, though, but down big this past week. Fox was next this week with House doing 13.5 million, up week to week, followed by a repeat for Fringe at just 5.66 million...bad time for a repeat, as this coming week it will already be preempted for the Election Results. NBC was fourth with a two-hour The Biggest Loser doing 8.14 million, up from previous week, followed by an all-new Law & Order: SVU at 9.33 million, down a tad from previous week. The CW aired a new episode of 90210 doing 3.16 million, not bad but not great and a new episode of Privileged did 1.92 million, up week-to-week.
Wednesday saw Fox win big with the conclusion of the fifth game of the World Series, as the Phillies won the championship, doing 1984 million, as Fox averaged 15.35 million in primetime, earlier in the night an Obama Paid Political Ad did 7.21 million. CBS was next, as they also aired the Obama Paid Political Ad doing 8.6 million, that was better than the sitcoms the previous week, Old Christine followed at a special time and did 7.61 million, down a bit from previous week. Gary Unmarried was preempted. CBS aired Criminal Minds at 9pm and it did a solid 13.97 million, but down over a million from previous week and CSI: NY was also down doing 13.75 million. ABC didn't air the Obama ad, and benefited as Pushing Daisies at 8pm did 6.69 million, up a million week to week and a season high in 18-49. Private Practice followed with a solid gain doing 7.93 million, on par with previous week and Dirty Sexy Money did 6.06 million...up from previous week. NBC opened the night with the Obama Paid Political Ad doing 9.91 million, better than what Knight Rider would have done, followed by a 90-minute Deal or No Deal doing 8.34 million and the Friday bound Lipstick Jungle at just 4.91 million. The CW had a new Top Model doing 3.9 million, down from previous week and Stylista followed with only 1.76 million, down from the premiere.
Thursday CBS won the first night of November Sweeps. CBS opened with Survivor: Gabon at 13.02 million, down a bit from previous week. A new CSI followed with 19.1 million, down a bit from previous week. The new Eleventh Hour followed and did 11.25 million, down a bit week to week. ABC opened the night with Ugly Betty with the final Lindsay Lohan episode possibly doing 8.55 million, down a tad from previous week. Grey's Anatomy followed with 15.32 million, up week to week and #1 in 18-49. At 10pm a new Life on Mars did 8.14 million, up from previous week. Looks like it is consistent. NBC was fourth with a new My Name is Earl doing 6.27, down a bit again from previous week, new sitcom Kath & Kim followed with only 5.44 million, up from the 4.99 million the previous week. The Office followed with 9.51 million, up a lot from previous week. The season premiere of 30 Rock did a series high of 8.66 million. But can it keep it up? ER did 9.19 million, up from previous week. Fox was off the map with a repeat of Kitchen Nightmares at just 3.58 million, followed by a new episode at 9pm at just 3.91 million. Smallville on The CW did 4.32 million, up from previous week, followed by Supernatural at a great 3.55 million...up from previous week.
Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but CBS won Friday with their dramas, as Ghost Whisperer did very solid as usual but the story of the night was the repeat of NCIS at 9pm doing over 11 million in prelim numbers for best numbers for the night. Wow! The Ex-List has been canned, and CBS more than doubled it with a repeat. NBC's disappointing Crusoe did bad, as did the new night for Lipstick Jungle...both coming in under 4 million and under a 1.0 demo. Yes, it was Halloween, but everyone but CBS was down big.
Saturday numbers saw ABC win in the preliminaries overall and in 18-49 thanks to a great College Football game between #1 Texas and #6 Texas Tech, as the #1 team got beaten with a game winning play. NBC had terrible numbers again as it barely registered a 1.0 18-49 rating.
Tonight should be a victory for either ABC or NBC. ABC of course has the Sunday line-up of AFV, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. CBS will be solid, but no NFL lead-in tonight to help them, and NBC will be solid with the SNF game, though these two teams are no longer a force this year (Pats-Colts).
As for the week, CBS should hang on for the win in HH and viewers but Fox could hang on in 18-49, if not ABC will win it over CBS. ABC will pass Fox in HH/viewers for 2nd place. Fox will be third in HH/viewers, followed by NBC, CW and MNT. What to watch for this week? We will have a new president on Tuesday! ABC or NBC will the night with their coverage of the election. My guess is ABC overall for that night and NBC in 18-49. Go and vote!

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of October 20-26)

• The Simpsons (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.
• King of the Hill (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.
• Family Guy (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.
• American Dad (Fox) - Preempted for World Series Game 4.

Monday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 7.93 million for a repeat is outstanding, just down over a million on what it would do in new episodes.
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 7.26 million for a repeat, not as good as the lead-in.
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 11.88 million for a repeat...still besting any sitcom.
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Special Monday repeat did 8.65 million...not bad, it would have been scary seeing how Worst Week would have repeated.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - 10.47 million for a new episode, up nearly a million from previous week. Nice.

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None.

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Old Christine (CBS) - 7.61 million for a new episode at special time of 8:30pm...down a bit from previous week.
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) - preempted thanks to Obama.
• Under One Roof (MNT) - Repeat airing did 960,000 viewers...up week to week, it aired after an all-new Tony Rock Project which did 1.07 million.

Thursday Sitcoms

• My Name is Earl (NBC) - 6.27 million for a new episode, down from previous week.
• Kath & Kim (NBC) - 5.44 million for a new episode...up from the previous week too...after this NBC picked it up for the full-season...um why?
• The Office (NBC) - 9.51 million for a new episode...great, besting the previous week by nearly two million.
• 30 Rock (NBC) - Season premiere did a series best with 8.66 million. But the question is, can it continue? Arrested Development also had a few high rated episodes and it never helped.

Friday Sitcoms

• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - Final numbers are not in yet...but the prelim numbers show 1.26 million. Ouch...Halloween hurt it.
• The Game (The CW) - Prelim numbers show just 1.24 million...not good to air it on Halloween night...especially a Friday.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• The Office (NBC) - For some reason NBC aired a repeat at 9-10pm and it only did a prelim 2.07 million.
  

Airing tonight (Sunday) is Fox's animated comedies from 8-10.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Samantha Who?, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, 30 Rock were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as How I Met Your Mother, Old Christine) or just plain old terrible (such as Everybody Hates Chris, The Game).

Blog DVD Review: JAG - The Complete 7th Season (Nov. 4)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for our weekly Blog DVD Review! Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Seventh Season of JAG. JAG was a huge hit for CBS. If you are a fan of Navy NCIS, you know that NCIS is a spin-off of JAG. See Seth Thrasher's blog DVD review of JAG - The Complete Fifth Season:

JAG - The Complete Seventh Season (CBS, $55.98) ) is coming to DVD for the first time on November 4 - Election Day! This long running Donald Bellisario classic series continues onto its seventh season to be released onto DVD. I have to be honest, as I feel I'm failing you otherwise if I'm not – in the series original run I'd lost the majority of my interest in the series by this point, preferring other ways to spent my evenings. By 2001-02, the television season in which the seventh season aired, I was watching other programs on other networks. This isn't to say that the 7th season was poor in any way; I simply had moved on. The resolution to the season-ending cliffhanger leads off season seven, with a resolution that would have ramifications on down the line. The season follows a fairly straightforward pattern, and there are no real stinker episodes. To be perfectly honest, I'm much more enthusiastic about the hopeful release of the EIGHTH season, as it contains the two-part pilot for NCIS - one of my absolute favorite series on TV. The seventh season features a few guest stars – Ian Ziering, of the original Beverly Hills 90210, appears in the episode Ambush. Corbin Bernsen (LA Law) appears in the episode Tribunal. Country singer Trisha Yearwood appears in the episode "In Country."
Moving to the technical side, packaging is, still VERY thankfully, the traditional outer box and slim cases; they haven't gotten around to tinkering with this one yet. Many CBS DVD titles are moving to those horrible translucent plastic cases with the fragile disc holders. Luckily, the slimcases-in-box setup is the ideal arrangement for sets with, say, 5+ discs - so hour-long dramas such as JAG stand the best chance of continuing to use this preferred packaging type. Video is presented nice and clear in anamorphic widescreen. The video, being from this decade, was filmed in HD and has no defects that I can detect. Obviously there's a little loss in the transition from HD masters to the somewhat limited DVD standard, but it's so extremely difficult to notice that it's largely irrelevant. Audio is great - and may I just state once more for the record that I feel JAG has one of THE best theme songs – it's simple, but so very effective and really captures the style of the show. The CBS DVD boilerplate disclaimer about edits does appear on the back of the box, indicating possible edits, but if there are any I can’t find them. The episodes generally run in the ballpark of 43:30 to 44:30, but the first episode of the season, "Adrift (Part 2)" runs a mere 40:38 – something there is CLEARLY not kosher - that's three minutes shorter than neighboring episodes!
The shortness of the "Adrift" two-parter finale clearly troubles me, but I don't have an original broadcast copy for comparison. Still, I strongly urge you to purchase this TV series if only for my own selfish reason - I really want the eighth season on DVD and low sales numbers won't accomplish this. If edits are a deal-breaker for you, you may be in for a disappointment here, but if you're a fan of NCIS and want that pilot two-parter in a few months, you need to buy this.

-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher
(3.5/5 stars)

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