SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

NBC is making wholesale changes to its mid-season 2011 schedule that will make every night change, similar to a fall schedule. The changes happen starting in early January, 2011.
The mid-season schedule kicks-off with the season premiere of The Biggest Loser: Couples on Tuesday, Jan. 4 from 8-10pm followed by an all-new Parenthood. This night remains the same in January, but changes will be made come February, as Law & Order: Los Angeles moves from Wednesdays at 10 to Tuesdays at 10 starting Tuesday, Feb. 8, replacing Parenthood. So, L&O: LA will not air in January at all. We will have more on Parenthood's new night in a bit.
Then on Wednesdays, Minute to Win It has its official season premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 8pm, after airing holiday specials on Tuesdays in December (along with encores on Wednesdays at 8 on Dec. 22 and Dec. 29). Law & Order: SVU will air two episodes on Jan. 5 from 9-11pm, before moving to its new timeslot of 10pm starting January 12. Struggling drama Chase moves from Mondays at 10 to Wednesdays at 9 starting Jan. 12 through March 9, in a very competitive timeslot. Starting March 16, new unscripted series America's Next Great Restaurant airs at 9pm through May 11.
Fridays will have Minute to Win It encores on Jan. 7 and 14 at 8pm leading into two-hour episodes of Dateline from 9-11. The return of Who Do You Think You Are is on Jan. 21 through April 1, airing eight episodes. It is unclear what will air Fridays at 8 starting April 8.
Moving on to Sundays, the NFL ends the regular season on Sunday, Jan. 2, so NBC will have a big hole to fill obviously, since the NFL saves them every week in the fall. Dateline returns to the 7pm hour starting Jan. 9. Special programming airs in January and February on this night due to all of the awards and the Super Bowl. On January 9, NBC previews the new drama The Cape from 9-11pm, before it moves to its regular night of Mondays starting Jan. 17. NBC will have The 68th Annual Golden Globes on Jan. 16 from 8-11pm ET, with a red carpet special at 7pm ET. Other specials include a 35th Anniversary SNL special on Sunday, Feb. 20. A regular schedule from 8-11pm will begin on Sunday, March 6 with the season premiere of comedic reality series The Marriage Ref at 8pm and the season premiere of Celebrity Apprentice from 9-11pm. I wonder if the latter will be way lower this year as the regular edition has bombed this fall?
Moving on to Mondays, we mentioned new drama The Cape gets a special preview on Sunday, Jan. 9, and NBC for some reason will encore the two-hour preview the next night on Monday, Jan. 10 from 9-11pm. Chuck remains at 8pm and will start new episodes starting Jan. 17. The Cape airs at 9pm for 6 weeks, benching The Event. At 10pm, new drama Harry's Law airs for 6 weeks. Mondays will get a makeover again after these 6 weeks are over. The Event returns on Monday, Feb. 28 with a two-hour return from 9-11pm, with a clip show airing at 8pm, as NBC tries to relaunch the struggling drama. Then it will move to its regular time of 9pm leading into the return of Parenthood, on its new night of Mondays starting March 7. Parenthood is off the schedule for the month of February. It is unclear what is airing on Monday, Jan. 3.
And finally the most un-confusing part of the changes will be made to Thursdays. Comedy will air three hours now starting Thursday, Jan. 20. Community and The Office remain in their 8pm and 9pm half-hours, but the rest of the night is changing. New comedy Perfect Couples starring Oliva Munn airs at 8:30pm for 13 episodes, while a full season of Parks & Recreation will air at 9:30pm. Then the 10pm hour will now be comedies, something the broadcast networks never do. 30 Rock moves from 8:30pm to 10pm and new comedy Outsourced moves from 9:30 to the tough 10:30pm slot. I can see 30 Rock doing OK here, but Outsourced is going to struggle. Still, it should be a better average for the hour than what The Apprentice is doing now (1.4 18-49 rating). It is expected that comedy encores will air on Thursday, Jan. 6 and 13.
Wow! That is a lot of changes and quite confusing. So all of NBC's new series they launched this fall will be moving, benched or canceled. The Event goes to the bench in January and February, Chase moves to Wednesdays at 9, Undercovers & Outlaw are canceled, Law & Order: Los Angeles is benched in January then it is moving to Tuesdays at 10 starting in February, Outsourced is moved to Thursdays at 10:30, and School of Pride is not expected to return after terrible ratings. And still three more new series are to come: comedy-drama Love Bites and comedies Friends with Benefits and The Paul Reiser Show. The latter two will probably be mixed in on Thursdays sometime later this season, and Love Bites could possibly be Fridays at 8 starting April 8...but that's just a guess.
It is A LOT of changes, so view the press release and schedule so you're not confused. Also view our day-by-day schedule for NBC, so you don't miss anything more.

The hit sitcom, The King of Queens, will have a new prime-time cable television home at MTV Networks and will start airing on Spike TV beginning in October 2011. Then the popular series will move to sister network TV Land in 2013.
Spike TV will telecast two back-to-back episodes of The King of Queens in primetime twice per week when the network's run begins in October 2011 before TV Land airs it daily in the evenings starting in 2013.
The sitcom currently airs on TBS on cable, since Fall 2006, and will continue to do so until at least 2019 as they have renewed it. So, TBS will be sharing the rights with Spike TV/TV Land, as TBS will have the daytime rights and Spike/TV Land will have the primetime/late night rights. The King of Queens currently airs on TBS from Mon-Sat at 6pm & 6:30pm ET. Stay tuned for updates on The King of Queens on Spike TV as we get closer to next fall (2011).
Set in the working-class suburb of Queens, New York, the show follows Doug Heffernan (Kevin James, Paul Blart: Mall Cop), an amiable deliveryman, and his wife, spitfire legal secretary Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini, The Talk), as they explore the everyday challenges of love, life, family and marriage. Doug and Carrie also have to deal with the third, high-maintenance member of the Heffernan household. Carrie's twice-widowed father, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller, Seinfeld), lives in their basement. His constant presence and often-bizarre behavior add to their daily adventures. Doug often finds refuge in the little alone time he has with Carrie, best friend and co-worker, Deacon (Victor Williams), buddy Spence (Patton Oswalt) and his cousin Danny (Gary Valentine).

A couple of months ago we told you about CMT ordering their first original sitcom titled Working Class starring Melissa Peterman, now they have announced that TV legend Ed Asner is joining the cast!
CMT's first scripted sitcom, Working Class, is set to begin taping in Los Angeles today (October 19) starring TV veteran Melissa Peterman (Reba/Singing Bee). Peterman will be joined by Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Ed Asner, who is making his return to series television, his first since his role on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in 2006. The new 12 episode multi-camera series will premiere in January 2011 on CMT. We don't have a night and time yet, so stay with us for that.
Working Class focuses on Carli (Melissa Peterman), a single mom from a rough and tumble background, trying to give her kids a better life by moving them to an upscale suburb. She quickly finds that making the transition to "the good life" is harder than she thought. Not only do her three kids seem to want the same luxuries as their friends, her only career prospect is a glorified deli job at the local grocery store, and the man she falls for already has a girlfriend and is also her boss (Patrick Fabian) To make matters worse, Carli finds herself unwittingly befriended by her cranky, misanthropic neighbor, Hank, (Ed Asner) who is also the butcher at the grocery where she works. With her ladies-man brother, Nick, (Steve Kazee) to help her out, Carli faces the challenges of parenting, dating, and making friends in her new community by doing more with less, staying true to herself, and approaching each day with a touch of working class. The kids are Lachlan Buchahan as Scott, Courtney Merritt as Pam, and Cameron Castaneda as Will.
Working Class is executive produced by Jill Cargerman (Spin City/Gary Unmarried) and Bryan Johnson of The Film Syndicate.

ABC has announced a new spin-off of Dancing with the Stars, along the return of V and a premiere date for Winter Wipeout, which we told you about last week.
You've seen what happens when celebrities take on the ballroom, now see what happens when they hit the ice on blades of steel in Skating with the Stars. The new series from BBC Worldwide Productions pairs a celebrity with a world class ice skater as they prepare to compete in front of a live audience in a televised ice skating competition. The skating pairs will be critiqued by a panel of expert judges and will receive a set of scores based on artistry and technique and by viewers at home, with one couple being eliminated each week. Skating with the Stars will kick off its six-episode run with a live premiere episode on Monday, November 22 from 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET following the final performance show of season eleven of Dancing with the Stars. The Skating with the Stars all-star cast will be revealed on-air Tuesday, November 2 during the live Dancing with the Stars Results show. The series will air for two-hours on Monday, Nov. 22, then will air for 90-minutes on Mondays, Nov. 26 & Dec. 6 from 8pm-9:30pm, then for an hour each on Mondays, Dec. 13 and 20 in the 8pm hour (leading into classic Castle encores from 9-11) , with its season finale on Tuesday, Dec. 21 from 8-9pm.
V, the thrilling drama series about the world's first alien encounter that captivated viewers last season, will make its highly-anticipated season premiere on Tuesday, January 4 at 9:00 p.m., ET on ABC. The series will have a 10-episode order. Simultaneously appearing over every major city in the world, the Visitors (or V's) arrived offering us the wonders of their technology and promoting peace. While the world quickly embraced the V's as saviors, an FBI Counter Terrorist Agent, and others making up the resistance group called The Fifth Column, quickly discovered that the Visitors are not who they said they were. Will humanity stop being fooled and realize the Visitors true intentions before it becomes too late and they take over Earth? Season 2 will feature more character and lizard reveals, more details about the V's mythology, while along the way featuring even more action and more plot twists. Viewers can expect a roller coaster ride week-to-week.
In other ABC schedule updates, ABC's family superhero drama No Ordinary Family will move to the 9pm hour on Tuesdays starting Nov. 30 for three weeks following classic holiday specials. The Powell family will have even more strength in a later hour and airing after compatible holiday specials. As of now, the series will move back to the 8pm hour on Tuesday, Jan. 4 when V launches, but this could still change...so stay tuned. Also, I expect the move to 9pm to happen even before Nov. 30, so stay tuned if that happens also. And ABC has announced that Winter Wipeout will air Thursdays at 8pm starting Jan. 6 for all of January and February. Goodnight and big "snow" balls! Finally, ABC has announced a big holiday specials slate, which we will detail in our annual network holiday specials next month. But you can get a preview before hand, by viewing our list of ABC Holidays Specials/Winter Programming. Keep checking back with us, as we still have some timeslots to figure out for ABC (such as Wed at 10, if The Whole Truth is pulled soon).

NBC has given full-season pickups to three of its new Fall 2010-11 series, dramas The Event and Law & Order: Los Angeles and sitcom Outsourced, despite all three series struggling in the ratings. The Event and Law & Order: Los Angeles both had a good showing from their premiere episodes, but have gone down steadily since then. Sitcom Outsourced also started decently and has dropped from the premiere, but not as sharply.
The Event airs Mondays at 9, Law & Order: Los Angeles airs Wednesdays at 10, and Outsourced airs Thursdays at 9:30. NBC's two other scripted series whose fate have yet to be revealed are Undercovers and Chase, which both also have underperformed. Both could see some additional episodes though, as NBC doesn't have many options in mid-season in the drama department. NBC's Outlaw is already canceled and new reality series School of Pride premiered to low ratings last Friday.
EDIT: As of 3pm ET, NBC just picked-up Chase for a full season as well, despite low ratings. In addition, NBC picked-up 11 more episodes of low rated veteran, but consistent, Chuck. It will have 24 episodes this season. With these freshman series, NBC has ordered a full season of low rated shows (see Trauma and Mercy) in the past, so it might be one season and done for some of these shows, especially Chase and Outsourced. Still nothing official on Undercovers, but more scripts have been reportedly ordered.

And also we will have a tribute to the late Tom Bosley tomorrow on the blog...so please come back for that. He will be deeply missed. Visit our Happy Days website.

Outsourced - Thursdays 9:30PM ET/PT on NBC
Premieres Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 9:30PM ET/PT

Outsourced is NBC's latest "clash of the cultures" sitcom to explore how one person functions when being suddenly immersed in an unfamiliar environment. Todd Dempsey (Ben Rappaport) returns from his vacation to his office at Mid America Novelties to find that the call center his workplace has been "right-sized" in order to save the company every penny possible. Everybody has been fired, and their jobs have been replaced by employees in Mumbai, India. Well, not exactly everybody has been fired. Todd still has a job with Mid America Novelties, but now he is the lone American manager of the call center in India. But that is just the beginning of the story. Upon Todd's arrival into India, he discovers that his job is going to be much more difficult than anticipated when he finds that his employees are not exactly top-notch.

Cast Details:

* Ben Rappaport as Todd Dempsey
* Rizwan Manji as Rajiiv Gidwani
* Sacha Dhawan as Manmeet
* Rebecca Hazlewood as Asha
* Parvesh Cheena as Gupta
* Anisha Nagarajan as Madhuri
* Diedrich Bader as Charlie Davies
* Pippa Black as Tonya

Ben Rappaport (Todd) makes his television debut in his starring role in the series. A recent graduate of the Julliard School, he received the Drama Division's highest honor, the Michel and Suria Saint-Denis Prize. His credits include several Julliard performances and work with Roundabout, Ars Nova, Naked Angels, Irish Rep., The Actors Studio, and New Dramatists.

Rizwan Manji (Rajiiv) has many credits from guest starring roles in several series, including Glee, FlashForward, 24, Better Off Ted, Medium, How I Met Your Mother, and Without a Trace, among several other series. His movie credits include Charlie Wilson's War and Transformers.

Manchester-born Sacha Dhawan (Manmeet) has many credits to his name in the United Kingdom, but is new to American audiences. He is an accomplished tap-dancer who has previously appeared in British series such as Out of Sight and The Last Train.

Parvesh Cheene (Gupta) made his acting debut as Samir in the movie Barbershop and sequel Barbershop 2. He has many television credits in guest starring roles, including ER, The OC, Brothers & Sisters, and 'Til Death.

Diedrich Bader (Charlie) has many credits from films including EuroTrip, Napoleon Dynamite, Ice Age, Office Space, and more. Additionally, he has done many cartoon voices (including Batman) and also played Oswald Lee Harvey on the long-running series The Drew Carey Show.

Pilot Plot:

#1 "Pilot" (Airs September 23, 2010) - Directed by Ken Kwapis
In the pilot, Todd Dempsey returns from his vacation at Mid America Novelties to find that the call-center that he has been hired to manage in Kansas City is gone, outsourced to Mumbai, India. Upon arriving in India, he meets his assistant manager, Rajiiv (Rizwan Manji), who already has his eyes on Todd's job, in anticipating that Todd won't last long in India. Once Todd arrives in the office, he finds that his new employees are less-than-stellar, including Madhuri (Anisha Nagarajan), the call-center employee with no self-confidence, Asha (Rebecca Hazlewood), who seems to be the most in-touch with American culture (but still struggles), Gupta (Parvesh Cheena), the obnoxious co-worker, and Manmeet (Sacha Dhawan), who is deeply intrigued by Todd's explanation of American lifestyle. He also meets Charlie Davies (Diedrich Bader), who works for All American Hunter and knows what the future holds for Todd, and Tanya (Pippa Black), a young Australian woman who quickly attracts Todd's attention.

Everything appears to be a disaster at first, but as the episode progresses, the call-center employees are slowly becoming interested in the products they are selling and in American culture, even if their understanding of American culture is fatally flawed. Will they make the adjustment before Todd loses his sanity?

Analysis:

The pilot was decent, but leaves some holes that need to be filled. In particular, it felt as if too much of the attention focused on Todd's adjustment to his new job. While it makes sense that the character should be the central character of the series, the other characters often seemed to just be an afterthought and seemed to have two-dimensional personalities. The series is going to need to have some complicated plots focusing on multiple characters and bring some depth into their distinct personalities. In particular, I'm hoping to see some power struggles between Todd and Rajiiv, similar to the power struggles between Michael and Dwight on The Office.

Some of the funniest moments in the pilot came from the cultural misunderstandings of the employees in India, but the problem with this is that the call-center employees are not the "fish out of water" in the series, and instead, that role belongs to Todd. He seems to adapt to the culture a little too easily in the pilot, and the series could certainly benefit if his character was more naive about the culture in India. Still, it is important for the series to continue to include the difficulties that the employees have adapating to American culture, as they are working with American customers. There were certainly many funny elements in the pilot, but there weren't enough (if any at all) laughs regarding Todd's character.

The series has a pretty decent cast, with each cast member fitting into the profile of the character he or she is playing. One of the things that I feared before seeing the pilot is that the series would stereotype all of the Indian characters as being the same, but they actually successfully managed to create a dynamic cast with each having a distinctive personality, even if the pilot episode did not present an adequate opportunity to present those personalities. Even though the cast is made up almost entirely of unknown actors, all of them seem to be prepared to take upon their roles and have great potential for the series.

Conclusion:

All in all, this isn't a bad show, although the pilot could have been better. The series probably wouldn't have a chance on another network, but it may benefit from being paired with The Office on NBC's Thursday night lineup. Still, NBC has the series Parks and Recreation returning later in the season, and something will have to be bumped to make room for it--and this series seems to be a prime candidate for that.

The success or failure of the series will depend upon whether or not people tune in, and the somewhat weak pilot may affect that significantly. Still, the pilot isn't a total disaster, and I'm hoping that the creative staff was really intending to JUST introduce us to the cast instead of creating a complex plot involving the characters (as there really wasn't any complex plot at all). The concept for the series is one that I hope to see work out for the best, and I think that with some improvements, it may attract some fans. It won't be a huge hit for NBC, for sure, but it has potential to be a stable part of the lineup.

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 3.5/5
Funniness: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

-- Reviewed by skees53 on 09/23/10

Discuss the show after you watch it on Thursday, September 23 on our message board.

Related Links:

NBC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Outsourced Photo Gallery

Preview:

So, that's a wrap for the new sitcom pilot reviews. Better With You and Raising Hope were the pilots we liked best, while Outsourced was the lowest rated for us. Stay tuned later this season for more pilot reviews which includes Matthew Perry's Mr. Sunshine for ABC.


Moving on to news, WGN America will make some schedule changes to its primetime/late night line-up beginning on Monday (Sept. 27). It looks like Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm didn't do well in primetime in the ratings and they will be moved to late nights only. Starting Monday, they will now air in the 1am ET hour leading into the already scheduled late night airings at 2am ET. Replacing them in primetime will be two episodes of How I Met Your Mother in the 9pm ET hour, as that series will no longer airing in the 11pm ET hour, with Scrubs returning to that hour now. Replacing Scrubs at midnight ET will be South Park, which moves up an hour (from 1am ET). One note, How I Met You Mother won't air in the 9pm hour on Mondays, because of CBS network obligations, so Old Christine will air in the 9pm ET hour then, in addition to its regular weekdays 8pm ET hour. Old Christine will not air now in the 7pm hour on Fridays, so Dharma & Greg is all five days now in the 7pm ET hour. The 9pm move is better news for Mother, as it was airing at 11pm where Lifetime also airs it. Now you don't have to choose what network you want to watch it at 11pm.
There are some schedule changes to weekends, too. Saturdays will also see changes in primetime and late night. Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm will be replaced on Saturdays at 9pm ET also, this time by America's Funniest Home Videos. After the news at 10pm ET, How I Met Your Mother remains in the 11pm hour on Saturdays, so it will air Tues-Fri at 9pm and Saturdays at 11pm. But the Saturday late night line-up has changed, with South Park moved up to 12am ET instead of Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Instead Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm will now air in the 1am ET hour and another hour at 2am ET. So, Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm airs Mon-Sat in the 1am and 2am ET hours now. Another hour of South Park bookends Saturdays at 3am ET.
On Sundays, Just Shoot Me! will now air on the schedule after all, airing in the Sundays at 6pm ET hour after Scrubs. Dharma & Greg is no longer planned in this hour now on Sundays. Be on the look out for Just Shoot Me! airing as a filler as well (such as when there is no WGN News at 10pm ET).
View the FULL and updated WGN America Fall 2010 schedule. And stay tuned for any special stunts and marathon that WGN America always plans for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

NBC is up today at the TCA Summer 2010 Press Tour. They started it off with breakfast with USA Network's new hit series Covert Affairs! On hand were stars Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Anne Dudek, Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and Sendhil Ramamurthy along with executive producers David Bartis, Matt Corman, Doug Liman, Chris Ord, and James Parriott. After breakfast, the panels started with NBC's new series The Event up first. On hand were stars Jason Ritter, Laura Innes, Željko Ivanek, Sarah Roemer, and Blair Underwood, along with showrunner Evan Katz, director Jeffrey Reiner, executive producer Steve Stark, and creator Nick Wauters. Then there was a panel for NBC's new spy drama Undercovers (I bet it is not good as Covert Affairs and for sure not Alias), with stars Mekia Cox, Boris Kodjoe, Carter MacIntyre, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Gerald McRaney, and Ben Schwartz along with executive producer Josh Reims.
The executive session was next with Jeff Gaspin (Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment) and Angela Bromstad (President of NBC Primetime Entertainment and Universal Media Studios). We will be back with updates from this shortly. NBC announced updates to its new fall schedule including an early premiere for Parenthood, which will follow the last Tuesday airing of America's Got Talent on Tuesday, September 14 at 10 p.m. ET. Likewise, NBC will preview its new Friday drama series Outlaw -- starring Jimmy Smits -- right after the season finale of America's Got Talent on Wednesday, September 15 at 10 p.m. ET. After its preview, Outlaw will now premiere in its regular day and time of Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Friday, September 17. In addition, The Apprentice will now premiere a week earlier on Thursday, September 16 and now two-hours from 9-11 p.m. ET. Elsewhere, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will debut this season now with a two-hour edition as well on Wednesday, September 22 from 9-11 p.m. ET, so the premiere of new companion drama Law & Order: Los Angeles will be moved back by one week to Wednesday, September 29 at 10 p.m. ET.
Rob Lowe (Brothers & Sisters, The West Wing) will become a new series regular on NBC's Parks and Recreation, reprising his former guest-starring role as energetic state auditor Chris Traeger when the comedy series returns in mid-season 2010-11. Elsewhere on NBC comedies, the cast of NBC's 30 Rock will perform a special live episode from famed studio 8H on Thursday, October 14 at 8:30 p.m. ET. In the series' first live episode, two versions will be telecast -- one live for the East Coast and one for the West Coast. The first show will be telecast at 8:30-9 p.m. (ET) for the East and the cast will perform the same episode for a new broadcast at 11:30 p.m.- 12 a.m. (ET) for the West. COME ON BACK FOR FURTHER UPDATES!
After a writing break, it was on to more panels with NBC's new Law & Order spin-off (just what we need), Law & Order: Los Angeles. Star Skeet Ulrich, along with executive producers Rene Balcer, Blake Masters, and Dick Wolf were present. The next panel was for USA Network's upcoming series Facing Kate with stars Sarah Shahi, Michael Trucco, Baron Vaughn, Virginia Williams, along with creator Michael Sardo and executive producer Steve Stark. Lunch was next with Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC.
After lunch, there was a panel for NBC's upcoming new comedy Outsourced with stars Diedrich Bader, Pippa Black, Parvesh Cheena, Sacha Dhawan, Rebecca Hazlewood, Rizwan Manji, Anisha Nagarajan, and Ben Rappaport along with executive producer Robert Borden and director Ken Kwapis. A short break was next with The Biggest Loser's Ali Vincent, Season 5 Winner. Then there was a panel for NBC's upcoming Friday drama Outlaws with stars Jesse Bradford, Carly Pope, David Ramsey, Jimmy Smits, and Ellen Woglom, along with executive producers John Eisendrath & David Kissinger. Then there was another short break, this time with Top Chef: Just Desserts, which premieres on Bravo on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 10pm.
A panel for the upcoming NBC crime drama Chase was next with stars Kelli Giddish, Cole Hauser, Jesse Metcalfe, Amaury Nolasco, and Rose Rollins, along with executive producers Jennifer Johnson & Jonathan Littman. Two Syfy series had panels next: Hunting Hollywood and Destination Truth. Syfy was followed by a short panel for NBC's upcoming reality series School Pride, followed by a panel for The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards/Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The day concludes with the all-star party. Come on back for any breaking updates. And stay tuned Sunday for ABC's portion of the TCA Summer 2010 press tour!

It's Friday, so it is time for "Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows" for the coming week. This is where we list what sitcom stars are appearing on talk shows for the coming week, the stars are both current and past sitcom stars (but we won't cover movie stars like Tom Hanks or John Travolta, since they won't be talking about their past sitcoms likely), so this is for all sitcom fans of all eras!
For the week of August 2-6, 2010, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! So get your DVR's (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!

Monday, August 2, 2010

• Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) - Catch "Sheldon" himself on TBS late night talk show Lopez Tonight at 11pm.
• Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) - Catch Amy on a REPEAT of The Ellen DeGeneres Show so check your listings.
• Fran Drescher (The Nanny) - This is also a REPEAT, but catch Fran on The Ellen DeGeneres Show again and check your listings to see when it is on.
• Christine Lakin (Step by Step) - Christine is the sidekick on Craig Kilborn's new talk show The Kilborn File airing on a few Fox stations today and every weekday. Guests are not announced in advance.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

• Betty White (Hot in Cleveland/The Golden Girls/Mary Tyler Moore Show) - Catch the legendary Betty White on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development/Larry Sanders Show/The Ropers) - The wonderful Jeffrey Tambor is on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:35am on CBS.
• Wendie Malick (Hot in Cleveland/Big Day/Just Shoot Me!) - It's one Wendie to another Wendy, as Wendie Malick appears on The Wendy Williams Show on BET at 12am or check your local station.
• Molly Shannon (Kath & Kim) - Catch Molly on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS, but you need to check listings for time.
• George Lopez (George Lopez) - Catch George on a REPEAT of The Ellen DeGeneres Show so check your listings.
• Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother/Doogie Howser) - Catch Doogie, I mean Neil, on the CBS Early Show sometime between 7-9am.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

• Sofia Vergara (Modern Family/Knights of Prosperity/Hot Properties) - The bombshell is on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) - Catch Eric on a REPEAT of The Rachel Ray Show so check your local station.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

• Garry Shandling (Larry Sanders Show/It's Garry Shandling's Show) - Catch Gary on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS, check your listings for time.

Friday, August 6, 2010

• Jennie Garth (What I Like About You) - Catch the stunning Jennie Garth on TODAY Show on NBC.

Leave us comments on our message board or Tweet/Facebook us to let us know what you think of this Friday feature! We do listen!

NBC announced today the premiere dates of its new Fall 2010 primetime schedule. Beginning the week of September 20, the premiere week schedule features the debuts of the network's new series - including The Event at 9pm and Chase at 10pm on Monday, Sept. 20; Undercovers at 8pm and Law & Order: Los Angeles at 10pm on Wednesday, Sept. 22; Outsourced at 9:30pm on Thursday, Sept. 23; School Pride at 8pm and Outlaw at 10pm on Friday, Sept. 24. NBC's returning series all return on premiere week as well with Chuck at 8pm on Monday, Sept. 20; The Biggest Loser at 8-10pm and Parenthood at 10pm on Tuesday, Sept. 21; Law & Order: SVU on its new time of 9pm on Wednesday, Sept. 22; Community at 8pm, 30 Rock at its new time of 8:30pm, The Office at 9pm, and the return of the civilian The Apprentice at 10pm on Thursday, Sept. 23; Dateline Friday returns at 9pm on Friday, Sept. 24.
In addition, NBC again launches the NFL season with NFL Kickoff on Thursday, September 9 at 8pm ET when the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints host the Minnesota Vikings in a rematch of last year's NFC Championship Game. Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America officially debut on Sunday, September 12 when the Washington Redskins host the Dallas Cowboys.
View the full NBC premiere week schedule. With the announcement for NBC, now only CBS is left to announce their fall 2010 premiere dates...so stay with us for that!

Summer is about to get a lot hotter when The CW unleashes 18 To Life, the hit Canadian comedy series about a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. The network will air all 12 half-hour episodes from the premiere season of 18 To Life on Tuesday nights beginning August 3, with back-to-back episodes airing at 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. ET.
In the premiere episode of 18 To Life, when Tom and Jessie - 18-year-old next-door neighbors who have grown up together – run off and get married, their warring families are forced to become one in this hilarious multi-generational half-hour about relationships, true love, and who takes out the garbage. The series explores intimate relationships in combustible combinations as husband-wife, mom-dad, and in-laws all struggle to influence the newlyweds and control the extended family's destiny. Tom and Jessie move into his parents' attic and their marriage becomes public property, creating an endless string of challenges for the couple. As this new love blooms audaciously amidst the two settled marriages, it stirs up new frictions and old passions in both sets of parents.
18 To Life stars Stacey Farber (Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Michael Seater (Life With Derek) as the young lovers, along with Peter Keleghan, Al Goulem, Ellen David, and Angela Asher (Degrassi: The Next Generation) as the parents, as well as Jesse Rath, and Tiio Horn.
It certainly is the summer of Canadian series as ABC has Rookie Blue and The Gates, CBS has The Bridge and Flashpoint, and NBC has Persons Unknown. Previously, 18 To Life was being co-developed with ABC, but they passed. The show, which has just begun production on its second season in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, airs in Canada on CBC Television. The series is distributed internationally by ITV Studios Global Entertainment.
If the show does well, The CW would likely air that second season.

It's Friday, so it is time for "Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows" for the coming week. This is where we list what sitcom stars are appearing on talk shows for the coming week, the stars are both current and past sitcom stars (but we won't cover movie stars like Tom Hanks or John Travolta, since they won't be talking about their past sitcoms likely), so this is for all sitcom fans of all eras!
For the week of July 19-23, 2010, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! So get your DVR's (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!

Monday, July 19, 2010

• Lisa Kudrow (Friends) - Catch Lisa on this repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
• Steve Carell (The Office) - Catch Steve on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
• Larry Hagman (I Dream of Jeannie) - Catch the classic actor on HLN's The Joy Behar Show at 9pm.
• Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) - Catch Cobie on a repeat of The Bonnie Hunt Show, so check your listings.
• Cast of The Game - Catch the sitcom cast on a repeat of The Mo'nique Show at 11pm on BET
• Christine Lakin (Step by Step) - Christine is the sidekick on Craig Kilborn's new talk show The Kilborn File airing on a few Fox stations today and every weekday

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

• Steve Carell (The Office) - Catch Steve on Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
• Zach Braff ([scrubs]) - The hilarious Zach Braff is on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35am on NBC.
• Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) - Catch Jemaine again on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35am on NBC.
• Jackee Harry (Sister Sister/227) - Catch Jackee on BET's The Mo'nique Show at 11pm on BET.
• Fran Drescher (The Nanny) - Watch Fran on this REPEAT of The Bonnie Hunt Show, so check your local listings.
• Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld) - Catch Jerry on a REPEAT of The Oprah Show check your local listings.
• Carol Burnett (Carol Burnett Show/Mama's Family) - This is a repeat of Carol on The Rachel Ray Show so check your listings.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

• Steve Carell (The Office) - The busy Carell visits NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35am.
• Holly Robinson-Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) - Catch Holly on Lopez Tonight at 11pm on TBS.
• Kevin Connolly (Entourage/Unhappily Ever After) - Watch Kevin on LIVE! with Regis & Kelly but you have to check your local listings.
• Ted Danson (Cheers/Becker) - The great Ted Danson visits Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:35am on CBS.
• Ty Burrell (Modern Family/Back to You) - Watch the hilarious Ty Burrell again on a REPEAT of The Ellen DeGeneres Show so check your local listings.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

• Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Catch Wilmer on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12:06am on ABC.
• Kevin Connolly (Entourage/Unhappily Ever After) - Watch Kevin on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC at 12:35am.
• Tiffani Thiessen (Saved by the Bell) - Catch Tiffani on TBS's Lopez Tonight at 11pm on TBS.
• Bianca Kajlich (Rules of Engagement) - Catch Bianca on The Early Show between 7-9am on CBS.

Friday, July 23, 2010

• Mindy Kaling (The Office) - Catch Mindy on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:35am on CBS.
• Dania Ramirez (Entourage) - Watch Dania on The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or check your local listings.
• Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) - Watch Susie co-host on ABC's The View at 11am ET/10am CT/PT.

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