Sunday, June 21, 2009

Summer Week 4 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

Summer has now started and everything is pretty light. We will be back with our normal weekly report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long, along with last year's summer favorite, the coming week preview! Here are our summer ratings:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 8-14)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - 3.91 million for a repeat is again lower than the previous week's repeat.
  • King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - A 7pm repeat did just 2.07 million and a 8:30 repeat did better with 3.77 million, but both timeslots were up from previous week's repeats.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - 4.22 million for a repeat...lower than the previous week again.
  • American Dad! (Fox) 2 episodes - Only 2.45 million for a repeat at 7:30, but the normal airing at 9:30pm did 3.45 million for a repeat.

Summer Week 4 (June 15-21)

Monday Sitcoms

  • The Big Bang Theory 8PM (CBS) - 6.05 million for a repeat...down some from previous week, as this was its last airing in this slot and will now move to 9:30pm for good.
  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.67 million for a repeat airing, lower than previous week...let's see how it does as self-starter tomorrow.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.19 million for a repeat is great and it went up from previous week's repeat.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 8.42 million for a repeat is decent but so far it is doing similar to Rules of Engagement repeats but is holding more in 18-49, which CBS should like.
Tuesday Sitcoms

  • According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - No NBA Finals so ABC was forced to air repeats of this and it did just 3.02 and 2.82 million. Look for repeats to air Fridays at 9 starting this week.
  • Scrubs (ABC) - Again ABC was forced to air a repeat of this due to no NBA Finals, and it only managed 1.97 million.
  • Better Off Ted (ABC) - A repeat only did 1.41 million. Good news is new episodes return this Tuesday and will follow the anticipated competition series The Superstars.
Wednesday Sitcoms

  • Old Christine (CBS) - Just 4.1 million for a repeat...but up a tad from previous week.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Just 4.17 million for a repeat, but also up some from previous week. No match for the Big Balls!
Thursday Sitcoms
  • The Office (NBC) - Only 3.29 million for a repeat in its normal 9pm slot...down some from previous week's repeat.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - Only 2.68 million for a repeat..worse than previous week.

Friday Sitcoms

  • Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 1.17 million. Up a bit from previous week's prelim again, but this show is canceled anyway.
  • The Game (The CW) - A repeat did 1.43 million prelim viewers for this canceled sitcom as well...up from previous week's prelim. This should have been brought back for another year I think.
  • Surviving Suburbia (ABC) - Prelim numbers show only 2.59 million for an all-new episode at 8pm, down from previous week's prelim. Finals for previous week were lower though due to DTV switch and Chicago and Philly ratings were not counted in the finals.
  • The Goode Family (ABC) - Prelim numbers were even worse for an all-new episode of this show with a series low of 1.59 million. As with the lead-in, the finals for previous week were lower due to the DTV switch.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC) 2 episodes - Two repeats did just a prelim 1.68 million average for the hour, down from previous week. Look for final Friday ratings for all of these sitcoms on our message board when available.
Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.
Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's animated comedies from 7-10 tonight. Elsewhere ABC will have the first part of the mini-series Impact from 9-11pm. CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have an overrun of the PGA U.S. Open Championship and a new Dateline in the 7pm hour, leading into the two-hour premiere of Merlin from 8-10. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, Ultimate Knockouts & Spike Guys Choice on Spike starting at 9, JONAS on Disney at 8:30, and Bridezillas on WE tv.


Coming Week Preview (June 22-28):

For Monday, on ABC, it's an all-new night with new episodes of The Bachelorette from 8-10pm and Here Come the Newlyweds at 10pm. NBC will have a two-hour of the crazy I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm followed by yet another Dateline at 10pm. On cable among the highlights we have a new episode of Around the World for Free on WGN America at 9pm, season premiere of Secret Life of the American Teenager and the series premiere of Make It or Break It on ABC Family starting at 8pm, new episodes of The Closer and Raising the Bar on TNT starting at 9, WWE Raw on USA Network, Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC, VH1's reality series Rock of Love Charm School, New York Goes to Work & Gotti's Way, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10pm on Bravo.
On Tuesday, ABC has the series premiere of The Superstars at 8pm followed by the return of Better off Ted at 9:30pm and the season premiere of Primetime: Family Secrets at 10pm. CBS will have an episode of 48 Hours at 10pm. NBC has another I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8 followed by the two-hour season premiere of America's Got Talent. Fox and The CW at 9pm will have Mental on Fox and The CW airing Hitched or Ditched. On cable, among the highlights are Deadliest Catch and After the Catch on Discovery starting at 9pm, TNT has dramas Hawthorne, and Saving Grace starting at 9pm, MTV has Paris Hilton's My New BFF at 10, TLC has new series 18 Kids and Counting & The Little Couple, BET has College Hill at 10pm, Bravo has an all-new The Real Housewives of New Jersey at 9pm, Oxygen has Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood at 10, The Cleaner at 10 on A&E, and FX has an all-new Rescue Me at 10pm.
On Wednesday, the best show of the summer is Wipeout and it airs at 8pm, followed by I Survived a Japanese Game Show at 9pm, and at 10pm the special Primetime: Questions for the President. NBC will have the finale (finally!) of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, followed by America's Got Talent at 9 and the premiere of The Philanthropist at 10. Fox has a two-hour So You Think You Can Dance. On cable, among the highlights are new episodes of Meet the Browns on TBS starting at 10pm, Food has Bobby Flay at 9, Discovery has an all-new primetime including Pitchmen at 10pm, Comedy Central has a new RENO 911 at 10:30pm, MTV has Real World Cancun at 10, MonsterQuest on History at 9, Top Chef Masters is on Bravo at 10, and also at 10pm is Tattoo Highway on A&E.
On Thursday, ABC will have the returns of sitcoms Samantha Who & In the Motherhood at 8pm, with all new episodes. NBC will have a new episode of drama The Listener at 10pm. Fox will have a new So You Think You Can Dance at 9pm. On cable, among the highlights are NBA Draft on ESPN starting at 7pm, WWE Superstars on WGN America, new night for Wedding Day on TNT at 8pm, Burn Notice on USA at 9 followed by Royal Pains at 10, Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10pm, MTV has a new 16 and Pregnant at 10, TLC has a new American Chopper at 9, TV Land has She's Got the Look at 9pm, The Real Housewives of Orange County at 9 & The Fashion Show at 10 on Bravo, and Southern Belles: Louisville at 10 on SOAPnet.
On Friday, ABC has new episodes of Surviving Suburbia and The Goode Family in the 8pm hour and later a new 20/20 at 10pm. NBC has a burn-off of Chopping Block followed by two-hours of Dateline. Fox will air an unsold pilot from 8-10pm called Virtuality, and MNT is airing WWE Smackdown. Cable wise, among the highlights are World's Funniest Commercials at 9pm on TBS, Whale Wars on Animal Planet at 9, What Not to Wear & Say Yes to the Dress on TLC and The Soup on E! at 10.
On Saturday, it's slow as usual with NBC airing a burn-off of Kings at 8. ABC has the a burn-off episode of Eli Stone at 10pm, while CBS has burn-off of Harper's Island 9pm. Fox is new with Cops and AMW. Cable wise, TBS has the Comedy Festival at 9, Nick has a new iCarly and True Jackson at 8, and GSN has a new 20Q at 8.
And next Sunday, ABC will have the final part of the mini-series Impact from 9-11pm. CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have a new Dateline at 7pm, leading into a two-hour episode of Merlin from 8-10. Cable wise, among the highlights are TBS's Comedy Festival at 10pm, Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, BET Awards on BET, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike at 10, JONAS on Disney at 8:30, and Bridezillas on WE tv.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Blog DVD Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 7, Parts 1-4

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the weekly Blog DVD Review. Today we take a look at Lionsgate's Season 7 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The season is split up into 4 volumes, though. Ninja Turtles is of course the hit animated series that caused kids and teens to go crazy for in the late '80s and early '90s. See my Blog DVD Review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 7, Parts 1-4:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 7, Parts 1-4 (Lionsgate, $14.98 for each part) brings all 27 episodes from the series' seventh season, including the 13-episode European Vacation, on this wonderful four-part 25th anniversary collectible set. Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, April are all back to battle Shredder, Krang and other villains! Cowabunga! This is the Turtles' 25th anniversary, as they debuted in the comic world in 1984. This TV series didn't start until 1987, though. This season is split into four "slices" so you will have to buy them separately. Do you actually buy pizza by the slice these days?
Starting with season four we started getting season releases. Season 4 set had 39 episodes and season 5 had 18 episodes. Season six had a total of 16 episodes on its set. Prior to that we were getting volume releases. Here is a recap: 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. For season 2 there were just 13 episodes, so Lionsgate released that for volume two...so yes, technically the first two volumes were season sets. Season one had only 5 episodes, so that was on Volume 1, with four bonus episodes from season ten actually. So do you have all of these? Hope you do!
The packaging started getting very good starting with season four. The first six volumes the packaging was simple (as they were just one-disc sets). Season 6 also had a very simple set, but this season it is different and decent. We get four different boxes called "slices," as the season is split into 4 slices celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Turtles. The first slice is the Leonardo slice, then part two its the Michaelangelo slice, part three its the Donatello slice, and part four its the Raphael slice. This season has four discs in total, with one disc season on each "slice." Each box also has a small action figure of the Turtle on each slice! So we get action figures of Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael! Radical! Each box is similar. We have the show logo on top with coverart of the Turtles the box represents. Next to the Turtle, it says for example "The Leonardo Slice," and below that we see the actual action figure that is inside. On the bottom of each box it has the 25th anniversary logo, and says "Collect All 4" then it has the Season 7 and what part this is. The back of each box is also cool on each. On the top we get four images of each "slice." Then there is a 25th anniversary sentence in yellow and below that we have a paragraph on each "slice." We also have "Fun Facts" of each Turtle the slice represents with Nicknames, Weapons, and Personality. To the right of that we get another image of the Turtle from that slice with him holding an actual pizza slice that says "Collect All 4."And on the bottom of the back of the box we have an image of a pizza, with episode listing and special features from that slice!
That was just the box art, now we need to move on to the case that is inside each box! We open the box from the top and we see a layer for the case. The cases are very simple and thin, similar to the volumes releases from the past. It has the same cover as the box, except of course you can't see the action figure. The back of the case is also the same as the box. Inside the case we have an insert on the left and the disc itself on the right. The insert is two-sided with one side having a promo for the TMNT DVDs and on the other side we have the TMNT Smash Up game promo. As for the disc, is the same artwork as the box and case cover. The first "slice" has episodes 1-6 from the European Vacation. The second "slice" has episodes 7-13 from the European Vacation. A fun fact, these episodes were produced for season four actually but never aired until the time of season 7, but not on CBS or first-run syndication...on USA Network. The third "slice" has episodes 14-20 from the actual start of season seven. And the fourth "slice" has episodes 21-27. So this season actually had only 14 episodes, but it was great they included the 13 episode European Vacation!
The menu screen is not as creative as say season five was, but similar to season six. First, we get autotrailers before the main menu appears on each disc with trailers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men Wolverine, Fast Track movie, and more. Then after that is done, we come to the main menu screen. The theme song is playing in the background, and it does loop, and the photo is similar to the box art, but the bandanna of each turtle is moving a bit. The options are: Play All Episodes, Episode Selection, Special Features. When we go to each sub-menu, we see a pizza transition with the Turtles saying "Turtle Power!" Nicely done. Episode Selection takes us to a submenu with episode #, title, and a screenshot from the episode. The Special Features section lists the special feature for that disc and you can also view the auto-trailers again in the Trailers section.
The video is on par with the other volumes, with dust and debris here and there and on par with previous recent seasons. The audio is also on par with the previous releases, not bad...and listenable. The European Vacation episodes were produced for syndication during season four so they run about 22:10-22:15. The actual season seven episodes run around 23:35-23:40, though two only run at 23:05, but they have the shorter opening theme. We get 5 chapter stops per episode...nice.
Seasons four and five had extras (probably since the movie came out to theatres and DVD), but then season six had absolutely nothing! Since this is the 25th anniversary set, we get a featurette on each "slice!" So we do have extras here! On the first slice, we have a featurette called "A Shellabration with Points of Articulation." This runs 6:03 and is about the action figures and toys this franchise has given out, particularly from Playmates. Interviewed are Pat Linden (Playmates, Associate VP), Raymond Geinman (Playmates, VP Product Development-Boys), Rodolfo Gastelum (Playmates, Senior Director of Product Development-Boys), and Kevin Eastman (TMNT, Co-Creator). The second slice has a featurette called "A Shellabration of the Turtles Creation." This runs 11:08 and is about how this franchise got started in the comic book world. It has interviews with co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The third slice has a featurette called "A Shellabration of the TV Sensation." This runs 10:46 and this is about the creation of the hit animated series that began in 1987! See what the process was in creating this series and what differences there are from the comic books. Interviewed are Fred Wold (Executive Producer), David Wise (Story editor/writer), Townsend Coleman (voice of Michaelangelo), Kevin Eastman (co-creator), and Rob Paulson (voice of Raphael). This was my favorite featurette! Then finally on the fourth slice, we have a featurette called "A Shellabration of a Fan-Nomenon Sensation." This runs 11:54 and it is devoted to die-hard fans and they speak out here! Interviewed are co-creator Kevin Eastman and three big fans: Stephen Reese (South Pasadena, CA), Michelle Ivey (Ferndale, MI), and Joshua Christopher (Terre Haute, IN).
I urge fans to buy this set even though it is split into four separate parts. I don't like how they did that especially since he boxes are pretty big. That would waste space on people's DVD shelves for sure. I wish there was a way to have a huge box hold these four boxes. Or a better box holding just the four cases and I guess the action figures would be on a special "25th anniversary" set only? Seasons 8, 9, and 10 still remain to be released. Season 8 is coming out in September, so we are near the end of this series on DVD! Seasons eight through ten have 8 episodes each, so expect one-disc sets from here on out. Four of the eight episodes on season ten was released on the Volume 1 DVD, the very first DVD, though.
Anyway, let's buy pizza by the slice with four slices! Usually people can get 4 slices for a meal, so this is perfect! Order your four slices today and you'll be full with excitement! Katanas, nunchaku, bo staff, and sai are the weapons of the Turtles but you won't need those top open these slices! Cowabunga!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com Part 1
Amazon.com Part 2
Amazon.com Part 3
Amazon.com Part 4

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV.com Page
Official Website

Friday, June 19, 2009

The N Brings Back Kenan, Growing Pains; Retro Television Coming to Columbia, SC

As we patiently wait for Nick at Nite's official July schedule with the addition of Malcolm in the Middle, we will bring you the July schedule for sister Viacom network The N. The new The N schedule starts Monday, July 6. The N, like other Viacom networks, likes to double-dip their comedies. Kenan & Kel will return to The N schedule! Starting at 6am we get back-to-back Caitlin's Way, Radio Free Roscoe, Kenan & Kel, Amanda Show, Moesha, and a four-spot of Degrassi from 11am-1pm. Afternoons starting at 1pm its back-to-back Beyond the Break, H2O, Saved by the Bell, Kenan & Kel, Unfabulous, and a four-spot of Zoey 101 from 6-8pm. The four-spots continue from 8pm-6am as well with What I Like About You, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, That '70s Show, What I Like About You, and Moesha. On Fridays, 7pm-8:30pm its Degrassi, followed by the new original series The Assistants at 8:30pm & 9pm for its premiere (then will air 8:30pm only weekly) with encores at 10:30pm & 2am. More Degrassi on Fridays are 9-10:30pm and 11pm-12am. What I Like About You is extended on Fridays from 2-6am instead of just 2-4am.
Weekends is the same as weekdays from 6am-10am. Then we have the four-spots of series from 10am-6pm with Unfabulous, Zoey 101, Degrassi and iCarly. Zoey 101 will air in the 6pm hour on Sundays. Then it gets a bit complicated for the rest of the night on weekends, so I suggest you view that schedule. Growing Pains is returning to the schedule but just once a week on late Sunday nights (early Monday mornings) at 4am ET/PT. The first week it will air at 3:30am, though. It joins a block of Clueless (4:30am) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (5-6am), as both of those are on just once a week as well. Too bad Growing Pains isn't returning to weekdays in its old 11am hour timeslot.
View and discuss the entire The N July 2009 schedule.

WKTC-My63, Columbia's My Network TV affiliate, is proud to announce that it has signed an exclusive agreement with RTV (Retro Television) to begin broadcasting classic TV programming on its digital subchannel, WKTC-DT2 (63.2), starting tomorrow (Saturday June 20, 2009)!
Daytime programming will include classic comedy hits such as Leave it to Beaver, McHale's Navy, and drama Marcus Welby, while evenings will be filled with hits such as Knight Rider, The A Team, Magnum P.I. and The Rockford Files.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

TV Land Adds Married with Children Weekend Marathon and First 2 Weeks of July Change; Emmy Awards Changes Date Again

Previously on "TV Land Schedule Changes," Bree wanted Orson to stop stealing, oops wrong show...we told you the changes from June 15-28, now we have June 27 through July 12! This is like a soap opera, isn't it? The weekend of June 27-28 will now have a change now. It will have a Married...with Children marathon primarily. Al Bundy and family will air from 9:30am-8pm on Saturday, June 27 and from 8am-2am on Sunday, June 28. That's a whole lotta Bundy! Encores of movies Grease and Grease 2 will also air on Saturday, June 27, with Roseanne blocks as well. Then the regular schedule starting Monday, June 29 is pretty similar to the changes that started on June 15, but just a few things. For weekdays, the 12pm hour is now back to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, replacing Leave it to Beaver/Beverly Hillbillies. But Beverly Hillbillies will air in the 1pm hour, so that means TV Land Goes West (2 episodes of Gunsmoke & Bonanza each and one Little House) goes from approx. 1:30pm-7pm to now more on the clock from 2pm-7pm. This means Beaver is now weekends only again if they have a marathon. Mondays from 8pm-11pm will now be yet more Roseanne replacing Married...with Children, so Married is now off the regular schedule, but not to worry as it returns to Spike TV weekdays on July 6. So it looks like (for now I guess) Married (which is doing decent for them) will have its last TV Land airing during that weekend marathon (June 27-28). I expect we will see more soon as they keep bringing it back and changing the schedule, so stay tuned. Everything else on weekdays is the same as it is now, so yes, Andy Griffith is not on weekdays through July 12.
On weekends we get marathon blocks ("Andy & Friends" as I'd like to call it). But first, from 6-8am on both days we now see more Roseanne, so that replaces Star Trek, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and whatever else pops up weekend mornings usually. But remember, as of now this is through July 12 only. The weekend of July 4-5 will see Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith. On Saturday, July 4, we see Beaver from 11am-3pm and Andy Griffith from 3pm-8pm. On Sunday, July 5 we see Beaver from 12pm-3pm and more Andy from 3pm-8pm. As previously announced, Roseanne July 4th Feuds & Fireworks Marathon airs from 8pm-6am on both nights. The weekend of July 11-12 will see more marathons. A special SpongeBob SquarePants block will air on Saturday, July 11 from 10am-12pm, as SpongeBob is getting ready for his 10th birthday on Nickelodeon with "The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash." We will have more on that during our Nick at Nite July schedule & highlights very soon, as SpongeBob will have about a 50-hour non-stop marathon on Nick/Nick at Nite from July 17-19. Back to TV Land, it's more marathons as the weekend of July 11-12 it is Hogan's Heroes and Andy Griffith. Hogan's Heroes on both days will air from 12pm-5pm while Andy will air both days from 5pm-10pm. Regular weekend schedule will air elsewhere. So is TV Land trying to phase Andy out by airing it only on weekends? Sound off on our message board and also you can view these changes in a list form. Remember TV Land keeps releasing schedules two weeks at a time, so as of now this is through July 12 only. Stay tuned for more!

The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards has been re-scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 20 from approx. 8:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on CBS. That was the original date and now CBS has gone back to that after moving it to Sunday, Sept. 13. But September 13 is the same day for the MTV Video Music Awards. So CBS had to move it back to the original Sept. 20. date. CBS moved it to Sept. 13 originally because of an NFL game from 4-7:30pm ET. To present The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards as close as possible to its scheduled 8:00 PM start, 60 Minutes is planning a flexible broadcast following CBS Sports late afternoon NFL game. So we will finally see a shortened 60 Minutes or possibly preempted totally in the East if the game goes over 7:30pm ET.
Remember nominations will be announced Thursday, July 16 at 5:40 AM PT from the Television Academy's Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood. You can watch it live on CBS's Early Show.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The CW Fall 2009 Premiere Dates; JustMyShow Interviews Barry Williams, Plus a Saved by the Bell Reunion?

We gave you ABC and Fox's premiere dates, now we have The CW's premiere dates for fall 2009! The CW has set its fall premiere schedule, featuring the debut of three new series, returning series that includes a timeslot flip for the Monday night team of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.
But first, The CW's new schedule begins Tuesday, September 8 with the season premiere of sophomore drama 90210 at 8:00 p.m., followed by the series premiere of the updated version of Melrose Place at 9:00 p.m. Then the next day on Wednesday, September 9, Tyra Banks returns with a two-hour premiere of the new season of America's Next Top Model from 8:00-10:00 p.m. The regular Wednesday night lineup begins the following week on September 16 with America's Next Top Model in the 8:00 p.m. hour, followed by the series premiere of the glamorous new drama The Beautiful Life: TBL in the 9:00 p.m. hour. On Thursday, September 10, the new lineup features the premiere of The Vampire Diaries at 8:00 p.m. and the return of fan favorite Supernatural in its normal 9:00 p.m. slot.
The following week, on Monday, September 14, the Monday destination for young women returns with a new twist: One Tree Hill will take over the 8:00 p.m. timeslot, while Gossip Girl moves to the 9:00 p.m. slot, in a switcharoo! To get ready for this, The CW will begin this change this summer starting Monday, July 6.
All of The CW's premieres are before the actual premiere week (Sept. 21-27) except for Smallville. Smallville relocates to its new home on Friday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m. Smallville will be followed by encore episodes of America's Next Top Model at 9:00 p.m. On Fridays, Sept. 11 and 18 will be encores of various dramas. And talk show The Tyra Banks Show will air weekdays on The CW Daytime airing weekdays from 3-5pm with a new episode and a classic episode (though by 2010-2011 season it will only air 3-4pm).
The midseason premiere date for the drama Life UneXpected, which was formerly titled Parental Discretion Advised, will be announced at a later date.
View the press release and discuss these premiere dates.

The one and only Greg Brady himself, Barry Williams is the next guest for the popular web podcast show JustMyShow.com. Yes, our friend Eric (who also writes for Barry on The Greg Brady Project!) is back with an all-new podcast! Barry Williams is known to TV fans of all ages as Greg Brady from the classic ABC series The Brady Bunch. His other TV credits include guest appearances on Mission: Impossible, General Hospital and Three's Company. Williams is the author of the best seller Growing Up Brady and continues to write in his blog, The Greg Brady Project. We also have bonus clips with Barry talking about Adam Brody, Allan Melvin, Brady Bunch Fan Michelle Obama, Brady Props, and The Greg Brady Project.
Plus, there is a full report on Zack Morris' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon appearance and other headlines in this week's "New News About Old Stuff!" If you didn't know Mark-Paul Gosselaar was recently on Fallon's show all dressed up like and in character as his Saved by the Bell character Zach Morris. Fallon is trying to reunite the entire cast for a reunion, and he just about as booked everyone. Watch the other Saved by the Bell reunion updates Fallon did. It's all right, cause I'm Saved by the Bell!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Fox Fall 2009 Premiere Dates; ABC Family July 2009

Fox has set the fall premiere dates for its new and returning series. The 2009-2010 season will kick off Wednesday, Sept. 16 with the sixth season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance at 8:00PM ET/PT, followed by the series premiere of Glee at 9:00PM ET/PT, the biting new one-hour comedy for the underdog in all of us that features a soundtrack of hit songs from past and present. Then on Thursday, Sept. 17, fan favorite Bones returns at 8:00 PM ET/PT and the second season of Fringe at 9:00PM ET/PT return. Brothers, the new family comedy starring Michael Strahan, premieres Friday, Sept. 18 in the 8:00PM ET/PT half-hour, followed by the return of comedy 'Til Death at 8:30PM ET/PT, and the second season premiere of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse wraps the night off at 9:00PM ET/PT.
The actual season begins on Monday, Sept. 21 with House jumpstarting its sixth season with a special two-hour premiere from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Tuesdays at 8:00PM ET/PT will continue to be Hell's Kitchen until that wraps up on Oct. 13. Sunday, Sept. 27 marks the return of "Animation Domination" with the amazing 20th season premiere of The Simpsons at 8:00PM ET/PT, the series premiere of The Cleveland Show at 8:30PM ET/PT and the season premieres of Family Guy at 9:00PM ET/PT and American Dad! at 9:30PM ET/PT.
The second week of the season will see the second season of hit drama Lie to Me will premiere Monday, Sept. 28 at 9:00PM ET/PT following House. So You Think You Can Dance will air two nights per week when the original dance competition has its time period premiere Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, and later expands to two-hour performance shows beginning Tuesday, Oct. 27 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT, when Hell's Kitchen wraps. In addition, new Saturday late-night entry The Wanda Sykes Show (working title) debuts Saturday, Nov. 7 at11:00 PM ET/PT.
Fox will also have the MLB Playoffs with the ALCS this year and of course the World Series. ALCS is on Friday, Oct. 16; Saturday, Oct. 17; Monday, Oct. 19; Tuesday, Oct. 20; and if necessary on Thursday, Oct. 22; Saturday, Oct. 24; and Sunday, Oct. 25. The World Series airs Wednesday, Oct. 28; Thursday, Oct. 29; Saturday, Oct. 31; Sunday, Nov. 1; and if necessary on Monday, Nov. 2; Wednesday, Nov. 4; and Thursday, Nov. 5. So baseball will be preempting something at least once.
View the premiere dates in a list form.

This July on ABC Family will not see any regular schedule changes to the daytime line-up, but we have plenty to talk about. New single-camera comedy 10 Things I Hate About You launches on Tuesday, July 7 in the 8:00PM ET/PT half-hour. It will be followed by an episode of That '70s Show at 8:30PM ET/PT. 10 Things I Hate About You will have a special encore the same night at 9:00PM ET/PT if you missed it an hour earlier. Other regular encores every week are: Wednesdays at 12am, Thursdays at 4:30pm, and Saturdays at 10am.
Then on Tuesday, July 21 the multi-camera sitcom Ruby & the Rockits launches! It will air Tuesdays at 8:30PM ET/PT (replacing That '70s Show repeats) following 10 Things I Hate About You. Ruby & the Rockits will have a special encore the same night at 9:00PM ET/PT if you missed it a half-hour earlier...also 10 Things I Hate About You will have an encore at 9:30PM that night. Other regular encores every week for Ruby & the Rockits are: Wednesdays at 12:30am, Fridays at 4:30pm, and Saturdays at 10:30am.
View full details on these two original comedies, from our previous story. Can these two comedies do better than Roommates and Sophie?
Other original programming is the movie Labor Pains. Lindsay Lohan stars as an assistant at a publishing company who pretends to be pregnant in order to avoid being fired by her boss. It premieres Sunday, July 19 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Along with Lohan, the film includes an all-star cast with Cheryl Hines, Chris Parnell, Luke Kirby, Kevin Covais and Janeane Garofalo.

Monday, June 15, 2009

iTunes Free Summer of Laughs; Gospel Music Channel Acquires Three Dramas

Apple's iTunes Store is going for laughs this summer! They are doing a comedy promotion this summer making many comedies for free. And some others will be only 99 cents per episode. Among the freebies are: Arrested Development, Human Giant, Reno 911!, The State and The IT Crowd. Buy episodes for 99 cents for comedies likes The Office, 30 Rock, The Larry Sanders Show, Barney Miller, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Good Times. Even better is that you can watch the entire first season of SNL for 99 cents...that's 24 episodes for less than a dollar!

Gospel Music Channel has acquired the rights to air three dramas starting this afternoon! Starting today (Monday, June 15), they will air Christy, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and Doc from 4-8PM every weekday. Dr. Quinn will air two episodes (5-7pm).
Christy was a short-lived CBS family drama from 1994-95 starring Kellie Martin. There will also about four TV-movies from 2000-2003 that PAX produced. Dr. Quinn was of course the popular family western drama starring Jane Seymour that aired from 1993-98 on CBS. In addition, the series also had two TV-movies in 1999 and 2001. And finally Doc was a family medical drama starring Billy Ray Cyrus that was on PAX from 2001-2004. These are the first scripted series to ever air on this network. They also air movies, though. Incidentally, all three have aired on the former PAX-TV at some point, whether it be reruns or originals (in Doc's case).
Gospel Music Channel recently also acquired the television rights to the off-net series Amy Grant's Three Wishes and Clash of The Choirs, which both shows air together on Wednesday nights since June 3. Three Wishes airs at 8:00 p.m., while Clash of the Choirs follows at 9:00 p.m. Both were short-lived reality series on NBC.
View their website to see if you receive this network.

Coming this week: Nick at Nite July - see how the addition of Malcolm in the Middle will affect the schedule.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Summer Week 3 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

Summer has now started and everything is pretty light. We will be back with our normal weekly report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long, along with last year's summer favorite, the coming week preview! Here are our summer ratings:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of June 1-7)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - 4.1 million for a repeat is lower than the previous week's repeat.
  • King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - A 7pm repeat did just 1.76 million and a 8:30 repeat did better with 3.76 million, but both timeslots were down from previous week's repeats.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - 4.84 million for a repeat...lower than the previous week, just like the other Sunday animation.
  • American Dad! (Fox) 2 episodes - Only 2.27 million for a repeat at 7:30, but the normal airing at 9:30pm did 4.23 million for a repeat.

Summer Week 3 (June 8-14)

Monday Sitcoms

  • The Big Bang Theory 8PM (CBS) - 6.5 million for a repeat...down some from previous week.
  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.8 million for a repeat airing, lower than previous week.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 9.52 million for a repeat is great, but down over a half million from previous week's repeat.
  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 7.81 million for its first regular scheduled 9:30pm airing but it was down from previous week's Rules of Engagement repeat, though it was the same really since the lead-in was down as well.
Tuesday Sitcoms

  • None.
Wednesday Sitcoms

  • Old Christine (CBS) - Just 3.91 million for a repeat...down from previous week.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Just 3.87 million for a repeat. I still don't think CBS needs this sitcom hour on Wednesdays...it would be better of use on Sundays.
Thursday Sitcoms
  • The Office (NBC) - Only 3.49 million for a repeat in its normal 9pm slot...but expected.
  • 30 Rock (NBC) - Only 3.1 million for a repeat, at least retention wasn't that bad from the lead-in.
  • Old Christine (CBS) - Two special repeats in the 8pm hour did better than the regular Wednesday even! 4.59 and 4.84 million...go figure.

Friday Sitcoms

  • Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 930,000 viewers. Up a bit from previous week's prelim, but this show is canceled anyway.
  • The Game (The CW) - A repeat did 989,000 prelim viewers for this canceled sitcom as well...down a tad from previous week's prelim. This should have been brought back for another year I think.
  • Surviving Suburbia (ABC) - Prelim numbers show only 2.87 million for an all-new episode at 8pm.
  • The Goode Family (ABC) - Prelim numbers were even worse for an all-new episode of this show with a series low of 1.82 million. Look for this to be pulled this week.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC) 2 episodes - Two repeats did just a prelim 2.38 million average for the hour, up a tad from previous week. Look for final Friday ratings for all of these sitcoms on our message board when available.
Saturday Sitcoms

  • None.
Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's animated comedies from 7-10 tonight. Elsewhere ABC will win big with the NBA Finals Game #5. CBS has 60 Minutes and the final Million Dollar Password at 7 & 8pm. NBC has a new Dateline from 7-8pm. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order: Criminal Intent & In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, UFC Unleashed & Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike starting at 9, and Bridezillas on WE tv.


Coming Week Preview (June 15-21):

For Monday, on ABC, it's an all-new night with new episodes of The Bachelorette from 8-10pm and Here Come the Newylweds at 10pm. NBC will have a two-hour of the crazy I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm followed by yet another Dateline at 10pm. On cable among the highlights we have a new episode of Around the World for Free on WGN America at 9pm, Greek on ABC Family at 8pm, new episodes of The Closer and Raising the Bar on TNT starting at 9, WWE Raw on USA Network, Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC, VH1's reality series Rock of Love Charm School, New York Goes to Work & Gotti's Way, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10pm on Bravo.
On Tuesday, ABC could have Jimmy Kimmel Live! Game Night at 8pm followed by game 6 of the NBA Finals, ONLY IF Orlando wins game 5 tonight. If they don't, look for comedy repeats and the final episode of Cupid. CBS will have an episode of 48 Hours at 10pm. NBC has another I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8. Fox and The CW at 9pm will have Mental on Fox and The CW airing Hitched or Ditched. On cable, among the highlights are Deadliest Catch and After the Catch on Discovery starting at 9pm, TNT has a full night of premieres of Wedding Day, Hawthorne, and Saving Grace starting at 8pm, MTV has Paris Hilton's My New BFF at 10, TLC has new series 18 Kids and Counting & The Little Couple, BET has College Hill at 10pm, Bravo has an all-new The Real Housewives of New Jersey at 10pm, Oxygen has Tori & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood at 10, and FX has an all-new Rescue Me at 10pm.
On Wednesday, the best show of the summer is Wipeout and it airs at 8pm, followed by the season premiere of I Survived a Japanese Game Show at 9pm, and at 10pm the final episode of The Unusuals. NBC will have yet another I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Fox has a two-hour So You Think You Can Dance. On cable, among the highlights are new episodes of Meet the Browns on TBS starting at 10pm, Food has Bobby Flay at 9, Discovery has an all-new primetime including MythBusters at 9pm, Comedy Central has a new RENO 911 at 10:30pm, MTV has Real World Road Rules at 10, MonsterQuest on History at 9, Top Chef Masters is on Bravo at 10, and also at 10pm is Ultimate Fighter on Spike.
On Thursday, ABC will have Game 7 of the NBA Finals between Orlando and the L.A. Lakers starting at 8:30pm ET, with Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night at 8pm, all if necessary. NBC will have another episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm, and later in the night a new episode of drama The Listener at 10pm. Fox will have a new So You Think You Can Dance at 9pm. On cable, among the highlights are WWE Superstars on WGN America, Burn Notice on USA at 9 followed by Royal Pains at 10, Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10pm, MTV has a new 16 and Pregnant at 10, TLC has a new American Chopper at 9, TV Land has She's Got the Look at 9pm, The Real Housewives of Orange County at 9 & The Fashion Show at 10 on Bravo, and Southern Belles: Louisville at 10 on SOAPnet.
On Friday, ABC has new episodes of Surviving Suburbia and The Goode Family in the 8pm hour and later a new 20/20 at 10pm. NBC has a burn-off of Chopping Block followed by two-hours of Dateline. Fox will air a new Don't Forget the Lyrics at 8, and MNT is airing WWE Smackdown. Cable wise, among the highlights are Whale Wars on Animal Planet at 9, What Not to Wear & Say Yes to the Dress on TLC and The Soup on E! at 10.
On Saturday, it's slow as usual with NBC airing a burn-off of Kings at 8. ABC has the a burn-off episode of Eli Stone at 10pm, while CBS has burn-off of Harper's Island 9pm. Fox is new with Cops and AMW. Cable wise, Spike has a new The Ultimate Fighter at 9.
And next Sunday, ABC will have the first part of the mini-series Impact from 9-11pm. CBS has 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC will have a new Dateline at 7pm, leading into the two-hour premiere of Merlin from 8-10. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Law & Order Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight on USA at 9 & 10, Kendra and Denise Richards at 10 on E!, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, Ultimate Knockouts & Spike Guys Choice on Spike starting at 9, JONAS on Disney at 8:30, and Bridezillas on WE tv.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Blog DVD Review: Perry Mason - Season 4, Volume 1

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the blog DVD review! Today we take a look at CBS DVD's Perry Mason: Season 4, Volume 1. Perry Mason of course is the very popular law series. The series stars the great Raymond Burr. See skees53's blog DVD review of Perry Mason: Season 4, Volume 1:

The verdict is in for Perry Mason: Season 4, Volume 1 (CBS DVD, $49.99), and the verdict is: a great DVD set! Perry Mason, of course, is the classic 1950s/1960s TV series that starred Raymond Burr as a defense attorney that would take virtually any case that you would look at and say "nobody could win that case," yet he got a victory in all but one episode. The series was one of the first prominent law dramas to ever air on TV (and the oldest one that we even recognize these days) and aired for nine seasons on CBS. This DVD set presents the first 16 episodes of the 1960-1961 season in a four disc set.
Robert Redford guest stars in "The Case of the Treacherous Toupee," where a hairpiece may help clear a suspected murderer. A woman and her new lover (her husband's nephew) get involved in an extortion scheme gone wrong in "The Case of the Ill-Fated Faker." In "The Case of The Lavender Lipstick," Perry must defend a woman that is accused of killing her boss--and she was to be the heir of his fortune. A clown discovers that his wife is a bigamist in "The Case of the Clumsy Clown," and soon after, she turns up dead. Who else can prove him not guilty?
A girl's family is lost in "The Case of the Nine Dolls," but her family being lost may be the least of her worries. In "The Case of the Loquacious Liar," a man is threatened by his stepfather, but his stepfather is the one that turns up dead. John Hoyt guest stars in "The Case of the Resolute Reformer," where a land purchase deal ends in murder. In "The Case of the Fickle Fortune," a man hires Perry after it is discovered that another man that stole a large amount of money from him has been murdered.
The packaging on the case is the typical cheap CBS DVD movie style case that we all have a love-hate relationship with. They are nice, thin, and seem to "standardize" our collections, but they also scream "cheap" at the same time. As far as disc artwork, there really isn't any aside from the standard gray CBS DVD background with the show logo on each disc. Each disc contains exactly four episodes.
The menus on the set are very, well, basic. The main menu on each disc has a picture of Perry with a listing of episodes next to him, as well as a Play All option. You can't get simpler than that. Chapters are placed in all of the appropriate places.
As the case has been with previous sets, the video and audio quality on this set is excellent. The picture is crystal clear with very little grain (you can't even notice what is there unless you are paying VERY close attention) and the video is presented in pristine black and white. The audio is perfectly fine too, being presented in glorious mono (hey, it was the early 60s) with closed-captioning available for those that require it. The episodes appear to be unedited, as each one runs at almost exactly 52 minutes. That is further backed up by the fact that the set surprisingly does not have the standard CBS DVD disclaimer about episodes being edited. How often does a CBS DVD not have that?
Sadly, despite the fact that these sets always have great video and audio quality, and are always unedited, this set once again lacks in special features. CBS DVD did release a special anniversary set about a year ago that had some very nice special features, but it would be nice to have those on the season sets too. There has to be some old footage with Raymond Burr that they could include somewhere!
CBS DVD is keeping these sets very basic, but I'm still impressed with the quality of the episodes, and the fact that (as far as I can tell) they have yet to put out any truly inferior sets. The only thing that is frustrating about these sets is the half season model. With this model, it'll take 11 more releases to get the entire series out on DVD! But it has been popular with fans everywhere, and I'm sure that fans will support any number of releases. But there is no need to take CBS DVD to trial over this, because this is a set that fans of one of America's greatest defense attorneys (let us not forget about our good friend Matlock, of course) are sure to appreciate.

-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Friday, June 12, 2009

TV Land Schedule Changes Starting June 15; RTN Coming to Los Angeles and Louisville

We gave you the schedule changes that started on TV Land on June 1, but we also told you that was only for weeks of June 1 and 8. Now TV Land has announced the schedule for at least the weeks of June 15 and 22. So let's go through it! Weekdays from 9am-12pm is the same as the previous two weeks with '70s sitcoms. The changes begin at 12 noon. First, TV Land Goes West is not extended anymore on Mondays. Airing weekdays at 12 noon is an episode of Leave it to Beaver, followed by Beverly Hillbillies, both replacing back-to-back Andy Griffith episodes. At 1pm, we have another Beverly Hillbillies remaining, followed by TV Land Goes West intact from 1:30pm-7pm. Then in the 7pm hour we get back-to-back Cosby Show episodes instead of Andy Griffith, as this means Andy Griffith is off the weekday line-up--wow! Then primetime from 8-11pm is heavily changed with Married...with Children on Mondays, Roseanne on Tuesdays, The Cosby Show/She's Got the Look encore on Wednesdays, Roseanne/She's Got the Look premiere & encore on Thursdays, and Cosby Show/PRIME Movie on Fridays. The PRIME movie is now at a new time of Fridays at 9PM. And airing from 11pm-4am now is all Roseanne every weeknight. There are a few She's Got the Look encores mixed in, though. Still that's a lot of Roseanne in late night! But off the clock is still remaining, so all these times are approximate. An hour of Three's Company and M*A*S*H airs at 4am and 5am respectively.
As for weekends, they have only announced what is airing the weekend of June 20-21, as they have not given an update on the weekend of June 27-28. On Saturday, June 20 we have: 6-8am PRIME Movie, 9am-12pm Beverly Hillbillies, 12pm-10pm Andy Griffith Show, 10pm-12am The Cosby Show, 1am-4am Roseanne, 4-6am Three's Company. And on Sunday, June 21 we have: 6am-8am Gunsmoke, 8am-12pm Bonanza, 12pm-10pm Andy Griffith, 10pm-12am M*A*S*H, 12am-2am Married...with Children, 2-3am Roseanne, 4-6am Little House on the Prairie. Whatever hours that are missing here will be encores of She's Got the Look. If I were to guess, we will see something similar to this weekend schedule the following weekend as well. So it looks like Andy Griffith is removed from weekdays (except for a sighting on Tuesday, June 23 from 8-9pm) but will dominate on weekends, or at least for the weekend of June 20-21.
Technically this schedule is through Friday, June 26...so stay tuned for any updates as usual! View the schedule starting Monday, June 15 in a list form, and also join in on our discussion! And don't forget to tune into the Married...with Children marathon this weekend on both days from 8am-10pm!

RTN (Retro Television Network, now called RTV) announced that it will retrofit KHIZ in Los Angeles beginning TODAY (Friday, June 12). KHIZ is actually located in Barstow, CA. The station, part of the Multicultural group, will begin airing the Retro TV lineup on its digital as well as several hours a day on its primary. Retro Television has secured major markets in recent weeks, as it went live three weeks ago on the Multicultural station WMFP in Boston and announced last week a deal to bring Retro TV to New York via WSAH TV on July 1.
Retro Television celebrates four years on the air on July 1 and now reports a national clearance of 80% of the US, with the Los Angeles market now included. Retro TV's Neal Ardman said "we are thrilled with our growth these last few months. What better market to launch concurrent with the digital switch then Los Angeles. Everyone at Multicultural has been a pleasure to work with and we look forward to a long prosperous relationship."
Also, Retro TV is coming to Louisville, KY! WBNA-DT in Louisville will now also join the Retro TV family. Originally supposed to go on-air on July 1, now WBNA-DT will go on the air as early as this coming Monday, sources say. WBNA, an ION affiliate, is owned by Evangel World Prayer Center (Word Broadcasting Network, Inc.). Retro TV is reportedly going to air on channel 21.2 or 21.4, so check it out on Monday.
If you still don't know by now, Retro TV airs great shows from the past like Adam 12, Leave it to Beaver, Night Gallery and rarely seen shows like Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew and Voyagers. Retro TV now provides both custom local feeds for its affiliates or a typical national network type feed at the stations choice.

And don't forget television makes the switch to digital today at 12:30pm ET! Hope you made the switch!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

BET Acquires Sister, Sister; ABC Removes Scrubs Repeats Slated to Begin June 23

BET has acquired the rights to air the hit '90s sitcom Sister, Sister starting this July! The Tia and Tamara Mowry sitcom will launch on BET with an all-day 4th of July marathon from 9am-4am ET/PT on Saturday, July 4! There will also be a block on Sunday, July 5 from 12pm-5pm ET/PT as well. Then starting Monday, July 6, Sister, Sister will air weekdays in the 12 noon hour and also in the 4pm hour leading into The Game at 5pm, which also stars Tia Mowry. Talk about seeing double! We will have more updates on BET's sitcoms soon, but as of now the daytime schedule starting in July looks like this: 9-10am Proud Family, 10-11am Smart Guy, 11am-12pm One on One, 12-1pm Sister Sister, 1-3pm Movie, 3-4pm One on One, 4-5pm Sister Sister, and 5-6pm The Game.
Sister, Sister will still remain on ABC Family as well. They air it weekdays 7-8am and 1-2pm...so another double dose of the twins. BET is picking up the WGN America deal, as they lose rights to the series at the end of this month. So that's how BET is going to air Sister, Sister. WGN America recently only aired the series once a week in the very late nights, then they removed it from the schedule completely.

ABC has removed the Scrubs repeats slated to start on Tuesday, June 23 at 9:30pm. Instead, ABC will expand upcoming new reality-celeb competition series The Superstars to 90-minutes, airing 8pm-9:30pm ET/PT. Airing at 9:30pm now will be the return of Better off Ted with new episodes. That was slated to air at 9pm previously on Tuesdays. Officially ABC has only expanded the first two episodes of The Superstars to 90-minutes, but if it does well, expect all of them that way. The series will last through Tuesday, August 4. If the series is not expanded beyond the first two weeks, I would expect an hour of Better off Ted--new and repeat, instead of a Scrubs repeat mixed in. But like I said, expect Ted to only air at 9:30pm, as The Superstars will likely do very well and continue to air 90-minutes throughout its run. Some drama in the Bahamas!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

ABC Fall 2009 Premiere Dates; Futurama Returns in Mid-2010; TV Land Changes Night and Time for Originals

ABC has announced most of the premiere dates for the 2009-2010 season. Additional premieres will be announced at a later date. Most of the series will launch or return for premiere week (Sept. 21-27), but there are some before and after. Saturday Night Football returns on Saturday nights at 8pm ET starting Saturday, Sept. 5. 20/20 will launch its new season (it never has repeats though) on Friday, Sept. 11 at 10pm. Then we move on to premiere week. Dancing with the Stars kicks-off premiere week and the new season for ABC on Monday, Sept. 21 from 8-10pm followed by the season premiere of Castle at 10pm. Dancing with the Stars will also air on Tuesday, Sept. 22 from 8-10pm leading into the series premiere of The Forgotten. Airing at 8pm on Tuesdays will be Shark Tank starting Aug. 25 (with special airings after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on Sundays at 9 on Aug, 9, 16 & 23), but Shark Tank is preempted on Sept. 22, but will return Sept. 29 at 8. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, a special Dancing with the Stars: The Results on a special night & time of 8pm will lead-into the comedy premieres of Modern Family & Cougar Town. No word yet what will air at 10pm on this night, as ABC has not announced when new drama Eastwick will launch. Dancing with the Stars: The Results will move to its regular Tuesdays at 9pm slot the following week (Tues., Sept. 29). On Thursday, Sept. 24, ABC launches the premiere of Flash Forward at 8pm followed by the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. ABC has not announced yet when Private Practice will launch. On Sunday, Sept. 27, ABC will have a two-hour season premiere of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition from 7-9pm, followed by the season premiere of Desperate Housewives at 9pm. No date for Brothers & Sisters has been announced yet.
Premiering out of premiere week will be new comedies Hank and The Middle on Wednesday, Sept. 30 in the 8pm hour. Also, AFV will launch its new season on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 7pm, as Home Edition moves back to the regular 8pm hour. Premiering in week three will be the two-hour season premiere of Ugly Betty from 8-10pm on Friday, Oct. 9, before moving to its regular 9pm slot the following week. And Supernanny launches its new season in week four at 8pm on Oct. 16. That's good to launch the Friday series a bit later as Friday ratings tend to be very low until its gets cooler.
So, to recap so far no premiere dates for Brothers & Sisters, Private Practice and new drama Eastwick. Why? I think ABC might be mulling a special preview for Eastwick. If I were to guess, Eastwick would get a special premiere on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 10 following Desperate Housewives, with Brothers & Sisters launching its new season the following Sunday at 10 (Oct. 4). Eastwick would have its Wednesday premiere on Sept. 30 at 10. During premiere week they might have a special at 10pm on both Wednesday, Sept. 23 and Thursday, Sept. 24 to fill those vacant spots, so maybe Private Practice will not launch until week two (Thursday, Oct. 1). Just my guesses. We also don't know yet what is airing on Fridays the first two weeks from 8-10pm? Maybe special encores of something during the week?
View the premiere dates in list form. We'll inform you as soon as we know about the missing premiere dates.

20th Century Fox Television, the animation powerhouse that brought Family Guy back from the dead five years ago, has done it again: Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's brilliantly subversive animated sci-fi comedy Futurama will return to production on 26 new half-hour episodes more than six years after the series aired its last original episode. The move comes on the heels of the series' blockbuster performance on DVD and on Comedy Central.
The new episodes will be available in mid 2010 to be shown on Comedy Central. However, Twentieth Century Fox Television retains the option to license the original runs of the new episodes to a broadcast network as well.
Futurama was a staple of Fox's Sunday night animation block from 1999 to 2003 before ceasing production on original episodes. In June 2006, Comedy Central acquired the rights to the existing 72 episodes of the series, which the channel began airing in January 2008, and four recently-produced extended length Futurama adventures: "Bender's Big Score," "The Beast with a Billion Backs," "Bender's Game" and "Into the Wild Green Yonder," which enjoyed enormous success both on Comedy Central and in DVD release. This new deal marks the show's return to episodic series production on original episodes. Futurama becomes only the second series in the history of the medium to go back into production based on the strength of its DVD sales and repeat airings on cable.

TV Land announced today that it is making changes to its summer schedule as upcoming original series How'd You Get So Rich? starring Joan Rivers and the comedic hidden camera series Make My Day will now premiere on Thursday, August 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and 9:30 p.m. ET/PT respectively.
It was previously announced that they would premiere on Wednesday, August 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. The series' will premiere in TV Land PRIME, the network's new primetime programming block designed to appeal to the attitudes, life stage and interests of people in their 40s.
Premiering on Thursday, August 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, How'd You Get So Rich? stars the notoriously uncensored gossip diva Joan Rivers as she explores the lifestyles of the fabulously rich and lucky in this 30-minute, six-episode series. Following How'd You Get So Rich? is the premiere of the six-episode show Make My Day at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. This comedic hidden-camera series provides a window into one day in the life of an unsuspecting participant. Tune in as cameras capture the action as they experience weird coincidences, extraordinary situations and surprise celebrity appearances for one whole day.
It seems Thursdays at 9PM is the new hour for TV Land originals, as TV Land also launches the second season of She's Got the Look tomorrow (June 11) on the night and time.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Comcast's TubeTime Brings Back Diff'rent Strokes, What's Happening; WGN Acquires American Gladiators Revivial Reruns

Comcast's onDemand service TubeTime is bringing back Diff'rent Strokes and What's Happening!! onDemand! The first 5 episodes of each are available again to view at your leisure! These two have been on Comcast's TubeTime previously and now they both return.
TubeTime still has Facts of Life, Three Stooges, Gidget, Larry Sanders Show and Sanford & Son on their service, too. So fans of those series, not to worry...they will remain. It looks like since we last reported, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Who's the Boss?, One Day at a Time, and Silver Spoons are off the service for now. For those wondering Facts of Life episodes are currently in the sixth season on TubeTime, while Three Stooges are in the fourth season, Gidget at the end of the first season, Larry Sanders Show is in the second season, and as is Sanford & Son. Let's hope they get to season three of Diff'rent Strokes quickly, since starting with that season it is not on DVD yet. What's Happening!! is already complete on DVD, so it would have been better if it was follow-up series What's Happening Now!! instead, since only one season of that is on DVD. In addition to that, I'm hoping the following pop-up on TubeTime in the future: Dennis the Menace, Sanford, Benson, 227, Archie Bunker's Place, Maude, and hoping some return like Silver Spoons. Maybe wishful thinking on some? TubeTime only provides Sony owned series to Comcast.

WGN America has acquired reruns of the revival of American Gladiators that aired on NBC last year. The series will air Thursday nights at 9pm ET starting Thursday, June 25. American Gladiators will follow WWE Superstars on Thursday nights and that should finally give WGN America a good companion to WWE Superstars.
In other schedule news, Around the World for Free will wrap up its season on Monday, June 22, then a series of specials will air in July on Mondays at 9pm ET titled Lance Burton, Master Magician. Once that wraps, a second rerun of AFV will return on Monday nights. The special ASA Action Sports World Tour will air at 9pm ET on Thursday, July 9 (that will shift American Gladiators to Wednesday at 9pm ET for that week only).
And as for classic TV, there will be plenty of it this fall and we will get to that soon! One hint is one show that airs on the network will be celebrating an anniversary, and WGN America will air an anniversary marathon! We will tell you that soon! So keep checking back!

Monday, June 08, 2009

Malcolm in the Middle Coming to Nick at Nite in July 2009; Old Christine Reruns Join Entourage, Curb in Fall 2010 Syndication

Nick at Nite is getting the 8pm ET/PT hour back! The last time they had the full 8pm hour was from 1985-1996. The 8pm half-hour was lost starting in Fall 1996. Then they eventually lost the 8:30pm half-hour as well a year or so later. They briefly got 8:30pm back in fall 2000, but eventually that was gone by summer 2001. But now the full 8pm hour is back! What show will Nick at Nite use? Malcolm in the Middle! Nick at Nite has acquired rerun rights to all 151 episodes of the family comedy from Twentieth Century Fox TV. Malcolm will become the anchor of Nick at Nite's primetime sitcom block, airing Sunday-Thursday in the reinstated 8pm hour starting Sunday, July 5. The single-camera comedy ran on Fox for seven seasons from 2000-06 and revolved around a budding teenager (Frankie Muniz), with a genius IQ in a family of misfits. Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston co-starred as parents Lois and Hal. The series will make a nice companion to fellow single-camera sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, which will premiere in syndication this fall on Nick at Nite!
Malcolm in the Middle will still remain on cable on FX, where it has been airing since fall 2007. FX has a 5-year deal, that runs though fall 2012. There has to be a time restriction for FX and Nick at Nite now. FX airs the show currently in the weekdays 7am hour and various times in the afternoons, mostly 3-4pm. So, if I were to guess, FX has rights from 7am-7pm, with Nick at Nite 7pm-7am? Just a guess, but it makes sense. The show is also on local broadcast syndication. It has been airing on local channels since fall 2004, but its term is up this fall (2009), so it seems it will leave locals this fall. View the press release and discuss this news! We will have more on Malcolm in the Middle soon, including how this will affect the full Nick at Nite schedule starting in July. Stay tuned!
In other Nick at Nite news, they added a very last minute The Nanny marathon last night (Sunday, June 7), from 11pm-6am ET/PT and a special airing at 9:30pm as well. The show will also get a marathon next Sunday (June 14) from 9pm-4am, in case you didn't see it last night. It seems to me The Nanny is a surprise hit for the network.

Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has cleared reruns of sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine on local TV stations reaching more than 70 percent of the country, including the Tribune stations in New York and Los Angeles, for a Fall 2010 syndication launch.
The New Adventures of Old Christine, which CBS just picked up for a fifth season, was picked up by Tribune-owned WPIX in New York and KTLA in Los Angeles and by Weigel-owned WCIU in Chicago. In addition, the show has been sold to other markets owned by the CBS, Sinclair, Fox, Local TV, Hearst, Raycom, Meredith, Acme, Titan, Roberts, Gannett, Capitol, Grant and Cox station groups. Old Christine will air as a double-run daily strip with two weekend broadcasts at the most on these stations.
As previously mentioned, Warner Bros. has also sold reruns of Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm for a fall 2010 syndication launch as well. Entourage reruns will also air on cable on Viacom's Spike TV and Comedy Central before the syndication launch, in January 2010 as we mentioned.
Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm have also added several more station groups to their clearances, including CBS, Sinclair, Fox, Local TV, Hearst, Raycom, Meredith, Acme, Titan, Roberts, Gannett, Capitol, Grant and Cox. Both shows already were cleared on the Tribune stations in 17 markets including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Both shows will air as daily strips with one weekend run at most on these stations. And now Entourage also "reportedly" has a run on Tribune's WGN America cable network starting in Fall 2010 as well, according to B&C. So by Fall 2010, Entourage will be in broadcast syndication, Spike TV/Comedy Central, and possibly WGN America. Curb is still looking for a cable home, as is Old Christine.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Summer Week 2 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

Summer has now started and everything is pretty light. We will be back with our normal weekly report with the first four nights numbers and analysis in the fall, but we still will have our regular how the sitcoms did all summer long, along with last year's summer favorite, the coming week preview! Here are our summer ratings:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of May 25-31)

  • The Simpsons (Fox) - 4.94 million for a repeat beats the previous week's not scheduled rain-out NASCAR repeat.
  • King of the Hill (Fox) 2 episodes - A 7pm repeat did just 2.29 million and a 8:30 repeat did better with 4.44 million.
  • Family Guy (Fox) - 5.35 million for a repeat, is 3 million more than the previous week when it aired but wasn't scheduled to due to the NASCAR rain-out.
  • American Dad! (Fox) 2 episodes - Only 2.65 million for a repeat at 7:30, but the normal airing at 9:30pm did 4.66 million for a repeat.

Summer Week 2 (June 1-7)

Monday Sitcoms

  • The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 6.77 million for a repeat...up from previous week when it was Memorial Day.
  • How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 6.18 million for a repeat airing, not bad.
  • Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 10.1 million for a repeat is excellent for a repeat...actually unbelievable these days.
  • Rules of Engagement (CBS) - 8.31 million for a repeat is decent.
Tuesday Sitcoms

  • According to Jim (ABC) 2 episodes - It finally happened. The final two episodes of the series aired and did 3.98 and 3.96 million. Not too good, but better than what it did in recent weeks. I think ABC should have promoted it a little bit at least. The show did last 8 seasons.
Wednesday Sitcoms

  • The Goode Family (ABC) 2 episodes - Only 2.44 million for the hour. Not good, now ABC is moving it to Fridays at 8:30pm starting this week. Two new Wipeout episodes this Wednesday! Good night and big balls!
  • Old Christine (CBS) - Just 4.49 million for a repeat...could be better.
  • Gary Unmarried (CBS) - Just 4.41 million for a repeat. CBS needs to promote this sitcom hour more since it is coming back in tact in the fall and ABC is already promoting their all-new Wednesday comedy block.
Thursday Sitcoms

  • 30 Rock (NBC) - preempted.
  • The Office (NBC) - preempted.

Friday Sitcoms

  • Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - A repeat at 9pm did a prelim 880,000 viewers. This show is canceled anyway.
  • The Game (The CW) - A repeat did 1.1 million prelim viewers for this canceled sitcom as well. This should have been brought back for another year I think.
  • Samantha Who? (ABC) 2 episodes - Two repeats did just a prelim 2.32 million average for the hour.
Saturday Sitcoms

  • Old Christine (CBS) - A special Saturday repeat only mustered a prelim 2.21 million.
  • Worst Week (CBS) - An all-new burn-off episode of this canceled comedy only did a prelim 1.91 million ... ouch!
Tonight you can catch encores of Fox's animated comedies from 7-10 tonight. Elsewhere ABC will win big with the NBA Finals Game #2. CBS has the low rated Tony Awards at 8pm. NBC has a new Dateline from 7-9pm. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels on A&E, Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike at 10, and Bridezillas on WE tv.


Coming Week Preview (June 8-14):

For Monday, on ABC, it's an all-new night with new episodes of The Bachelorette from 8-10pm and Here Come the Newylweds at 10pm. NBC will have a two-hour of the crazy I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm followed by yet another Dateline at 10pm. On cable among the highlights we have a new episode of Around the World for Free on WGN America at 9pm, Greek on ABC Family at 8pm, season premieres of The Closer and Raising the Bar on TNT starting at 9, WWE Raw on USA Network, Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC, VH1's reality series Rock of Love Charm School, New York Goes to Work & Gotti's Way, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List at 10pm on Bravo.
On Tuesday, ABC will have Jimmy Kimmel Live! Game Night at 8pm followed by game 3 of the NBA Finals. CBS will have an episode of 48 Hours at 10pm. NBC has Game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Fox and The CW at 9pm will have Mental on Fox and The CW airing Hitched or Ditched. On cable, among the highlights are Deadliest Catch and Out of the Wild on Discovery starting at 9pm, MTV has Paris Hilton's My New BFF at 10, TLC has new series 18 Kids and Counting & The Little Couple, BET has College Hill at 10pm, Bravo has an all-new The Real Housewives of New Jersey at 10pm, and FX has an all-new Rescue Me at 10pm.
On Wednesday, the best show of the summer is Wipeout and it airs at 8pm and 9pm this week with two all-new episodes and at 10pm a new The Unusuals. NBC will have yet another two-hour I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Fox has a two-hour So You Think You Can Dance. On cable, among the highlights are new episodes of House of Payne and Meet the Browns on TBS starting at 9pm, Discovery has an all-new primetime including MythBusters at 9pm, Comedy Central has a new RENO 911 at 10:30pm, MTV has Real World Road Rules at 10, MonsterQuest on History at 9, Top Chef Masters is on Bravo at 10, and also at 10pm is Ultimate Fighter on Spike.
On Thursday, ABC will have Game 4 of the NBA Finals between Orlando and the L.A. Lakers starting at 8:30pm ET, with Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night at 8pm. NBC will have another episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here at 8pm, and later in the night a new episode of drama The Listener at 10pm. Fox will have a new So You Think You Can Dance at 9pm. On cable, among the highlights are WWE Superstars on WGN America, Burn Notice on USA at 9 followed by Royal Pains at 10, Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10pm, MTV has a new 16 and Pregnant at 10, TLC has a new American Chopper at 9, TV Land has the premiere of a new season of She's Got the Look at 9pm, The Real Housewives of Orange County at 9 & The Fashion Show at 10 on Bravo, and Southern Belles: Louisville at 10 on SOAPnet.
On Friday, ABC has new episodes of Surviving Suburbia and The Goode Family in the 8pm hour and later a new 20/20 at 10pm. NBC has Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals if it is necessary. Fox will air a new Don't Forget the Lyrics at 8, and MNT is airing WWE Smackdown. Cable wise, among the highlights are MADE on MTV at 10, What Not to Wear & Masters of Reception on TLC and The Soup on E! at 10.
On Saturday, it's slow as usual with NBC airing a burn-off of Kings at 8. ABC has the final burn-off episode of Pushing Daisies at 10pm, while CBS has burn-off of Harper's Island 9pm. Fox is new with Cops and AMW. Cable wise, Nick has a new The Naked Brothers Band at 9.
And next Sunday, ABC will have Game 5 of the NBA Finals starting at 7:30pm ET with Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night at 7pm. CBS has 60 Minutes & Million Dollar Password starting at 7pm. NBC will have a new Dateline at 7pm. Cable wise, among the highlights are Lifetime's new season of Army Wives at 10pm, In Plain Sight on USA at 10, Daisy of Love & Brooke Knows Best on VH1, Gene Simmons Family Jewels & Hammertime on A&E, UFC Unleashed & Jesse James is a Dead Man on Spike starting at 9, and Bridezillas on WE tv.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Blog DVD Review: The Best of Whose Line is it Anyway (6/9)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for our weekly Blog DVD Review! Today we take a look at Warner Home Video's improv series The Best of Whose Line is it Anyway. Whose Line is it Anyway was a improv comedy show presented by Drew Carey and starred Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady and Colin Mochrie! See Seth Thrasher's Blog DVD review of The Best of Whose Line is it Anyway:

The Best of Whose Line is it Anyway (Warner, $24.98) hits store shelves this Tuesday, and contained within you are going to find 10 of the funniest episodes of television imaginable. Whose Line is it Anyway ran from 1998 through 2004 on ABC, before jumping to ABC Family for its final two years of new episodes from 2005-06. Due to the nature of the show, sales of season sets just didn't make financial sense -- but the show was popular enough that some sort of DVD release was still warranted. Here we have what I hope will the first in a great many volumes of "best of" sets.

If you want to know that this truly is the best of the show, you needn't look any further than the first episode on the set. The episode that -- at least in my opinion -- is not only the series' best show but one of the funniest half hours in TV history leads off, the Richard Simmons episode. I have *never* seen a funnier single episode. The episode is in fact a theme show. We start off with people pretending to be different people/things and having to switch off every now and then. One of the assigned things to pretend to be? Richard Simmons. Later on we have fun with the green screen, with Colin (Mochrie) anchoring a news report live from the scene of...one of Richard's workout videos! But the highlight of the episode is a segment called "Living Scenery." In it, two people act out a scene, while two others actually act as the assortment of props. Drew then calls in Richard, who comes out to wild applause. What transpires next is the funniest 5 minutes in television history -- there are thousands of copies of the video online, just search for it. If you've never seen it you may well wind up bowled over in laughter, while those of you who HAVE seen it will still find it hysterical. Other episodes on the set feature fluffing your Garfield, Wayne Brady as that annoying singing fish you used to see in novelty stores everywhere, and a multitude of guest stars including David Hasselhoff, Jerry Springer, and Florence Henderson. The episodes are cherry-picked from the run, with the earliest show being from June 2001 and the oldest being from August 2004.

As this is only a 10 episode set, packaging is rather minimalist. Black plastic keepcase, with two discs inside. The first disc is housed on a plastic tray affixed to the spine, while the second disc is housed on a hub affixed to the packaging itself. There is also an insert detailing the 10 episodes. Disc art is very, very green -- following the theme set by the main package itself. Disc 1 features Drew solo, while disc 2 features Colin, Ryan, and of course Wayne Brady. Menu art features a strip of cast headshots -- six in total. Featured is Drew, Ryan, Colin, and Wayne -- plus semi-regular Greg Proops and show musician Laura Hall. It's interesting -- and extremely nice -- to see Laura Hall included in the menu. She was there just as often as anyone else affiliated with the show, and her music played an integral role in some of the show's classic bits, but she's usually overlooked. Anyway, the menu features their headshots in a strip across the top, while across the center are six chalk-outlined bodies not necessarily matching the cast photo. For example, the body under Ryan is a doctor, while the one under Colin is of a bikini-clad woman.

I should mention, as I head into the audio and video, that this is Whose Line "Uncensored." Any bleeps or such things that might have occurred in the original airings for the benefit of ABC viewers have been removed. You're going to hear what was actually said. As such, this may not be ideal for the extremely young viewer -- but realistically once a child reaches their double digits, they've already been exposed to any words or content mentioned here, so I wouldn't worry about kids 13 and over. The episodes themselves run in the neighborhood of 21:30 with few deviations. For an early 2000's TV series, this is largely consistent with what you should expect. Video quality looks good, keeping in mind that this show was intended as a live-feeling comedy show, and as such may not have been shot on the highest grade tape stock. It's also from the standard-def era, so obviously that's going to knick the video a bit too. Still, what is presented by and large looks great. Audio sounds good and you hear what is most important -- the vocals -- loud and clear. The stereo track does its job well.

As the episodes on the set itself doesn't start until 2001 -- a couple of seasons into the set, there's a special feature included to recap the highlights of seasons 1 and 2. It also includes some uncensored highlights and outtakes (43:59). Still, for a 10 episode collection-style release to have a bonus included is a rare and nice thing to behold. That's how well-done this set is. As it's 10 extremely funny half-hours (and a bonus funny hour), I wholeheartedly recommend this set. This is a good solid several hours of nonstop entertainment, and is worthy of dollars from your entertainment budget.

-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher
(4.5/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Whose Line is it Anyway TV.com Page

Friday, June 05, 2009

TV One July 2009; ABC Moves Goode Family and Suburbia to Fridays

This July 2009 on TV One, it is going to be pretty slow. We gave you the TV One June 2009 highlights already, and at the end we mentioned a Martin Independence Day marathon is scheduled for July 3 starting at 8pm last until 8pm the following day. But now we have the rest of July. There are no schedule changes, so the schedule that started in June with the additions of That's My Mama! and Like Family, will continue (see the June schedule link above for more).
The only highlight worth mentioning for TV One July is on Friday, July 24 beginning at 10pm when TV One presents the "Living Single: Queen For A Day Mega-Thon" featuring episodes of the long-running sitcom focusing on Queen Latifah's character Khadijah James in a 24-hour mega-thon event.
The other highlights are for movies and original series, but that doesn't concern us really. Stay tuned if anything changes, if not see for the August highlights in a month!

ABC has moved animated comedy The Goode Family and sitcom Surviving Suburbia from Wednesdays to Fridays effective next week. This coming Wednesday (June 10) will see two episodes of the summer megahit Wipeout at 8pm and 9pm, before the season premiere of I Survived a Japanese Game Show launches on June 17 at 9pm out of new episodes of Wipeout at 8pm. Japanese Game Show was previously not launching its new season until July 8, so this is 3 weeks ahead of schedule due to the ratings bombs of Goode and Suburbia. I think I was the first one to mention the possibility of Japanese Game Show launching June 17, a few days ago on our message boards. And I was right!
Starting next Friday (June 12), we will now see the remaining new episodes of Surviving Suburbia at 8pm, followed by The Goode Family at 8:30pm, and back-to-back repeats of Samantha Who? are still slated to air on June 12 and 19 from 9-10pm, before According to Jim repeats take over on June 26.
Suburbia is not going to air Fridays at 9:30pm as previously announced starting July 3, at least not on July 3 because ABC announced another According to Jim repeat will air then. After that week, I would guess no, and Jim would continue to air for an hour instead. Nevertheless, Fridays is now a full night of comedies! We like that! Tune in!
In other ABC updates, ABC will launch the third season of the hidden camera comedy Just for Laughs airing a half-hour a week on Sundays at 7pm starting Sunday, June 21. An abbreviated half-hour repeat of AFV will follow each week. It is unclear how many episodes are airing, but the two past seasons had 13 episodes each.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

ION Television July 2009; RTN Coming to New York City, Announces More Shows

ION Television has announced its July line-up. But before we relay that to you, the change they were making we told you about starting June 8, is now NOT happening. This means Family Feud will stay in the 6pm hour and Reba will remain in the 7pm hour. Previously they were going to be switched, but they changed their mind.
Now back to July. Effective Monday, June 29, the 4-6pm weekday hours are changed. Previously we mentioned ER would return weekdays at 5pm starting June 29, with M*A*S*H moving to the 4pm hour. Now that is not happening either. Boston Legal will be airing weekdays at 5pm now! And Boston Legal will remain Tuesdays in primetime from 8-11pm as well. M*A*S*H will however still move to the 4pm hour as previously announced. Everything else will remain the same.
Movie premieres for July are Revenge, Uncle Buck, Wildcats, Batman Returns, Mother Knows Best, Terror in the Family, Passenger 57, and Training Day. Movies encores for July are Assassins, Pacific Heights, True Crime, Best Friends, Falling Down, Lethal Weapon 2, and Just Cause. Movies on Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4 are still TBD, so stay tuned!
View the full ION Television July 2009 schedule and highlights.

Retro TV is FINALLY coming to the Big Apple! Yes, RTN is coming to the New York market. Retro Television announced today that is has entered into an agreement with Multicultural Broadcasting's WSAH to begin airing RTN starting Wednesday, July 1 in New York. RTN will air on the primary channel of WSAH-TV and will be available to cable, satellite and over the air viewers immediately. WSAH is actually based in Bridgeport, CT, though. So, there will be areas in the NY/NJ market that don't get this station on cable.
The new WSAH will air RTN 24/7 with great shows like Quincy, Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock, Emergency! and many more. According to RTN's Neal Ardman "WSAH brings millions of cable and satellite viewers to the RTN family and we are beyond excited to launch our custom feed this July. We now New Yorkers will be thrilled with the Prime time all the Time lineup of RTN."
Sean Kim, COO of Multicultural Broadcasting said, "We are very excited to continue our relationship with Retro and looking forward to providing New York viewers with best programming from the '60s, '70s and '80s."
RTN is currently in or under contract in 75% of the US with its unique format of providing custom feeds to most markets.

RTN has also picked-up the rights to air 7 more shows, in addition to the Universal-owned shows they air. All 7 series are from independent production companies. The shows they have picked-up are:
I Spy - starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp (1965-68, 82 episodes)
The Rifleman - starring Chuck Connors (1958-63, 168 episodes)
The Cisco Kid - Starring Duncan Renaldo (1950-56, 156 episodes)
Daniel Boone - Starring Fess Parker (1964-70, 165 episodes)
Peter Gunn - Starring Craig Stevens (1958-61, 114 episodes)
The Adventures of Robin Hood - Starring Richard Greene (1955-60, 143 episodes)
Black Beauty - Starring Black Beauty (104 episodes)
These series will launch on RTN this July across the nation.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Lifetime Brings Back Still Standing; AmericanLife TV Sold to Another Company; Obsessed with TV?

Lifetime is bringing back sitcom Still Standing after a short hiatus. The sitcom will return to the schedule on Monday (June 8) in the 5pm hour replacing two episodes of Cybill. Cybill will still however air in the 8am hour and at 2am, though the 8am half-hour lately has been encores of reality original Cook Yourself Thin, but it should be back to a full-hour of Cybill by June 29.
And don't forget to watch Less than Perfect on Lifetime, in the 9am hour and 6pm hour, as it just started this week!
As for Still Standing, for blue-collar Chicago couple and former high school sweethearts Judy (Jami Gertz) and Bill Miller (Mark Addy), raising a family is a huge challenge--especially with clashing parenting philosophies. Judy takes a more serious stance, while Bill holds a more relaxed approach.
Cybill is about Cybill Shepherd starring as Cybill Sheridan, a woman who has it all: two spiteful daughters, two clingy ex-husbands, an outrageous best friend, an unstable future and a house on an eroding LA hillside. But with humor and determination, Cybill braves each new challenge that comes her way, while having the time of her life discovering that life after forty is anything but...

We hinted (on our message board) when we announced the AmericanLife TV June schedule over a month ago that AmericanLife is being sold and now we have the details! ComStar Media Fund, LP, through its subsidiary ComStar Networks, LLC has acquired the popular "baby boomer" network AmericanLife TV Network (ALN) for an undisclosed sum.
ALN thrives as the only independent network devoted to America's baby boomer generation and their families, delivering classic TV, lifestyle, original and socially responsible programming that addresses compelling issues important to today's baby boomer audience. With the acquisition of ALN, ComStar has a vehicle to build out a premiere family-friendly network that will amalgamate television and Internet mediums and fill a void for safe, family programming targeting viewers of all ages.
The network provides a platform for the return of Reverend Robert A. Schuller to the media marketplace. One of the most recognized orators in the world, Dr. Schuller served as Senior Pastor of Crystal Cathedral Ministries and hosted the phenomenally popular global weekly television program The Hour of Power.
Changes at the network will include improving the network's on-air look, revamping syndicated programming and strategically rebranding the network as the destination for family values. The network will develop new original family-friendly based content to compliment an expansive offering of classic programs and films.
The network has gotten a new logo and website look as well since Monday, when their new schedule launched.
We will have more news on ALN in the future for sure, especially if they bring in more new classic shows.

Our friend Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has a new interview posted for June! He sits down with David Hofstede, author of the new super-cool trivia book Obsessed with TV. So who looks better in short-shorts Catherine Bach or Cheryl Ladd? Who are the best comedic duo Laurel & Hardy or Gleason & Carney? The book has 2,500 questions to test your knowledge of TV! There is even an interactive piece on it. Find out how that works and more by reading the two-page interview on Retroality.TV (continues on page 2)!
GSN is even promoting the book and copies were given away on GSN Live.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Just Shoot Me Joins Comedy Central; Scrubs Also Airing on Spike TV; JustMyShow.com Goes Wang Chung Tonight

Just Shoot Me!, the hit '90s sitcom, has now joined Comedy Central's line-up airing weekdays at 3:30pm & 4:00pm following episodes of Scrubs at 2:30pm & 3:00pm. Just Shoot Me! was previously on sister station TV Land (also owned by Viacom), but the ratings were not too good. Now it is getting a run on Comedy Central. The show will also air on weekends anytime between 10am-1pm, also paired with Scrubs. Scrubs will also remain in its weeknights 7-8pm slot as well.
Just a note, Just Shoot Me! is also still airing on TBS weekdays from 2-3pm. The series lasted 148 episodes on NBC from 1997-2003.

We have some Spike TV news! They have been airing CSI and CSI: NY all day long (9am-8pm) for a while now, but this July finally the regular schedule will return. But before that happens, another show that was on TV Land will make its way to a sister station. We get more Scrubs! Scrubs will air on Spike TV on Thursday nights to start-off in the 1am hour starting June 18, replacing MANanswers and Beavis & Butt-head. Then a few weeks later it will lose that hour to MANswers, but gain so much more. Scrubs will join the Spike TV weekday line-up starting Monday, July 6 airing in the 11am hour, following the daily return of Married...with Children from 9-11am weekdays. So yes, Scrubs will be on two Viacom networks (Comedy Central and Spike TV) along with WGN America and local syndication. That sure is a whole lot! But with this addition, it seems TV Land will not be airing it again. Married...with Children was airing on Sundays from 9am-10:30am on Spike TV since these CSI and CSI NY marathons have been airing lately and the show also has been airing on sister network TV Land. Lots of cross airings on Viacom networks it seems lately.
The rest of the new Spike TV schedule starting July 6 has Spike's Most Amazing Videos at 12 noon, back-to-back CSI NY from 1-3pm, CSI from 3-5pm, more CSI NY from 5-7pm, and more CSI from 7-9pm. This means Unsolved Mysteries is not on the schedule and won't return for now it seems. Primetime has movies and originals. The late night schedule has CSI, Spike's Most Amazing Videos, Disorderly Conduct: Video on Patrol, Star Trek: Voyager, MXC, and The Shield, with the latter two just once a week.

Our good buddy Eric from the wonderful JustMyShow.com is back with another new podcast! Hint: Everybody Wang Chung Tonight! He brought you some of the '80s most memorable hits. Now he's here to tell you how it all happened. JMS chats it up with Wang Chung lead singer Jack Hues. And that's not all! There is a special appearance by Emmy-winning writer Ken Levine! There is a bonus clip that will interest us the most probably. The bonus clip has Ken Levine discussing his famous Cheers Wang Chung line, as that sitcom had an episode ("To All the Girls I've Loved Before") that featured Wang Chung. So head on over to JustMyShow and listen to this podcast and the bonus audio!

Monday, June 01, 2009

TV Land and Hallmark Last Minute June Changes; CBS To Air Unaired Worst Week Episode

TV Land June 2009 schedule - take three! And action! Yes, TV Land has changed its June schedule once again. As of now the changes are just for this week and next week (weeks of June 1 and 8) and are in effect starting TODAY, as we mentioned on our message boards this weekend. The new schedule will have TV Land Goes West on Mondays now from 11:30am-7pm with Gunsmoke and Bonanza and now Little House on the Prairie will air at approx. 5:30pm. I say approx. because TV Land is really off the clock now. From Tuesdays-Fridays, the western block will start at 1:30pm and run to 7pm with the same three shows. This means The Beverly Hillbillies will be only approx. 1pm now, as it loses 1:30pm and 6pm. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is totally gone for now it seems.
In primetime for the week of June 1, we have The Cosby Show in the approx. 8pm hour and Roseanne in the approx. 9pm hour. A different show will air from approx. 10pm-12am each night with Married...with Children returning on Monday, Roseanne on Tuesday and Thursday, and The Cougar/She's Got the Look Preview on Wednesday. Then at approx. 12am we have Married...with Children (just once in the hour, so it won't likely start until late except on Wednesdays when we have two episodes in the hour). At approx. 1am we have another Married...with Children, followed by M*A*S*H at 1:30am, and hour each of Roseanne, Three's Company, The Cosby Show and M*A*S*H follows from 2am-6am. So this week is a major overhaul and Three's Company returns to weeknights, at least for a week.
The Roseanne "launch" marathon is still on from Friday, June 5 to Friday, June 12 from 8pm-6am. However, this weekend (Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7) we have an Andy Griffith Show marathon from 8am-8pm, leading into Roseanne. The week of June 8 has the same daytime line-up as June 1, but primetime and late night is all Roseanne, as mentioned as the marathon continues. The weekend of June 13-14 will have more all-day marathons. Married...with Children will air both days from 8am-10pm, so this show seems like it will stay on TV Land as it is doing well for them. The weekend schedule that was in effect before will remain from 10pm-6am on this weekend of June 13-14. Now starting Monday, June 15, we don't know yet what TV Land will do. Will they have the same daytime schedule as the previous two weeks and the same primetime/late night schedule as week of June 1? Will we see marathons every weekend all-day? We will let you know as soon as we do, but for now view the weeks of June 1 and June 8 schedules for TV Land and discuss this!

As for Hallmark Channel, the June changes are not as drastic. The changes are in primetime starting tonight. The 8pm weekday hour will now have the return of Touched by an Angel. The series was only off for a week or two and now it returns in a much better slot of 8pm replacing two episodes of The Golden Girls. Those two episodes of The Golden Girls will move to the 11pm hour, replacing Murder, She Wrote, which is now off the line-up for now. So if you're keeping track, The Golden Girls now airs from 8am-11am and 11pm-2am every weekday. Nothing else is changing, so expect the schedule as it was. Good news for Lucy fans as they are not messing with the I Love Lucy timeslots so far!

Finally, CBS has scheduled an unaired episode of the canceled comedy Worst Week for this Saturday at 8:30pm. CBS had one leftover episode still yet to air, that is titled "The Party." The episode will have a repeat of Old Christine as its lead-in at 8pm. So get those DVR's rolling Worst Week fans because you have one more episode left and surprisingly CBS is airing it!
In other CBS updates, 48 Hours will air at a special time of 8pm (instead of the usual 10pm slot) on Saturday, July 11, so the two-hour finale of Harper's Island can air from 9-11pm on that night. Harper's Island is not expected back, so that is a series finale.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, September 3

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A Bus Bench and Faith out the Wazoo" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Audrey and Mary’s (Zoe Perry) feud rears its head when Georgie needs their help with the tire store, and Jim’s forced to confront his age after a visit to the DMV.

Ghosts - "Up the Creek" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Woodstone’s future is put in jeopardy, Sam and Jay join forces with the ghosts to protect the mansion by securing its place in history, on part one of the two-part fifth season finale.

Adults - "Talia" (FX and FXX, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Anton learns that his sister is starting a family, while Issa begins thinking about her own fertility. Written by Shaun Menchel; Directed by Maggie Carey.

Adults - "Raccoon" (FX and FXX, 9:32PM ET/PT)
Issa and Paul Baker host Acid Night. Written by Sanaz Toossi; Directed by Oz Rodriguez.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 31)

Thursday, September 3

  • Olivia Rodrigo (Bizaardvark) - Catch Olivia on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Jim Gaffigan (The Jim Gaffigan Show/My Boys/The Ellen Show/Welcome to New York) - Jim is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Rickey Smiley (The Rickey Smiley Show) - Rickey appears on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Stephen Root (Barry/Ladies Man/NewsRadio) - Stephen is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Glen Powell (Chad Powers/Scream Queens) and Steve Zahn (Chad Powers/The Righteous Gemstones) - Glen and Steve talk about Chad Powers on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am. Steve and Frankie Rodriguez will be on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
  • Sophia Bush (Partners) - Sophia guest co-hosts a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Michelle Buteau (Survival of the Thickest/Bless the Harts/Enlisted) - NBC's Today has the Best of Fun & Games with "Queen of Quips" with Michelle in the 10am hour.
  • Casey Wilson (The Righteous Gemstones/Black Monday/The Hotwives/Marry Me/Happy Endings) and Andrew Rannells (Girls/The New Normal) - NBC's Today has the Best of Fun & Games with "Beat the Box" with Casey, Andrew and Prue Leith in the 10am hour.
  • Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere/Nightcap) - Jeff talks about Apple TV's Widow's Bay on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

Abbott Elementary - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD) The Office - The Complete Series - Superfan Extended Episodes (Blu-ray) The Bill Dana Show - The Complete Series (DVD) I Love Lucy - The Complete Series - 75th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray) Perfect Strangers - The Complete Series (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)
09/29/26 - The Quick Draw McGraw Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

09/02 - Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween 2026 Schedule; Great Entertainment Television's Walker, Texas Ranger Labor Day Marathon
09/01 - BET's Lot Patrol Bonus Episodes; Netflix Renews Tires for Season 4
08/31 - HBO's Youth Premieres September 20; Apple TV Lands Season 1 of Small Prophets
08/30 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 31, 2026)
08/29 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Not Suitable for Work Not Renewed for Second Season; I Love Lucy to Receive Inaugural Legacy Award
08/28 - Apple TV's Brothers Premieres September 23; Remembering Dolly Parton and Tim Curry
08/27 - Antenna TV's Alice 50th Anniversary Marathon; Catchy Comedy's Family Affair 60th Anniversary Marathon
08/26 - Trailer for The Varnell Hill Show on Paramount+; Kevin Langue Heads to Netflix
08/25 - Tubi's Horror-Comedy Film Buzzkill Premieres September 25; Peacock's Wendy Williams Show Documentary Launching in 2027
08/24 - HBO Max Orders Comedy Series The People v. Gorilla Grodd; Remembering Shelley Fabares of The Donna Reed Show and Coach
08/23 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 24, 2026)
08/22 - SitcomsOnline Digest: First Look at Trailer for A Different World; SCTV Headed to Netflix
08/21 - Season 2 of Apple TV's Stick Premieres November 4; Canadian Comedy North of North Returns to Netflix
08/20 - Apple TV's Bad Monkey Season 2 Drops December 2; Hulu's Jamie Foxx Comedy Special
08/19 - The CW Mondays This Fall; Lifetime's Powerful September Movie Events
08/18 - Hollywood Arts Premieres October 15 on Netflix; Remembering Hayden Panettiere
08/17 - Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Renewed for Season 2; Randall Park Joins Minimum Wage
08/16 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 17, 2026)
08/15 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Saved for a Second Season; Netflix Renews Seinfeld Rights
08/14 - Hulu's Trailer for Chad Powers Season 2; Freeform's Coven Academy Premieres October 1
08/13 - Trailer for Season 2 of FXX's Adults; Trailer for Season 2 of Peacock's The Paper
08/12 - Brandy to Sing Theme Song for A Different World; Damon Wayans Reuniting with David Alan Grier on St. Denis Medical
08/11 - Peacock's Dig Premieres November 23; Disney+ and Hulu Announce Video Podcasts for Boy Mets World, Scrubs, and Desperate Housewives
08/10 - Conan O'Brien Must Go Season 3; Disney's Hidden Heroes: A Descendants Story
08/09 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 10, 2026)
08/08 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Joe Dirt Animated Series in the Works at Fox; First Look at The Varnell Hill Show
08/07 - Disney's Big City Greens Brings Out the Guest Stars; The New SuperKitty Premieres Today
08/06 - The Varnell Hill Show Coming to Paramount+ on September 1; Hallmark's 3rd Installment of Holiday Touchdown
08/05 - Colin from Accounts Final Season Premieres September 10; The X-Files: I Want to Believe Gets Director's Cut on Disney+ & Hulu
08/04 - Amazon MGM Studios Orders Improvised Sitcom; The CW Renews Game Shows for Season 3
08/03 - CBS Announces Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen 20th Anniversary Special; Hulu to Debut Exclusive Bob's Burgers Holiday Short
08/02 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of August 3, 2026)