SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

ION Television September 2008 Schedule; Your Memorable TV Moments At This Year's Emmys

ION Television announced their Fall 2008 schedule back at their May upfront presentation, but it seems that schedule was just tentative. Boston Legal and M*A*S*H will join the ION September 2008 line-up on Monday, September 8. Boston Legal will air Mondays at 8PM, for now. The reason I say "for now" is because their Fall 2008 schedule actually starts Monday, September 29 and we don't have details on that yet since that is considered October. I do think Boston Legal will air Mon-Wed at 8pm probably by then, but for now it will start off airing Mondays at 8PM starting Sept. 8. The legal drama is entering its last season on ABC, moving to a new night Mondays at 10pm starting Sept. 22.
As for M*A*S*H, ION Television will launch it also on Sept. 8 airing it weekdays back-to-back at 4:00PM & 4:30PM and on weekends back-to-back at 6:00PM & 6:30PM ET/PT! ER will still air Mon-Wed at 10PM, but it will also air Tuesdays at 8PM and Wednesdays at 8 & 9PM...again, until at least Sept. 29. So, yes ER will air from 8-11pm on Wednesdays. Quantum Leap and The Dead Zone will be off the primetime line-up in this September schedule, but who knows they could return in that Fall October schedule, but I doubt it. Baywatch is off the Saturday line-up and 48 Hours will air on Thursdays at 10PM only now after the Thursday movie, if the movie ends at 10pm. The Drew Carey Show was originally slated to return this Fall, but it now won't. It will air however sometimes after the Thursday movie at 10:30pm, if the movie runs longer than 2 hours.
Now, ION Television will launch another drama on Sept. 8 airing it Mondays and Tuesdays at 9PM, but they have not announced it yet so I cannot tell you yet. As soon as they announce it, I will post it. But it is a drama similar in style to their other recent acquisitions (Boston Legal, Criminal Minds) but more mainstream than Quantum Leap and The Dead Zone.
The other slots will remain the same, with Steve Harvey Show airing weekdays 5-6PM, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper airing weekdays 6-7PM, and Family Feud airing Mon-Thurs from 7-8PM. RHI Entertainment is still Fri-Sun from 7-11PM. The Friday qubo block from 2-5pm will now be spread out to an hour each day from 3-4pm on Wed-Fri.
We will let you know about that new 9PM drama as soon as they announce it and if we get any details on their Fall line-up (that starts Sept. 29). I don't expect many changes then, but probably Boston Legal will air Mon-Wed (or Mon-Thurs) at 8, that new drama Mon-Wed (or Mon-Thurs) at 9, and ER Mon-Wed (or Mon-Thurs) at 10. I think the Thursday movie will be on its way out by then, but not sure. Again, I'll let you all know when it is announced!
For now, view the ION September 2008 Schedule.

The most memorable moments in television history will be revealed during the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 21, and it's up to voters to decide which bits should take top honors.
40 "moments" -- 20 dramatic and 20 comedic -- are in the running. Comedy contenders include M*A*S*H, Mork & Mindy, I Love Lucy, All in the Family, Murphy Brown, The Honeymooners, Newhart, Ellen, Mary Tyler Moore Show, Friends, Seinfeld, Sex and the City and The Cosby Show, while Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Dallas, Dynasty, Grey's Anatomy, Miami Vice, Moonlighting and The Sopranos are among the drama candidates.
The television academy and Emmy show producers came up with the competition and the contenders in honor of the 60th annual presentation of the Emmy Awards. Fans can watch clips and vote for their favorite moments online until Sept. 15.
The top five vote-getters in each category will be presented during the Emmy show on Sunday, Sept. 21 on ABC, and the two winning moments will be revealed just before the year's outstanding drama and comedy series are named.
So head on to ABC's Most Memorable TV Moments section and vote for your favorites moments!

Summer Week 12 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

The dog days of summer continue. Only repeats and reality series are airing, but there have been some scripted originals for the summer as well. We are just looking at the sitcom ratings, but we will be back in the fall with our normal weekly reports. Here is week 12 for the summer for sitcoms:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of August 4-10)

• 'Til Death (Fox) 2 episodes - Just 1.43 and 1.67 million for two repeats...down from previous week as this was its first head to head airing vs. the Olympics.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) - Only 3.18 million for a repeat in its 8pm slot.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - preempted.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 3.74 million for a repeat, down week to week, but it aired at 8:30pm.
• American Dad! (Fox) - preempted.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - 720,000 viewers this week for a repeat...down from previous week, as the Olympics killed everything.
  
• Aliens in America (The CW) - 690,000 viewers for a repeat...also down week to week.
  
• The Game (The CW) - 870,000 viewers for a repeat, also down from previous week.
• Girlfriends (The CW) - 970,000 viewers for a repeat, built from lead-in but also down from previous week.
  

Summer Week 12 (August 11-17)

Monday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 4.62 million for a repeat...sharply down from previous week's repeat, but the Olympics are on. Honestly, I don't get all the hoopla over the Olympics.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 4.82 million for a repeat airing, down from previous week, but built from the lead-in.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 8.07 million for a repeat, down from previous week but still a solid rating.
• Old Christine (CBS) - 5.63 million for a repeat, as it finally went down.
• Samantha Who? (ABC) - Just 1.77 and 2.15 million for repeats in the 9pm hour, but it built at least as the 8pm hour on ABC was very low rated.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None...watch Wipeout on ABC, very funny show that is not a sitcom. Repeat this week against the Olympics...but watch this instead because it is obviously funnier than the Olympics and we are all about laughs here at SitcomsOnline!
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Tonight you can catch encores of The CW sitcoms from 8-10pm and Fox's animated comedies (and 'Til Death repeats from 7-8pm) are encoring from 8-9 tonight only.

Coming Week Preview (Summer Week 13) for Broadcast (With Some Cable Notes):
So what is new or notable this week that you might want to catch? Tonight CBS will have Big Brother at 8pm out of a new 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC has of course the Summer Olympics, which will be the main draw of the night. A pretty quiet and boring night unless you are an Olympics fan. Cable is the way to go with Lifetime's Army Wives, USA Network's In Plain Sight and Mad Men on AMC at 10pm with VH1 and A&E airing their reality series. And don't forget Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 9pm on USA Network. Cable is the way to go indeed!
On Monday, ABC will be new with High School Musical: Get in the Picture at 8pm followed by the network television premiere of the movie Bewitched from 9-11pm. NBC has of course the Summer Olympics. Cable again will be the best draw with The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT from 9-11pm. ABC Family also has a new Middleman at 10pm and VH1 with more new reality series such as I Want to Work for Diddy, while MTV has The Hills.
On Tuesday ABC's Wipeout is a repeat but it will lead-in to game show Wanna Bet? which has now moved to Tuesdays, followed by an all-new Primetime: Medical Mysteries at 10pm. NBC has the Summer Olympics all-night again. And the Tuesday edition of Big Brother airs at 9pm on CBS. Cable wise ABC Family's Secret Life of an American Teenager is doing well and will air at 8pm, Sci Fi has Eureka at 9, and at 10pm on Lifetime it is How To Look Good Naked. Best night of the summer but a bit slow tonight with Wipeout a repeat.
On Wednesday NBC's Summer Olympics are the way to go. CBS has Greatest American Dog at 8pm. ABC will be new at 10pm with Primetime: Crime. Cable wise Sci Fi has Ghost Hunters and Scare Tactics starting at 9pm. Maybe this is the worst night for the summer (not counting Friday/Saturday).
On Thursday Fox has an NFL pre-season game between the 49ers and Bears. CBS at 8pm has Big Brother and another episode of the summer scripted series Flashtown at 10pm, which is doing decent. And NBC with the Summer Olympics. On cable, USA Network has Burn Notice at 10pm, VH1 has more reality shows, Comedy Central has The Gong Show. The finale of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew is also at 10pm.
On Friday, NBC will be king with Summer Olympics. CBS has a NFL pre-season game between the Texans and Cowboys. ABC and The CW will of course will have 20/20 & WWE Smackdown. Cable wise, Monk & Psych on USA from 9-11 and Stargate Atlantis on Sci Fi at 10pm.
Saturday will have Cops and AMW on Fox and of course the Summer Olympics on NBC and their cable networks, while CBS has coverage of NFL pre-season.

Mini-DVD Review: Entourage Season 4 (Aug. 26)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the mini-DVD review. This week we take a look at HBO's Entourage - The Complete Fourth Season. Entourage of course is the popular HBO series that is about a guy named Vince (played by Adrian Grenier) that is about to make it big in showbiz and moves to Hollywood in hopes that he will make it to the top. See skees53's mini-DVD review of Entourage: The Complete Fourth Season:

Entourage: The Complete Fourth Season (HBO, $39.98) continues the ongoing story of Vince Chase "chasing" his dreams to make it big in Hollywood, thanks to (but most often in spite of) his faithful group of friends, his entourage, Eric, Drama, and Turtle.
We start the season with "Welcome to the Jungle," where we go behind-the-scenes (not from our perspective, but the perspective of the characters of the show) of the Vince’s movie for this season, Medellin. In "Sorry, Harvey," Ari gets into some trouble and lands in jail for what he does with a top-secret script... oops! The series addresses the modern issue of things that shouldn’t be on YouTube ending up on there in "The Dream Team" and "The WeHo Ho." Finally, he guys learn a lesson in reality in the film business in "The Cannes Kids." There are many well-known guest stars this season, including Gary Busey, Snoop Dogg, Sydney Pollack, Kanye West, and more.
The audio and video on the set is superb, with the video being presented in the 16:9 aspect ratio and audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. But there are also Spanish and French audio tracks, as well as English, Spanish, and French subtitles. The episodes are spanned over three discs, but the outside packaging is slightly different this time. While it looks similar, the big change is that the sturdier hard cardboard packaging has been replaced with a less expensive standard box. It isn't a big deal, though.
The set is loaded with special features, beginning with commentaries. The commentaries are by Doug Ellin, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, and Adrian Grenier. These can be found on "Welcome to the Jungle," "The Day Fu*kers," and "The Cannes Kids." "The Making of Medellin" goes behind-the-scenes into the making of the very movie that Vince is starring in this season. "Medellin Trailer," of course, is a trailer for the fictitious movie. "U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Panel" is a nice and long conversation with the cast members at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. This lasts a whole fifty minutes, and is very insightful and entertaining. Finally, although the packaging doesn't mention it, there are recaps and previews for every episode on the set, which are basically like short promos. I like to watch them before I watch any episode.
As always, we have a pretty good DVD set here, and fans are sure to be happy with what is here. We have another great season of episodes with great special features. I'm usually not a fan of these premium cable series, although this is one of the few that I find enjoyable and far better than many other series on television today. It is surprising that this series isn't also being released on Blu-Ray Disc as well, although I'm sure that will come at some point in the future.
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4.5/5 stars)

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Canada Cable Networks Fall 2008 Schedules; WCIU in Chicago Remembers Bernie Mac

Today we put our full focus on cable stations up north... Canada, that is. We will take a look at some of the fall 2008 schedules for Canada including TV Land Canada, DejaView, CTS, TVtropolis, and SUN TV.
First up, we'll start with TV Land Canada. They will be adding Bizarre, Phil Silvers Show, and Ready or Not. Bizarre is a half-hour sketch comedy show produced by the CTV Television Network that contains slapstick sketches, monologues, TV parodies, and performances by guest stand-up comics. It will air weekdays 8-9am, 4-5pm, 11pm-12am, and 4-5am, and on weekends from 1-2pm, 8-9pm and 3-4am. Phil Silvers Show of course is the great sitcom that is known to all, it will air Fridays 11am-12pm, 9-10pm, and 3-4am. Finally, Ready or Not is the Canadian series that follow the ups and downs of life with best friends Amanda Zimm and Busy Ramone as they deal with adolescence, boys, family, school and friends. It will air weekends only from 9-10am, 6-7pm, and 2-3am.
Leaving the TV Land Canada line-up for now are King of Kensington, Smith & Smith, Smith & Smith Comedy Club, Adventures in Rainbow Country, Swiss Family Robinson, and New Lassie.
Among the highlights are the weekday "New Shows on the TV Land Block" from 10am-12pm, 8-10pm, and 2-4am with themed blocks (sitcom Monday, fantasy/love Tuesday, Canadian comedy Wednesday, crime cops Thursday, and classic comedy Friday). Marathons include an I Pity the Fool Labor Day morning marathon from 6am-9am starring Mr. T, followed by a 9-5 Lassie marathon featuring season one episodes of TV's hardest working dog. Spend a Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, Oct. 13 with a 24-hour marathon of Dallas starting at 6am, as they say be thankful you're not part of the Ewing family. Finally, tune in to TV Land Canada on Christmas Day starting at 6am for 24-hours of classic Christmas episodes of Lassie, Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, Petticoat Junction, It's Garry Shandling's Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Hart to Hart, and 21 Jump Street.
View the full TV Land Canada Fall 2008 Schedule.

Next up we have DejaView and Teletoon Retro's Fall 2008 schedules. DejaView is removing The Ropers and Three's a Crowd from their line-up this fall, so if you're in Canada watch them this month on their weekend line-up and hopefully you saved/recorded all the episodes of each. Three's Company will of course remain on DejaView airing in its regular slots weekdays and weekends. Also leaving DejaView is Miami Vice, Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes. Who's the Boss joins the weekday line-up now as well instead of just weekends., while Maude returns to the line-up. Joing DejaView for the first time are Charles in Charge and Kate & Allie, both will air on weekends only, though.
Teletoon is adding a lot of new series. Joining are The Smurfs, Wait Til Your Father Gets Home, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Banana Splits Adventure Show, Spider-Man, Reboot and Fraggle Rock.

Then we have the TVtropolis Fall 2008 Schedule.
TVtropolis of course was known as PRIME previously. Their line-up features a mix of sitcoms, game shows, reality series, and more. Sitcoms include Seinfeld, Married with Children, The Nanny, King of Queens, That '70s Show, Roseanne, Frasier, Friends, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Then we have SUN TV and CTS TV. SUN TV will have series such as My Secret Identity, The A-Team, Incredible Hulk, George Lopez, Becker, Scrubs and more.
CTS's fall line-up will start September 1 and will consist of sitcoms such as The Hogan Family, Facts of Life, Family Matters, Family Ties, Full House, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, with Saved by the Bell coming by January.
Check out the full SUN TV and CTS's Fall 2008 schedules.
Also, check out other cable network line-ups for Canada.

Tomorrow (Saturday, August 16, 2008), WCIU (The U in Chicago) celebrates the life and work of Chicago's King of Comedy, Bernie Mac, with an evening long on-air tribute from 5 to 9PM CT.
From 5:00 to 6:00PM, WCIU (The U) presents A Tribute to Bernie Mac. The special will feature exclusive Bernie Mac interviews from Bernie's appearances on Chicago Public School's Sports Edition, behind the scenes video, and tributes from local comedians and on-air personalities. The production is hosted by The U's George Blaise and co-produced by Weigel Broadcasting's Program Director Sean Long and Production Manager Randy King.
At 6:00 the tribute continues with his sitcom, The Bernie Mac Show. Mac's Emmy and Peabody award-winning comedy frequently featured guest stars. One of those stars, who also passed away this week, was the late Isaac Hayes. In honor of both men's memories, The U will feature an episode with Hayes and Mac.
At 7:00, a special episode of Stooge-A-Palooza, will air with co-host Bernie Mac. Throughout the evening, The U will air short interviews with local and national personalities. This interviews will show them reflecting on their personal relationships with Bernie. Some of these interviews include Dee Dee Davis (actress, The Bernie Mac Show), Camille Winbush (actress, The Bernie Mac Show), WGCI's Tony Sculfield and Power 92's Lisa E.
The Bernie Mac Show airs weeknights at 7 and 7:30PM on WCIU (The U) and will move to 8PM on September 22, 2008 when it become the lead out for Tyler Perry's House of Payne.

TV Land September 2008 Schedule...Again; BET Schedule Updates

OK so we gave you TV Land September details two other times already. The latest one was exactly a week ago and the first one was last month, with a few updates in between those. Now a third major update is done! Could three be the charm?
TV Land has not touched its weekday line-up starting Sept. 2. It will remain the same as it was previously, with Scrubs joining weeknights at 9 & 9:30pm. However, TV Land has touched the Saturday and Sunday line-up a bit starting Sept. 6. For Saturdays, the biggest changes are Andy Griffith in the 9am hour, Scrubs airing 9-10pm and 12-1am, The Cosby Show 10-11pm, with M*A*S*H 1-2am and various marathons from 2-6am. As for Sundays, they will have a two-hour block of M*A*S*H, Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Little House on the Prairie from 8pm-6am. So the regular overnight (1-6am) will now only be weeknights.
In that schedule we announced last month, we stated that there would be changes to the morning line-up starting Sept. 15 with Cheers removed, that will not be the case now. The Sept. 2 schedule will last through Sept. 19. Then on Saturday, Sept. 20, there will be a minor change as The Munsters and The Addams Family are expiring, as we knew already. Then on Monday, Sept. 22 more changes are happening to weekdays. The weekday morning block will be altered a bit. M*A*S*H comes into the weekday 7am hour replacing Night Court/Mad About You. Night Court will shift to 8am, replacing Designing Women followed by Cheers at 8:30am, which is still on (for now)! Now TV Land's October schedule starts the following week on Sept. 29, so Cheers will not be on that as the contract is expiring and the show is moving to The Hallmark Channel on Sundays as we stated yesterday. Back to Sept. 22, an extra Sanford & Son will replace All in the Family at 9am, so Designing Women, Mad About You and All in the Family are gone. They join the previously booted Just Shoot Me! and Murphy Brown, which will leave the line-up in late August.
I really urge you to view the entire line-up for the TV Land September 2008 schedule, so you do not get confused. So is this the Fall schedule? Not quite, as two more series will join the daily line-up in October...3rd Rock from the Sun (as we exclusively announced) and daily plays of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. So we will have the TV Land Fall 2008 line-up (October) in the coming days!
Come back tomorrow for our Canada cable networks fall 2008 line-ups--DejaView, TV Land Canada, CTS, and more!

Now let's move on to BET. We don't have their Fall line-up yet, but before the fall starts they will be doing some notable things. First, just to remind you that this Sunday (Sunday, August 17) from 3pm-7pm ET they will have a farewell marathon for the short-lived sitcom Sanford (1980, starring Redd Foxx). All the Sony Pictures sitcoms they have are all expiring at the end of August and they will not be renewing them, unfortunately. So you will not see Diff'rent Strokes, Thea, Sanford, and Malcolm & Eddie in September. Yes, The Steve Harvey Show is from Sony but that is not part of that package and thus Harvey is not expiring.
Diff'rent Strokes (weekdays 9-11am) will have a missing episode finally aired on BET. The episode "Bulimia" has never aired on BET because the tape they had was damaged...but now BET has gotten a new one and will air it on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 9:30am, so get those VCRs/DVRs ready! Speaking of Diff'rent Strokes, it will have a five-episode block in primetime on Saturday, August 23 from 8pm-10:30pm, followed by a five-episode block of A Different World from 10:30pm-1am. The episodes will be multiple-part storylines. View the episode info for this stunt.
That's not all for Diff'rent Strokes! On its last day of airing, BET will give it a proper send-off with an all-day marathon on Friday, August 29 from 9am-6pm. We don't have episode info yet for that stunt, but should by next week, so keep checking our Diff'rent Strokes message board.
Fans of A Different World will be pleased that all week of August 25, the show will air at 11pm and 11:30pm, as BET has a movie stunt all week at midnight.
As for early September, replacing Diff'rent Strokes starting Sept. 1 from 9-11am will be the sitcom Girlfriends, and Hell Date will air weekdays 3-4pm full time and not share it with any other original.
As for the fall, all we know is new syndicated series Judge Karen is coming to BET on Sept. 22 along with court favorite Judge Hatchett. Judge Karen will actually launch in syndication on Sept. 8, check local listings or JudgeKarenTV.com. Hopefully another sitcom or two come as well, we will let you know.

Hallmark Channel Fall 2008 Schedule With Cheers; Comcast Launches MGM's Impact Action onDemand

We continue the fall 2008 schedules for cable and today we take a look at The Hallmark Channel's Fall 2008 schedule. Now, their fall schedule schedule will start in October and they really have no changes at all! I believe their weekday line-up of dramas (Little House, Murder She Wrote, etc) and comedic drama M*A*S*H are doing well that they don't want to change anything yet. Now we already announced that Cheers is coming this fall previously, and now we have when it will air. Since we just said weekdays will have no changes at all, that will leave Cheers to just weekends, and they will air four episodes a week on Sundays from 10am-12pm starting Saturday, October 5. Hopefully it can do well there and then they can transition it to weekdays possibly?
Also joining the Hallmark schedule is the first-run syndicated series NASCAR Angels (it will also remain on your locals weekly as well) airing Sunday mornings at 8am, replacing one of the M*A*S*H airings, so M*A*S*H Sunday airings will now be 8:30am-10am.
Original movies for the month are Ladies of the House on Oct. 18 and Generation Gap on Oct. 25 both from 9-11pm.
We're sorry that there are not many changes or that Cheers is not on any other day, but we just report what we get and see! Anyway, view the Hallmark Channel Fall 2008 Schedule.
Stay tuned for Canada cable schedules, ION Television, WE tv, Nick at Nite, BET, and NYC local channels fall line-ups in the coming days.

Comcast Corporation and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) today announced a partnership to launch Impact, the first video-on-demand (VOD) channel dedicated exclusively to action programming. The new channel, available first to Comcast customers this week, features a host of exciting and popular action films and television shows, many available in high-definition (HD), that will captivate adventure seekers and fans of action, one of the fastest growing movie categories at the box office.
Within the first year, Impact will premiere many of the most successful films in action history, including movies from the James Bond series, Rocky, Terminator, Magnificent Seven and RoboCop. Impact will also kick-off its programming with some of its most popular action stars from the MGM library such as Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone and Charles Bronson. As an ongoing part of this VOD channel, there will be special programming themes created around the popular action genres including thrillers, crime, espionage, westerns, war films and martial arts.
It looks like this onDemand service will primarily be movies, though. We will try to get a list of MGM action TV series coming to Impact soon.

SOAPnet September Fall 2008 Schedule; Bernie Mac Tribute on Larry King Live TONIGHT; Slight Nick at Nite Change; Sony's Cross-Country Seinfeld Tour

This September on SOAPnet, two shows will be expiring while we get two marathons. First, the shows expiring are Dallas and Melrose Place. Dallas was airing weeknights at 4:00am, and it will be replaced by I Wanna Be A Soap Star effective September 1. Melrose Place was airing weekdays at 11am and 12 noon, and it will be leaving effective Sept. 15 being replaced by more Beverly Hills 90210. Melrose Place joined the SOAPnet line-up in September 2004, so its four-year term was up and SOAPnet did not renew.
As for other schedule changes...there isn't much. An extra One Tree Hill will be added on Saturday mornings at 7am, so it will air back-to-back from 7-9am on Saturdays now. And on Sundays two more back-to-back episodes will air from 10am-12pm replacing a Movie.
As for September stunts, on Labor Day, SOAPnet will have a 24-hour marathon of Beverly Hills 90210 titled "The BFF's of BH." The marathon starts Sunday, Aug. 31 at 11:59pm and runs until 11:59pm on Monday, Sept. 1! SOAPnet will air the ABC fall preview special a few times as well. The special focuses on ABC's Wednesday night dramas (Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Dirty Sexy Money) and is titled ABC Wednesday Night Starter Kit. We will have more details on that special in our yearly Fall Previews Special post in the coming weeks. Airings on SOAPnet are Saturday, Sept. 13 at 4:30pm and Friday, September 26 at 5:00am.
Finally, SOAPnet will air all 10 first season episodes of the ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money on Saturday, September 27 from 9am-7pm. The marathon is just in time for the second season premiere on ABC on Wednesday, October 1 at 10pm ET/PT. This is a must see series as The Darlings family is today's version of The Carringtons or the Ewings...so if you have not seen an episode yet, this is your chance to catch up since it is only 10 episodes and get ready to watch season two on ABC!
View the full SOAPnet September 2008 fall line-up.

The "Original Kings of Comedy" remember the late Bernie Mac tonight on Larry King Live at 9pm ET on CNN. D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey come together to pay tribute to the comedian only on Larry King Live. It will encore at 12 midnight ET, if you miss it.

Late yesterday afternoon Nick at Nite announced the Mon-Thurs 8:30pm slot would go back to Nickelodeon effective immediately. As a result, Family Matters will not air in that slot anymore, and the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh will air instead. Sorry we couldn't give you notice yesterday, but we did post it on our message boards. Family Matters is doing very well on Nick at Nite and will continue in its other time slots.

Today Sony Pictures Television (SPT) will set out on a 26-city, 10,000 mile "Seinfeld Campus Tour" in a 60-foot long Seinfeld branded, bio-diesel fueled bus experience designed to integrate the show directly into the digital, on-the-move, multi-tasking lifestyle of college students and members of the 70 million plus millennial demographic.
In addition to numerous tailored promotional events during the "The Seinfeld Campus Tour," participants coast-to-coast will have access the fully-equipped tour bus, wherein they can enjoy Seinfeld-inspired snacks and engage in a wide-variety of Seinfeld-themed experiences.
In its current season in syndication, Seinfeld consistently ranks as the #1 off-network comedy across all key men and adult demographics, and still stands as one of the highest rated of any off-net sitcom on television with airings on both broadcast stations and TBS. It airs in 197 markets, covering 99% of the country. Seinfeld has been renewed for a third cycle by its stations and second cycle in cable, keeping the show on the air through 2011.
View more information on this Seinfeld Campus tour!

TNT Fall 2008 Schedule; Remembering Isaac Hayes and Bernie Brillstein

I'm back after a quick vacation and I will continue with more fall schedules this week! Upcoming fall schedules will include ION Television, SOAPnet, Canada cable networks, and New York City locals. Today we will cover TNT's Fall 2008 schedule.
The Closer, the #1 series basic in cable history concludes its riveting season on TNT on Sept. 15. The transfixing, critically acclaimed, original drama stars Golden Globe® winner Kyra Sedgwick as a complicated, unique, and confident LAPD interrogator, lacking a few social graces, whose unusual interrogation tactics solve high profile murder cases. The summer finale will air Monday, Sept. 15 at 9pm. There will also be a Labor Day marathon on Sept. 1 for The Closer from 9am-8pm leading into a new episode. That day will also feature a new series launch. Raising the Bar stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Jane Kaczmarek in a smart, highly charged drama that takes a revealing look inside the legal system through the eyes of young, passionate and idealistic attorneys. Attempting to maintain a balance between their personal and professional lives, while confronted by challenging, emotional and even morally questionable cases these eager attorneys pour their hearts into each case, stopping at nothing to see justice served. Representing both sides of the law, Raising the Bar, examines the harsh truth that the system is not always fair and a client's fate is often at the hands of those who work within the system, regardless of his guilt or innocence. Raising the Bar will air Mondays at 10pm until Sept. 15 then will move to Mondays at 9pm starting Sept. 22. The season finale will be on Monday, Oct. 27 and will be two-hours.
So what about the actual regular schedule? The new fall schedule for TNT will start Monday, September 29. There will not be many changes, though. Cold Case was supposed to join the lineup airing weekdays at 12 noon ET, but they will not do that now. So, Cold Case will remain in late night marathon blocks. Instead now TNT will add an extra episode of Las Vegas to its daytime line-up. As for Cold Case, it will air late nights as I said, with Without a Trace late night blocks. TNT will also do a few X-Files and Judging Amy late night blocks in October as well. The NBA season gets underway on Tuesday, Oct. 28, but TNT will of course air Thursday night doubleheaders starting Oct. 30. TNT will also showcase a few pre-season games.
Check out the full TNT Fall 2008 line-up and you may also discuss it.

We have lost two more celebrities this weekend. First we reported Bernie Mac now Isaac Hayes and Bernie Brillstein. Isaac Hayes, the baldheaded, baritone-voiced soul crooner who laid the groundwork for disco and whose "Theme From Shaft" won both Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday afternoon in Memphis after he collapsed near a treadmill. Hayes was pronounced dead at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis an hour after he was found by a family member. The cause of death was not immediately known. Hayes was about to begin work on a new album for Stax, the soul record label he helped build to legendary status. And he had recently finished work on a movie called Soul Men in which he played himself, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac, who died on Saturday. While he was primarily a player in the music industry, Isaac had many TV roles. His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show South Park. Isaac also did voice-over work for Nick at Nite's sitcom lineup in 2001 and 2002. Isaac guest starred on series such as The A-Team, The Rockford Files, Hunter, Miami Vice, Tales from the Crypt, Sliders, Stargate: SG-1, Fastlane, Education of Max Bickford, and sitcoms such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Hugleys, Veronica's Closet, Girlfriends, Bernie Mac, and That '70s Show.
He was in several movies, including It Could Happen to You with Nicolas Cage, Ninth Street with Martin Sheen, Reindeer Games starring Ben Affleck and the blaxploitation parody I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka. His voice will certainly be missed. Mr. Hayes was 65.

Now we remember Bernie Brillstein. Bernie Brillstein, pioneering manager and producer whose keen eye for talent led him to steer the careers of such stars as John Belushi and Jim Henson, died Thursday (Aug. 7). Brillstein had been suffering from complications stemming from double-bypass heart surgery in February.
In the 1980s, the Brillstein Co. was among the first contempo talent rep shingles to branch out into TV production in a significant way with shows packaged around clients, a list that included ALF, It's Garry Shandling's Show, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and The Slap Maxwell Story.
In late 1991, when Brillstein partnered with Brad Grey, who had joined Brillstein Co. in the mid-1980s as a manager, the company further expanded the scope of its film and TV operations. Brillstein-Grey Television fielded such noteworthy skeins as The Sopranos, Just Shoot Me, NewsRadio, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and The Larry Sanders Show. Brillstein-Grey Entertainment features included Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore, Jim Carrey's The Cable Guy and The Replacement Killers.
Early in his career he produced popular movies such as The Blues Brothers, Ghost Busters, and Dragnet. He also produced the critically acclaimed series Buffalo Bill early in his career. Read more on Bernie Brillsteein. He will be deeply missed. He was 77.

Summer Week 11 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

The dog days of summer continue. Only repeats and reality series are airing, but there have been some scripted originals for the summer as well. We are just looking at the sitcom ratings, but we will be back in the fall with our normal weekly reports. Here is week 11 for the summer for sitcoms:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of July 28-August 3)

• 'Til Death (Fox) 2 episodes - Just 2.01 and 2.19 million for two repeats...not good, but on par really from previous week.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - 3.69 million for a repeat in its normal 8pm slot, a bit down from the previous week but the 8:30pm encore jumped big time to 4.96 million, on par with previous week's 5.0 million.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - preempted.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 5.06 million for an encore telecast, on par with previous week's 5.12 million.
• American Dad! (Fox) - 4.58 million for a repeat, up week to week, the only Fox animated comedy that went up this week.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - 870,000 viewers this week for a repeat...down from previous week's 960,000 viewers.
  
• Aliens in America (The CW) - 860,000 viewers for a repeat...also down week to week.
  
• The Game (The CW) - 1.17 million for a repeat, up sharply from previous week.
• Girlfriends (The CW) - 1.19 million for a repeat, built from lead-in and also up big from previous week's 770,000 viewers.
  

Summer Week 11 (August 4-10)

Monday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 6.3 million for a repeat...up a million from previous week's rating! Good job!
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 6.36 million for a repeat airing, up over a million from previous week and also built from the lead-in! Double dose of good!
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 9.98 million for a repeat, up a 1/2 million or so from previous week.
• Old Christine (CBS) - 7.6 million for a repeat....three airings so far...each airing has gone up (7.4, 7.5 and now 7.6 million).
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None...watch Wipeout on ABC, very funny show that is not a sitcom. Repeats until the Olympics are over...but they are even better the second time around!
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• Samantha Who? (ABC) - Special Friday repeat for one time only. No numbers were available at press time. Regular repeats return this Monday at 9 starting from the pilot episode!
  

Saturday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Tonight you can catch encores of The CW sitcoms from 8-10pm and Fox's animated comedies (and 'Til Death repeats from 7-8pm) are encoring.

Coming Week Preview (Summer Week 12) for Broadcast (With Some Cable Notes):
So what is new or notable this week that you might want to catch? Tonight CBS will have Big Brother at 8pm out of a new 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC has of course the Summer Olympics, which will be the main draw of the night. A pretty quiet and boring night unless you are an Olympics fan. Cable is the way to go with Lifetime's Army Wives, USA Network's In Plain Sight and Mad Men on AMC at 10pm with VH1 and A&E airing their reality series. And don't forget Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 9pm on USA Network. Cable is the way to go indeed!
On Monday, ABC will be new with High School Musical: Get in the Picture at 8pm and the season finale ofThe Mole at 10pm. NBC has of course the Summer Olympics. Cable again will be the best draw with The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT from 9-11pm. ABC Family also has a new Middleman at 10pm and VH1 with more new reality series such as I Want to Work for Diddy.
On Tuesday ABC's Wipeout is a repeat but it will lead-in to game show Wanna Bet? (among the celebs are Larry Joe Campbell from According to Jim) which has now moved to Tuesdays, followed by an all-new Primetime: Medical Mysteries at 10pm. NBC has the Summer Olympics all night again. And the Tuesday edition of Big Brother airs at 9pm on CBS. Cable wise ABC Family's Secret Life of an American Teenager is doing well and will air at 8pm and at 10pm on Lifetime it is How To Look Good Naked. Best night of the summer but a bit slow tonight.
On Wednesday NBC's Summer Olympics are the way to go. CBS has the recently moved Greatest American Dog at 8pm. ABC will be new at 10pm with Primetime: Crime. Maybe this is the worst night for the summer (not counting Friday/Saturday).
On Thursday Fox has an NFL pre-season game between the Panthers and Eagles. CBS at 8pm has Big Brother and another episode of the summer scripted series Flashtown at 10pm, which is doing decent.. And NBC will the Summer Olympics. On cable, USA Network has Burn Notice at 10pm, while Comedy Central has The Gong Show.
On Friday, NBC will be king with Summer Olympics. Fox has another NFL pre-season game, this time between the Raiders and Titans. CBS has the summer drama Swingtown at 10pm which is on its last legs. ABC and The CW will of course will have 20/20 & WWE Smackdown.
Saturday will have Cops and AMW on Fox and of course the Summer Olympics on NBC and their cable networks.

Remembering Bernie Mac; Mini-DVD Review: Route 66 - The Complete First Season

Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper Ocean's Eleven and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom The Bernie Mac Show, died Saturday at age 50.

"Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.

Mac's film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy Mo' Money in 1992. His other film credits include Get on the Bus, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Ocean's Eleven and its two sequels, Guess Who, Bad Santa, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Transformers. His professional career began in Chicago as a stand-up comedian in 1977, at the age of 19. He was a featured comedian in the 2000 documentary, The Original Kings of Comedy, with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric the Entertainer.

Starting in 2001, Mac was the star of The Bernie Mac Show on the Fox nexwork, which earned two Emmy Award nominations before the show was cancelled in 2006. In addition, the show won the prestigious Peabody award in 2002, the Humanitas Prize, and three NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. The sitcom was somewhat based on is life and stand-up comedy acts and ran for 5 seasons and 104 episodes. His character was ranked #47 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time." His other sitcom credits include an appearance on The Wayans Bros. and multiple episodes of Moesha as Uncle Bernie.

Bernie Mac is survived by his wife Rhonda McCullough, daughter Je'Niece and granddaughter Jasmine. Bernie and the laughter he brought to millions of people around the world will be greatly missed. Share your memories and condolences here.

As we reported on Monday, The Bernie Mac Show is joining FX's line-up. The four-year deal starts Monday, September 8, 2008 with a launch marathon from 12:30pm-8pm ET. Bernie Mac will then join the weekday line-up on Tuesday, September 9 airing weekdays at 8:00am & 8:30am ET and 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET (although sometimes it will be 4:30pm ET & 5:00pm ET depending on the FX movies).

Releated Links:
Internet Movie Database entry for Bernie Mac
Wikipedia entry for Bernie Mac
The Bernie Mac Show Message Board
The Bernie Mac Show Photo Gallery

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



Route 66 - The Complete First Season (Roxbury Entertainment, $49.98) -- takes you on a road trip through America to encounter problems all throughout America and to solve them—within 50 minutes. Traveling America by road was all the rage in the 60s. and Route 66, which once spanned from Illinois all the way out to California, was the ultimate path to travel the country. In this series, two young men, played by Martin Milner and George Maharis, travel the country in a Corvette to see what they find along the way.

The series begins with "Black November," where the guys come across a town in Mississippi that seems to have some deep secret—but what is it? The boys are hired to work on a shrimp boat in "The Lance of Straw." In "Ten Drops of Water," the guys encounter a family ranch that is dying due to drought, but does the family want their assistance? A woman is released from prison in "Sheba," but her parole officer happens to be the same guy that put her in prison to begin with. A blind woman wants Buz and Tod to buy her a pistol for self-protection in "An Absence of Tears." The guys get framed after they try to bust somebody for hunting deer in "A Skill for Hunting." The series focused on guest stars, and among those in this season are Suzanne Pleshette, Leslie Nielsen, Lee Marvin, Harvey Korman, Walter Matthau, Robert Duvall, Ed Asner, and more.

This season was originally released as two separate volumes, and this set is essentially just both volumes placed in one larger box. So, the first fifteen episodes of the season are placed in the four disc Volume 1 set and the last fifteen episodes of the season are placed in the four disc Volume 2 set. It would have been nice to see a more integrated set, but that isn't what we have here.

The set claims to be remastered from the original source films, but you'll find that isn't quite accurate for a few episodes in the Volume 1 set. Some of the episodes are taken from 80s prints, and this is made obvious from the fact that a few such episodes are missing their original Screen Gems and CBS logos and have them replaced with logos from the 1980s including Colex and Columbia. It may not sound like a huge deal, but you'll notice that these episodes have poorer video and audio quality than the rest, though for the most part, are still viewable. The episodes that truly were remastered are pretty clear and don't have much grain, but the picture appears to be jumpy at places. It does appear, however, that on the Volume 2 episodes, everything is left intact and unedited. Almost every episode runs around 51 minutes, but on Volume 1, it appears that a syndicated episode may have sneaked in, as the episode "A Fury Slinging Flame" runs at 46 minutes. Again, this is an episode that not taken from the original source prints.

The set isn't loaded with special features, but Disc 4 of each volume contains original commercials from the episodes, which are VERY nice to see. Many of these are either from Chevrolet (after all, they did provide the Corvette) or Bayer. You'll even find one commercial featuring the cast of the series My Three Sons. Volume 1 contains some historical information about Corvettes from the 50s and 60s. Fans of the car may enjoy this, but an average fan of the show probably won't care too much about this information. Finally, the set contains filmographies of each and every guest star from the season, which helps anybody that ever asks themselves "where have I seen that person before?"

This was my first experience of watching this series, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed watching these episodes. I always thought that this would be a decent series, but I'm even more impressed than I thought. Roxbury Entertainment has put together a nice DVD set here, although it does contain the few minor flaws mentioned. But fans and those that have never seen the series are sure to appreciate this DVD set in any event!

Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Route 66 TV.com Page

Mini-DVD Review: Tiny Toon Adventures - Season 1, Volume 1

Welcome to a special Friday edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we look at Warner Home Video's Tiny Toon Adventures - Season 1, Volume 1. Tiny Toon Adventures was created and produced as a collaborative effort between Steven Spielberg's company Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It premiered in as a syndicated cartoon in 1990. See Seth's mini-DVD review of Tiny Toon Adventures - Season 1, Volume 1:



Tiny Toon Adventures - Season 1, Volume 1 (Warner Home Video, $44.98) is finally on DVD. I love this show. I really do. I watched this show when I was young and absolutely loved it. Loved it in reruns as I got older. It’s a great show that’s enjoyable no matter what your age. It’s time to finally join Babs and Buster Bunny (no relation), Plucky Duck, Hamton Pig, and all of the other residents of Acme Acres on DVD. Contained on this set are the first *35* episodes of the first season. I know many of you may have cringed when you saw “Volume 1”, but for a cartoon who had 65 episodes it’s first season splitting it was a must. There are some absolutely great cartoons in here, and some fairly good ones. Sometimes one cartoon in an episode may be weaker than the others, but this is to be expected.

This DVD set contains the first 35 episodes, which means the episodes included start at the series premiere, “A Looney Beginning” and run through “A Ditch in Time”. A full episode list is (at least as of the time of this writing) available on Wikipedia for your reference. Because of the number of episodes in the release, Warner was faced with a tough choice – either deal with a large number of discs, use double-sided discs entirely, or place quite a few episodes per disc. The end result is 4 discs, the first three of which are single-sided, the final disc being double-sided. The first three discs and the first side of the fourth all contain 8 episodes each, while the reverse side of the final disc contains the last three episodes and the disc’s special feature. I’m not sure if this was the ideal or optimal layout, but it works well enough. Packaging is a clear-plastic case with two swinging plastic panels in the center containing the discs. The discs themselves feature a variation on the orange colors used on the cover art, with a central cast member on each of the first three discs.

I really wanted to just launch into an overly positive stream of consciousness, as I got to do with Freakazoid’s DVD set, but that’s not entirely possible here. Placing 8 episodes per disc *has* led to some compression issues, which are particularly evident against solid colors. The colors themselves appear duller and less vivid than they should be, though it could just be a result of the age of the episodes. The audio, however, IS spectacular – 5.1 is available! This is great considering the orchestral bits used as background music, scene transitions, everything. It’s great. Chapter stops are placed at the end of each individual cartoon. Runtime for the pilot is just over 23 minutes; average for the rest is around 21:45 – for a cartoon series from the early 90s this IS normal.

There IS a great special feature in the set: Looney Tunes to Tiny Toons, a Wacky Evolution: Features an outright plethora – yes, a plethora – of interviews, clips, etc. that detail the origin of the series and how the show launched off the shoulders of the classic Looney Tunes franchise. Runs a bit over 23 minutes, and is a great extra feature. It’s great to see well-done sets like these for shows I enjoy.

Of course, *my* favorite episode of the series isn’t on the DVD set as it’s the 51st episode of the season – Tiny Toons Music Television. It features re-done videos for several songs using the Tiny Toons cast, including TWO songs by They Might Be Giants, a take on Respect by Aretha Franklin, and more. It’s great stuff, and I can’t wait for the next volume for this very reason. Ultimately, though, future sales depend on the success of the initial release. It’s a great cartoon, and recommended not just for cartoon fans but fans of comedy as well. STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

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

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Tiny Toons Adventures TV.com Page

Spike TV Fall 2008 Schedule; TV Land Edits September Sked; Network Notes

We gave you a little taste of Spike TV Fall over a month ago, but now we have full details! This Labor Day, catch a Labor Day CSI Marathon on Monday, Sept. 1 from 9a-10p, including a whole new season of CSI episodes, for the first time on Spike. Then, spin-off CSI: NY will air 5 days a week! Because one hour a week wasn't enough, CSI: New York moves to a Monday-Friday strip, a prime-time block, and a late night strip, all beginning the week of Sept. 22. Spike TV is kicking it off with a week- long, all-day marathon the week of Sept. 22 (Monday-Friday that week from 9a-9p, Tuesday from 9p-12am, and Mon-Fri at 12m) including 2 new seasons of CSI: New York episodes for the first time on Spike. Starting week of Sept. 29, CSI: NY will be regularly scheduled Mon-Fri at 8pm, Tuesdays from 9p-12am, and Mon-Wed at 12am.
Married with...Children comes to Spike TV, beginning Saturday, September 27! Spend some time with Al, Peg, Kelly and Bud all-week long during Spike TV's "Monday thru Bundy" marathon! Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28 from 9am-11am and 1a-2am! The marathon kicks into full gear on Monday, September 29 through Friday, October 3 from 9am-3pm each day! Also on Thursday, October 2 you can catch it in the late night from 12a-2a and the same goes for on Friday, October 3 from 12a-1a. Married...with Children will settle into its regular time periods of Mon-Fri 11am-1pm & Thursdays 1a-2a starting October 6 and Saturday and Sunday mornings 9am-11am beginning right after the marathon ends on Saturday, Oct. 4.
Then in October another new show is coming! Unsolved Mysteries explores unsolved cases in which you, the viewer, can help solve a case. The show includes cases from a variety of categories: Murder, Missing Persons, Wanted Fugitives, UFOs, Ghosts, Fraud, Legends, Science/Medicine, among others. The new Unsolved Mysteries programs will consist of re-creations of the events, along with interviews with the subjects, participants and authorities, documentary footage and news footage. Entirely new graphics, special effects, music and title sequences were created for the Spike broadcasts, along with new narration and host stand-ups by Dennis Farina. The show will air Monday-Friday from 5pm-7pm starting Monday, October 13 and Sundays from 1pm-6pm!
Check out the full Spike TV Fall 2008 schedule.

More fall schedules will return Monday as I am headed for a short vacation. Todd will take over the next few days with mini-DVD reviews from our review team. See you all Monday and come back this weekend as well to see those reviews and our Sunday ratings wrap-up! Off to the Catskills I go!

TV Land has made a chance to its line-up starting Aug. 25. The 9-11PM marathons will be removed starting Aug. 25, thus the evening line-up from 4pm-1am will be altered a bit. And the late night line-up that started this week, will remain intact this week and hereafter in September. This new 4pm-1am line-up will also carry over into September. Hogan's Heroes, Beverly Hillbillies, and Andy Griffith all move an hour earlier from 5-9pm to 4-8pm, as The Cosby Show moves into 8-9pm earlier than planned...as it was slated for mid-September. The Jeffersons follows from 9-10pm that week, but that will change to Scrubs starting a week later when Scrubs joins. From 10pm-12am it is a block of M*A*S*H and more Cosby Show in the midnight hour. Everything else will remain the same as the changes that happened Aug. 4. To view the full list of changes starting Aug. 25, click HERE. Also, you might want to see how TV Land September 2008 schedule looks now with these new changes. It seems Just Shoot Me and Murphy Brown will be totally gone in September with these new changes that happened Aug. 4 and Aug. 25. At least Three's Company and Brady Bunch will air every morning in the 4am hour!

Fox has announced a slight change to its fall line-up on Thursdays. Hole in the Wall, the body-bending, mind-twisting, global game show phenomenon from American Idol producers FremantleMedia North America, will now air Thursdays at 8PM ET/PT starting Thursday, Sept. 11 on Fox. The show was previously not scheduled in a slot, but was likely coming mid-season. The game show The Moment of Truth which was previously scheduled in the Thursday 8:00 PM time slot, will now premiere mid-season for its second season.
ABC's wildly popular new hilarious competition series, Wipeout, has been picked up for a second season. Twenty-four thrill-seekers will compete in the world's largest extreme obstacle course designed to provide the most spills, face plants and wipeouts ever seen on television. A hit summer series for ABC, Wipeout dominates Tuesday's 8:00 PM hour in Total Viewers and across each of the key Adult demographics (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54). In its six telecasts to date, Wipeout has consistently ranked as the No. 2 show of the week in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. Four new episodes remain in the first season and they will air starting Tuesday, Aug. 26 once the Olympics are over. The first season concludes on Sept. 16. There is no word yet how many episodes were ordered for season two and when we can expect them to air...possibly in mid-season or next summer, if I were to guess! Big Balls and Jill Wagner!
In other ABC news, game show Wanna Bet? is scheduled to move from its Mondays at 9PM slot to Tuesdays at 9PM on Tuesdays, August 12, 19, 26 and September 2, 2008 at 9:00 PM ET/PT following Wipeout (which returns with new episodes on Aug. 26). Thus, Samantha Who? encores will now air move to Mondays at 9:00 & 9:30 PM ET/PT for the rest of the summer. Though, on August 18, the movie Bewitched will air from 9-11PM ET/PT.
Finally, America United: In Support Of Our Troops is scheduled to air on Sunday, September 7, 2008 from 9:00-11:00 PM ET/PT on ABC. A star-studded "Bob Hope USO" style variety show featuring heart-warming profiles of families overcoming obstacles, top-tier performances, sexy celebrity cameos, hilarious comedy and touching acts of wish-fulfillment all with the positive, non-controversial message of "thanks" for our troops and their families.

TBS Fall 2008 Line-Up; RTN's New Slogan

A little over a month ago we told you Married...with Children is coming to TBS this September airing weekdays from 6-7am and sometimes between 4-6am as well. TBS only has rights to air the show between 2-7am, so they cannot give it a better slot, unfortunately. However, we also stated Spike TV has gotten the rights from 7am-2am starting September as well. We gave you two updates on that, one for the original story and the other with the schedules times. We will have more on Spike TV's part tomorrow in our Spike TV Fall schedule. But sticking with TBS, they are not really making any changes this fall. For Labor Day weekend they will have two marathons...on Sunday, August 31 from 8am-1pm they will showcase the hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for a marathon leading into their Sunday MLB Baseball Game of the Week. Then on Labor Day itself, (Monday, Sept. 1), TBS will showcase the number one sitcom of all-time for basic cable Tyler Perry's House of Payne with a marathon from 10am-8pm, leading into the Family Guy Monday block. They will air the premiere episode of TNT's original drama Raising the Bar on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 11pm following two episodes of The Office. We will have more on TNT's fall line-up in the coming days. Then Tuesdays at 11pm, Frank TV is back with a second season as the late night comedy is back starting Sept. 9! Teen drama Dawson's Creek had been airing on some early morning slots on some days, and its last airing will be late Monday, Sept. 8 at 4:30am ET, as it is no longer scheduled in any other slot through the end of October, so I am not 100% sure, but it seems it might have expired.
Effective Monday, Sept. 15 Married...with Children joins the TBS morning line-up airing weekdays at 6:00am & 6:30am ET. The MLB Playoffs start on TBS on Wednesday, Oct. 1 airing in the afternoon and primetime, so the morning/early afternoon lineup will be a bit altered each day...so when the playoffs are on, you'll have to check your listings to see when the TBS sitcoms are airing. But starting Monday, Sept. 29, TBS will swap Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond's slot. So, Seinfeld will move from 5-6pm to 7-8pm, while Raymond goes from 6:30-8pm to 5-6:30pm, which means Friends is now 6:30pm starting Sept. 29. Also, the primetime blocks are altered a tad as well. Starting Monday, Oct. 20 everything will be back to normal as the MLB Playoffs are over and Fox will do the MLB World Series.
Check out the full TBS Fall 2008 line-up in a list form, and you can also discuss what you think.

Today RTN (Retro Television Network) announced its new slogan "Classic Television Hits All Day, Live Talk all Night." According to RTN spokesman Neal Ardman, RTN will begin to phase out paid programming over the next few months. The goal, said Ardman, is to provide the viewer with compelling programming 24 hours a day. RTN will begin inserting live news, general entertainment, and sports talk shows in the late night and overnight hours beginning in September. Not to worry, Classic TV will still air in the mornings, afternoons, evening and primetime!
Robin Leach has been tapped to produce and host one such, as yet unnamed, show to be produced LIVE in Las Vegas. Another show, Unreliable Sources, a news/talk show with viewer calls, already airs in over 30 markets and is produced at the RTN studios.
RTN is currently sold in 72 markets and last week went on the air in Washington, D.C. on WJLA-DT. RTN is the only network that is customized for each market.

USA Network Fall 2008 Schedule; Lionsgate To Release Many ABC Studios DVDs

Continuing our look at the fall 2008 cable schedules, we now take a look at USA Network's September 2008 fall schedule. They have been airing Navy NCIS and House once a week, but now they both will be available for daily play on the network. House will launch first with a marathon on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 9am-11pm and Sunday, Sept. 7 from 3pm-4am. House will air weeknights at 8pm, except on Tuesdays it will air9 and 10pm. Then NCIS will get a three day launch marathon the next three days, Sept. 8-10 from 6am-7pm ET/PT. USA Network will have a lot of marathons the first few weeks of September, as other ones are the countdown to the 100th episode of Monk continues, from Sept. 1-5, as the 100th episode airs on Sept. 5. A marathon of Burn Notice will air on Thursday, Sept. 11 from 6am-6pm, followed by a stack of House from 6pm-10pm leading into a new episode of Burn Notice. A Psych marathon will air on Friday, Sept. 12 from 6am-4pm leading into another House stack from 4-9pm which will lead into the season finales of Monk and Psych. The next day on Saturday, Sept. 13 a NCIS marathon will air from 4-11pm and a House stack again on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 7p-12a.
Then starting Monday, Sept. 15 the regular schedule finally begins. Changes include the 8am airing of JAG being replaced by Monk, as Walker Texas Ranger moves to 9am. Monk's afternoon airing is now 2pm, followed by back to back Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 3 and 4pm. Navy NCIS will air weeknights at 5 and 6pm, followed by Law & Order: SVU at 7pm. SVU will also air Tuesdays at 8pm, while House will air weeknights at 8pm except Tuesdays at 9pm, as we mentioned.
View the full USA Network September 2008 fall line-up and also discuss it.

Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, and Disney-ABC Domestic Television have entered into an agreement where Lionsgate obtains the home entertainment distribution rights (DVD rights) to select primetime series and library titles from ABC Studios.
The first programs to be released under the new agreement – popular current ABC sitcom According to Jim: Season One, starring Jim Belushi and Courtney Thorne-Smith and one-hour current The CW series Reaper: Season One – will be available on DVD on October 21 and November 4, respectively. The agreement also encompasses other popular sitcoms and dramas including Hope & Faith (Kelly Ripa, Faith Ford), 8 Simple Rules...for Dating My Teenage Daughter (John Ritter, Katey Sagal, David Spade), Boy Meets World (Ben Savage, Rider Strong), October Road (Tom Berenger, Bryan Greenberg), Kevin Hill (Taye Diggs), My Wife & Kids (Damon Wayans), Six Degrees (Jay Hernandez, Bridget Moynahan, Erika Christensen), and more.
So what does this all mean? Well, first of all let me explain what ABC Studios is. ABC Studios is the studio that produces Touchstone Television/Buena Vista television shows, so it is not necessarily all ABC network shows. Reaper is produced by ABC Studios but airs on The CW. Kevin Hill was a drama on UPN but was produced by ABC Studios. Lionsgate has reached a deal for select ABC Studios series for DVD rights. No, that does not mean ABC Studios/Buena Vista Home Entertainment will not release any more DVDs, as they will still continue to release well over 40 ABC Studios series each year such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Samantha Who, Scrubs and many others. Lionsgate primarily will release the series that are not in production anymore, but of course a few are going to be released that are in production (like the aforementioned According to Jim & Reaper).
I don't have a full list of shows yet that Lionsgate acquired for DVD rights from ABC Studios other than those listed above like 8 Simple Rules, October Road and Boy Meets World. Speaking of those three, I am told Lionsgate will continue where Buena Vista Home Entertainment left off, so 8 Simple Rules & October Road will start with Season 2 and Boy Meets World with Season 4. I am hoping Lionsgate also acquired classic ABC Studios series not on DVD such as Empty Nest, Nurses, Blossom, and short lived stuff like The Golden Palace, Thunder Alley and The Sinbad Show. Notice most of those were not on ABC but they were produced by ABC Studios (Touchstone Television). Once I have a full list of what Lionsgate has acquired, I will let you all know, unless TVShowsonDVD.com posts it first. So stay tuned to us and/or TVShowsonDVD.com for details. Just to reiterate...if a show aired on ABC in the past like Family Matters or Step by Step, which were both produced by Warner Bros., that will not be available for Lionsgate because they were NOT produced by ABC Studios...only those series produced by ABC Studios/Touchstone Television could be available.

FX Fall 2008 Schedule; Save Mister Rogers' Neighborhood; Fox Renews Dance for 5th Season

Just a few weeks ago we gave you details on FX's summer changes...and now we have their fall schedule! As we have mentioned many times already, Bernie Mac is joining FX's line-up. The four-year deal starts Monday, September 8, 2008 with a launch marathon from 12:30pm-8pm ET. Bernie Mac will then join the weekday line-up on Tuesday, September 9 airing weekdays at 8:00am & 8:30am ET and 4:00pm & 4:30pm ET (although sometimes it will be 4:30pm ET & 5:00pm ET depending on the FX movies). The morning airings will replace The Practice, which will now just air weekends at 7:00am & 8:00am. We urge you to view the full FX September 2008 schedule so no confusion arises.
Other September higlights include a Labor Day (Sept. 1) marathon of That '70s Show from 7:00am-5:30pm ET. The Shield will have its season premiere the following night at 10pm on Tuesday, September 2. FX will launch their new series Sons of Anarchy starring Katey Sagal on Wednesday, September 3 at 10pm with a special 75-minute premiere until 11:15pm ET. FX will launch a new season of its comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Thursday, September 18 at 10pm.

In June 2008, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) announced that it intends to soon change the way Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the beloved children’s television program, is distributed to member stations.
PBS will cease transmitting the program as part of their daily syndicated lineup beginning in September. Instead, PBS will provide member stations with a single Neighborhood episode on weekends. This unfortunate decision essentially silences the special nurturing voice of Mister Rogers in the daily lives of today's children.
Local public television stations, who make the final decisions about which programs to offer and when to air them, can still opt to broadcast Mister Rogers' Neighborhood each weekday, but they are much less likely to do so without the program being included in PBS's syndicated feed.
A campaign is underway for you to save Mister Rogers' Neighborhood on your local PBS station. It is sad if they just air it once a week on weekends. Many generations have learned from him since the 1960s and it has been tradition having it on daily on PBS. So save Mister Rogers by heading on to SaveMisterRogers.com!

Fox has ordered a fifth season of summer show, So You Think You Can Dance for next summer. Created by Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, the original dance competition follows amateur dancers as they compete in everything from Hip-Hop, Krumping and Popping to Salsa, Quickstep and Jive to be named America's favorite dancer.

Summer Week 10 Sitcom Ratings; Coming Week Preview

The dog days of summer continue. Only repeats and reality series are airing, but there have been some scripted originals for the summer as well. We are just looking at the sitcom ratings, but we will be back in the fall with our normal weekly reports. Here is week 10 for the summer for sitcoms:

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for week of July 21-27)

• 'Til Death (Fox) 2 episodes - Just 2.05 and 2.2 million for two repeats...but both airs beat both airings the previous week.
  
• The Simpsons (Fox) 2 episodes - 3.96 million for a repeat in its normal 8pm slot, was up from the previous week but the special 8:30pm encore (maybe for the rest of the summer?) jumped big time to 5.0 million, the best numbers in the slot since the end of the regular season.
  
• King of the Hill (Fox) - preempted.
  
• Family Guy (Fox) - 5.12 million for an encore telecast, as a better lead-in gave it better numbers.
• American Dad! (Fox) - 4.41 million for a repeat, up week to week.
  
• Everybody Hates Chris (The CW) - 960,000 viewers this week for a repeat...they should start airing two episodes each week in time for the new season.
  
• Aliens in America (The CW) - 960,000 viewers for a repeat..., full retention, but I bet a second Chris would have built on. No point really in airing this show now since it was canceled.
  
• The Game (The CW) - 850,000 viewers for a repeat, up slightly from previous week. And as I said with Chris, they should start airing back to back episodes for the rest of the summer in anticipation of the new season.
• Girlfriends (The CW) - 770,000 viewers for a repeat, down from previous week's repeat. It is time they remove the encores since it is now canceled. Or CW should move the encores to another night like Wednesday where for some reason they are encoring two reality shows and are getting crushed in the ratings.
  

Summer Week 10 (July 28-August 3)

Monday Sitcoms

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - 5.37 million for a repeat...down ab it week to week.
  
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - 5.25 million for a repeat airing, down week to week and did not build this time on the lead-in.
  
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 9.35 million for a repeat, as with the previous two shows, also down from previous week.
• Old Christine (CBS) - 7.5 million for a repeat...BUT up a bit from previous week, so the only show to build from the block from previous week.
  

Tuesday Sitcoms

• None...watch Wipeout on ABC, very funny show that is not a sitcom. Big Balls and Jill Wagner, what more can you ask for?
  

Wednesday Sitcoms

• Under One Roof (MyNetworkTV) - Repeat did 870,000 viewers, down from previous week. New episodes will return in October in its new slot of 9pm.
  

Thursday Sitcoms

• None.
  

Friday Sitcoms

• None

Saturday Sitcoms

• The Office (NBC) 2 episodes - Two repeats on a special night did terrible averaging a prelim 1.64 million...what do you expect on a Saturday?
  

Tonight you can catch encores of The CW sitcoms from 8-10pm and Fox's animated comedies (and 'Til Death repeats from 7-8pm) are encoring.

Coming Week Preview (Summer Week 11) for Broadcast (With Some Cable Notes):
So what is new or notable this week that you might want to catch? Tonight CBS will have Big Brother at 8pm out of a new 60 Minutes at 7pm. NBC has Dateline at 7pm followed by an NFL Pre-Season game at 8pm...who watches pre-season? ABC will air final the Sunday edition of High School Musical: Get in the Picture at 8pm before airing only Mondays at 8pm from now on. A pretty quiet and boring night that will get quieter and more boring next week. Cable is the way to go with Lifetime's Army Wives, USA Network's In Plain Sight and Mad Men on AMC at 10pm with VH1 and A&E airing their reality series. And don't forget Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 9pm on USA Network and Factory on Spike TV. Cable is the way to go indeed!
On Monday, ABC will be new with High School Musical: Get in the Picture at 8pm, followed by week three of game show Wanna Bet? and a new The Mole at 10pm. NBC has a two-hour American Gladiators at 8pmthis week followed by Nashville Star at 10pm. Fox will air the 2008 Teen Choice Awards from 8-10pm. Cable again will be the best draw with The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT from 9-11pm. ABC Family also has a new Middleman at 10pm and VH1 with more new reality series such as I Want to Work for Diddy.
On Tuesday ABC has the hilarious hit (and my pick of the summer) Wipeout followed by the two-hour season finale of I Survived a Japanese Game Show. NBC has Celebrity Family Feud at 8pm leading into the summer hit America's Got Talent whch will be two-hours from 9-11pm. And the Tuesday edition of Big Brother airs at 9pm on CBS. Cable wise ABC Family's Secret Life of an American Teenager is doing well and will air at 8pm and at 10pm on Lifetime it is How To Look Good Naked. Best night of the summer!
On Wednesday Fox will air a new two-hour episode of So You Think You Can Dance. NBC will have a Baby Borrowers special at 9pm. CBS has the recently moved Greatest American Dog at 8pm. ABC will be new at 10pm with the special Primetime: China Inside Out. Maybe this is the worst night for the summer (not counting Friday/Saturday).
On Thursday ABC will air the finale of ABCNews' Hopkins series at 10pm. Fox will also be new all-night with Don't Forget the Lyrics! followed by So You Think You Can Dance-Thursday. CBS at 8pm has Big Brother and another episode of the summer scripted series Flashtown at 10pm, which is doing decent...however on this night, some local stations could preempt for a NFL pre-season game. And NBC will air the 90-minute finale of Last Comic Standing at 8pm followed by the first results show (and pre-Olympics finale) of America's Got Talent from 9:30-11pm...please note that some markets (like NY, will preempt programming for an NFL pre-season game). On cable, TBS will air new episodes of sitcoms The Bill Engvall Show at 9:30pm after a repeat and new My Boys at 10pm and USA Network has Burn Notice at 10pm, while Comedy Central has The Gong Show.
On Friday, NBC will be king with the start of the Summer Olympics. CBS has the summer drama Swingtown at 10pm which is on its last legs. The CW of course will have WWE Smackdown.
Saturday will have Cops and AMW on Fox and of course the Summer Olympics on NBC and their cable networks.

Mini-DVD Review: South Park Season 11 (Aug. 12)

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for the mini-DVD review! Today we take a look at Comedy Central/Paramount's South Park: The Complete 11th Season . South Park of course is the popular cable animated series that is full of laughs for all ages. See skees53's mini-DVD review of South Park: The Complete 11th Season:

South Park- The Complete Eleventh Season (Comedy Central DVD, $49.99) brings all fourteen episodes from the 2007 season of the Comedy Central hit to a three-disc DVD set. Like most animated series, the kids don't really grow up, but somehow, in each and every season, they do grow even more hilarious than in the past. The 2007 season contains perhaps some of the best South Park episodes produced to date, with many hilarious moments that will have you asking "did they REALLY just do that on TV?" And, to sweeten the pot, all fourteen episodes are presented uncensored, although many South Park fans won't notice that much of a difference--it is a rude and crude show to begin with.
Every single one of the episodes from this season can be viewed as memorable in one way or another, beginning with "With Apologies to Jessie Jackson," where Stan's dad uses the "N-word" on live TV, and somehow becomes the victim. Cartman pulls a prank on Butters that ultimately only serves to make a fool of Cartman (and ends up putting Butters into a special camp that is designed to "pray the gay away") in "Cartman Sucks." Kyle and Stan are out to determine the meaning behind Easter bunnies and eggs in "Fantastic Easter Special." Mrs. Garrison realizes that in her new life as a woman, she just so happens to be a lesbian (to clarify, Mrs. Garrison was originally a gay man, then got a sex-change operation to become a woman that liked men, now is a women that has decided she is a lesbian, and anybody watching season twelve knows that there is an even further twist to this bizarre story) in "D-Yikes." Cartman realizes that he can say anything he wants by pretending to have Tourette's Syndrome "Le Petit Tourette." Butters takes a scary trip into Imaginationland, where only he can save the world, in the three-part episode "Imaginationland." The boys want to become rock stars, or at least Guitar Hero champions, in "Guitar Queer-O."
The set is once again like all of the previous sets, in the standard digipak with the episode information on the two side panels. The episodes all look and sound great, as one would expect. And, it is worth noting that this DVD set, while from Paramount, is a Comedy Central DVD product, NOT a CBS DVD product, so there aren't any obnoxious disclaimers about things being edited or music being changed. In fact, as far as I could tell, any applicable music was intact (removing the Melissa Etheridge song "Come to My Window," for example, would have killed a great scene in the "D-Yikes" episode, so it was good to see all music intact).
Each episode has the mini-commentaries from Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which have always been slightly disappointing, as I'd like more than just mini-commentaries. There are a few Comedy Central Quickies on Disc 1, from 'Lil Bush, The Daily Show, Reno 911!, and The Colbert Report. Basically, these are just funny clips from these shows. I wish that these South Park DVD sets could be more impressive on the special features end, as many other animated series are on DVD.
This is a great set to own with some hilarious episodes, and any fan of South Park must own this one, even the casual fan. I can't think of any other season of the series that has had better episodes (including the current season), and some of the situations in this season are just outright hilarious, so much so that even those that don't watch the series on a regular basis will find them to be hilarious. It took me a long time to warm up to this series (I used to find it a little too out there and over the top for my sense of humor), but eventually it just got to me that this is a hilarious series that anybody that loves comedy and can accept rude and crude entertainment will love it.
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4.5/5 stars)

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