SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

BET Networks and Viacom will rename Centric cable network to BET Her beginning on September 25, 2017. Just a bit of history, Centric was previously called BET on Jazz, then renamed to BET Jazz, then BET J, before turning into Centric in 2009. Now come this fall, Centric turns into BET Her. Targeting African American Women 25-54, BET Her takes its rightful place within the BET family as it more closely aligns with the flagship brand. BET Her will invite viewers on a journey through music, culture, travel and lifestyle - everything that is important to "Her" being. The only network dedicated to African American women 24 hours a day. Currently Centric airs Family Matters, The Soul Man, Eve, Half & Half, and In the House. No word on any programming updates just yet.

Damon Wayans Jr (New Girl, Happy Endings, Big Hero 6), along with his partner, Kris Jones, is featured on the new Apple/Propagate television series, Planet of the Apps, to introduce their new app Special Guest, that allows anyone, anywhere to hire live entertainment on demand. Special Guest takes away the problem for hundreds of thousands of live entertainers struggling to secure work due to the difficult process of securing gigs. The app leverages mobile to remove friction from the traditional talent booking process enabling anyone, anywhere to hire live entertainment on demand, by providing the technology for anyone to seamlessly host live entertainment in their home, backyard or similar non-traditional venues with the push of a button.

Planet of the Apps – POTA is a new weekly Propagate series about apps and their creators, featuring Advisors Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, will.i.am, and Gary Vaynerchuck. The 10-episode series debuted on June 6, with new episodes premiering exclusively on Apple Music every Tuesday. Each episode features a select number of app developers, who pitch their ideas to the Advisors who then vote as to whether or not the apps can move into the next round for mentorship and funding.

'80s sitcom Amen is coming to Centric! The series will get a nice marathon beginning at 11:59pm this Saturday (Sept. 24) lasting through Monday, Sept. 26 at 5:30pm. That's a whole lotta Amen! The series will air in a few blocks that week as well before settling into its regular weekdays from 10am-12pm timeslot leading into Family Matters, Bernie Mac and Eve from 12pm-5:30pm. It looks like The Steve Harvey Show and 227 will be on weekends. Deacon Frye, head of the First Community Church of Philadelphia, is trying to keep everything in his church firmly under control. His new assistant, Rev. Reuben Gregory, however, has some very different ideas of how do things. The parishoners, seeing that the best path probably lies between the two, play the two squabbling men off each other to keep things on a more or less even keel. Adding to the fray is the Deacon's daughter Thelma, who gradually becomes attracted to the new Reverend. The sitcom stars Sherman Hemsley, C lifton Davis, Anna Maria Horsford, Roz Ryan, Jester Hairston, Barbara Montgomery, Rosetta LeNoire, Bumper Robinson, Elsa Raven, Tony T. Johnson, and Montrose Hagins. Shine on me!

FX has renewed the acclaimed new comedy series Atlanta and Better Things. The network has ordered 10 episodes for the second season of each series. Atlanta and Better Things each returned with new episodes this week. Atlantaairs Tuesdays at 10 PM ET/PT on FX. In Atlanta, two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families. "Earn Marks" (Donald Glover) is a young manager trying to get his cousin's career off the ground. "Alfred Miles" (Brian Tyree Henry) is a new hot rapper trying to understand the line between real life and street life. "Darius" (Lakeith Stanfield) is Alfred's right-hand man and visionary. "Van" (Zazie Beetz) is Earn's best friend and the mother of Earn's daughter.

Better Things airs Thursdays at 10 PM ET/PT on FX. Better Things centers on Sam Fox (Pamela Adlon), a single, working actor with no filter raising her three daughters, Max (Mikey Madison), Frankie (Hannah Alligood) and Duke (Olivia Edward) in Los Angeles. She's mom, dad, referee and the cops. Sam also watches out for her mother, Phil (Celia Imrie), an English expatriate, who lives across the street. Sam is flawed and fierce with her love for her daughters, and her own mother, as well. Sometimes, heaping the love on when she feels guilty. Sam's just trying to earn a living, navigate her daughters' lives, have fun with a friend or two and also - just maybe - squeeze in some private time once in a while.

Mother's day is a little over a month away still, but you can still prepare! Centric will honor all mother's out there with a 24-hour marathon of the '70s sitcom That's My Mama on Mother's Day--Sunday, May 8, 2016 starting at 6am. This is the first time That's My Mama is airing on Centric. The series has aired from time to time on cable network TV One over the years. The classic sitcom which starred Theresa Merritt in the title role as Eloise "Mama" Curtis took place in Washington D.C. and centered around Clifton Curtis, Mama's son and young barber, he had inherited the family barbershop from his late father, Oscar Curtis. Mama wanted the best for her son and that meant a woman in his life, so she often tried finding him a mate even though he enjoyed bachelor life. The series also stars Clifton Davis and Jester Hairston (who both went on to star in another favorite Amen), Ted Lange (who went on to star in The Love Boat), Lynn Moody (Roots), and Theodore Wilson (Sweet Daddy from Good Times). Will Centric air the series as a regular? We will know soon, if they do, but for now enjoy it on Mother's Day!

Turning to sister network BET, they will have a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air marathon on Saturday, May 7, 2016 from 10am-5pm with the title "Will the Real Aunt Viv Please Stand Up?" Of course Aunt Viv was played by two different actors during the six-season run. Janet Hubert-Whitten had the role in Seasons 1-3 and Daphne Maxwell Reid took over from Seasons 4-6. Which Aunt Viv do you prefer? Find out when they go head-to-head on BET in this 7-hour event!

The casts of several of the most iconic comedy series of all time will be participating in NBC's special Must See TV: A Tribute to James Burrows, which will air Sunday, Feb. 21 from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT. Burrows is recognized as TV's most accomplished sitcom director. Burrows made his TV sitcom directing debut with a 1974 episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He is probably best known for his work on Taxi, Cheers, Frasier and Will & Grace, which collectively earned him 10 Emmy Awards and four DGA Awards. He directed the pilots for all four series as well as for such other long-running comedies as Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men and Mike & Molly. The Feb. 21 special will celebrate Burrows' 1,000th episode with his new NBC comedy Crowded, in which he also serves as an executive producer.

Scheduled to be in attendance will be the casts of the following shows. Others may also be added.

· Cheers - Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Bebe Neuwirth, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger, George Wendt (Kirstie Alley, Woody Harrelson in pre-taped segments)
· Friends - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer (Matthew Perry in pre-taped segment)
· Frasier - Peri Gilpin, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce (Kelsey Grammer in pre-taped segment)
· Will & Grace - Sean Hayes, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally
· Taxi - Tony Danza, Danny DeVito, Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch, Carol Kane, Christopher Lloyd
· The Big Bang Theory - Kaley Cuoco, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Jim Parsons
· Wings - Tony Shalhoub, Steven Weber
· Mike & Molly - Billy Gardell, Melissa McCarthy, Katy Mixon, Nyambi Nyambi, Reno Wilson
· Two and a Half Men - Jon Cryer, Charlie Sheen
· Crowded - Carlease Burke, Stacy Keach, Carrie Preston, Mia Serafino, Patrick Warburton

Others in attendance include JB Smoove, Jason Bateman, Valerie Bertinelli, Kate Flannery and Will Arnett. Bob Newhart will participate in a pre-taped segment.

227 is headed to Centric with a huge marathon event this weekend! This comedy starring Marla Gibbs, Regina King, and Jackée Harry follows a nosy Washington D.C. housewife, Mary Jenkins, who can't stop dishing the 'T' and meddling in the lives of her fellow inner city apartment building residents. The hit '80s sitcom will premiere on Centric on Saturday, January 23 at 11pm and will run through 5:30pm on Monday, January 25! That's a whole lotta episodes, child! The series will then air weekdays from 3-6pm beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Then on Friday, Jan. 29, Centric will have a Bernie Mac launch marathon as the sitcom is back and will air a marathon from 10am-9pm and some weekend blocks that weekend as well, such as Saturday, Jan. 30 from 12pm-8pm. Bernie will then air weekdays from 10am-12:30pm beginning on Monday, Feb. 1. Family Matters will remain from 12:30pm-3pm. As we mentioned, 227 will air 3-6pm. Steve Harvey Show will be off the schedule come Feb. 1. Both new additions already air on sister network MTV2.

BET Networks announced its upcoming programming schedule for BET and Centric at its annual Upfront presentation. BET Networks' 2015 slate features more original programming hours than ever before in the history of the network, anchored by high quality scripted and reality shows, star studded tentpoles and original movies that reflect and celebrate the lives of African American adults. Among the big news was a sitcom starring Brandy (Moesha, The Game). The sitcom is Zoe Moon, a romantic sitcom featuring Zoe Moon (Brandy Norwood), a live-out-loud newly single mom embarking on a new life and career as a fledgling cosmetics mogul - but it won't be easy. Gemini, a famous boxer and Zoe's soon to be ex-husband, is not ready to take a back seat in her life, nor is her precocious 8 year-old son, Xavier, ready for Zoe's new dating life. Surrounded by a cast of colorful characters, Zoe puts a new spin on the old song "You're Gonna Make It After All!"

Other projects coming soon include a reboot of Punk'd, the popular hidden camera series tailored for the BET audience. For the first time, audiences will be taken behind the scenes as the pranks are conceptualized and carried through. Stakes are high as our viewers follow the ticking clock on the journey of pranking their favorite celebrities. Also reality project, Chasing Destiny takes us behind the scenes as Grammy-award singer Kelly Rowland, and member of one of the biggest female groups of all time Destiny's Child, goes on a quest to find the next big female superstar group to make their mark in a dog-eat-dog music industry. And sister network Centric has a project coming soon produced by Whoopi Goldberg! In According to Alex, Alex Martin Dean (Whoopi's daughter) is NOT your typical mom, and she doesn't have a typical family. Sure, they get loud and have their own drama, but in the end, there's nothing but love! Now that the kids are getting old enough to step out of the house and make their own plans, Alex and her best friend, Leisa, are talking about what they want to do with the rest of their lives, both professionally and personally-- that is, until a new grandchild, Alex's daughter Amara and her fiancé, Chris, move home, turning to Alex and the rest of the family to help raise their new baby girl. Can they balance family, fun and future plans without losing their cool, or their minds?

Actor Sawyer Sweeten, who starred as Geoffrey Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond, has died. He died on April 23 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his relative's home in Austin, Texas. He was only 19.

Sawyer and his real-life twin brother Sullivan played Geoffrey and Michael Barone, the twin sons of Raymond (Ray Romano) and Debra (Patricia Heaton), in Everybody Loves Raymond. The popular CBS sitcom ran for nine seasons on CBS from 1996-2005. The Sawyer twins were just 16 months old when they landed the roles. They appeared in approximately 139 episodes of the series. Their real-life sister Madylin Sweeten played Alexandra "Ally" Barone, the oldest of the Barone children. They appeared together at the 8th Annual TV Land Awards in 2010 when Everybody Loves Raymond won the Impact Award. The Sullivan twins other credits included a 2000 episode of Even Stevens and the 2002 film Frank McKlusky, C.I.

Ray Romano had this to say about him: "He was a wonderful and sweet kid to be around. Just a great energy whenever he was there. My heart breaks for him, his family, and his friends during this very difficult time."

Our thoughts are with his family. He will be greatly missed. Share your memories on our Everybody Loves Raymond message board.

Next week it is President's Day and Centric is giving the presidential treatment to one of its sitcoms! Urkel for President? Maybe! Centric will air a President's Day Marathon of Family Matters on Monday, Feb. 16 from 10am-11pm. Catch all the hijinks from Urkel and also the Winslow family for 13-hours of laughs. The series of course is about The Winslows, a middle-class suburban Chicago black family may seem like a normal family but with the additions of a sister, her son, Carl's mother and one nerdy neighbor there is never a dull moment in this household. Family Matters airs regularly weekdays on Centric at 12-1pm and Wednesdays in late nights. Other airings pop-up from time to time, so check listings for times. Stay with us for continued updates!

On the night of their series finale, the entire cast of Parks and Recreation will appear as guests for the full hour on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers. The telecast, set for 12:35am the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 24, will feature Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Jim O'Heir, Retta and executive producer Michael Schur. Parks and Recreation, which concludes its critically acclaimed run after seven seasons, airs its final episode at 10pm Tuesday, Feb. 24. Additionally, Late Night with Seth Meyers will celebrate its one-year anniversary since its premiere last February when Poehler appeared as the inaugural guest. Meyers and Poehler shared "Weekend Update" duties for several years on Saturday Night Live before she left SNL to star on NBC's Parks and Recreation.

Girlfriends has began airing on TV One, as of September 29. The hit show starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones is now on TV One. The hit sitcom is airing weekdays 11am-12pm and 6-7pm along with a marathon block on Thursdays from 12-5pm. One of the series stars, Golden Brooks (Maya), is starring on the TV One original series Hollywood Divas, which has its season premiere tonight. so the network will air episodes spotlighting Maya tonight from 6-7pm. Golden also has joined the cast for the upcoming TV One original film Second Chance Christmas premiering this December. Back to Girlfriends, the move to TV One marks the end of the series airing on BET and Centric. In the series, Joan, Toni, Lynn and Maya navigate the ups and downs of life, love and friendship. Stay with us for continued updates, but as of now, no other changes to the TV One line-up besides this addition (and Living Single moving to mornings).

Grimm is coming to TNT. The "we know drama" network has closed a deal with NBCUniversal Television & New Media Distribution that gives TNT exclusive off-net cable rights to the hit series. TNT plans to begin airing episodes from the first three seasons of Grimm in early 2015, with season four episodes available to join the lineup in fall 2015. Set to launch its fourth season on Oct. 24, NBC's Grimm is a drama series inspired by the classic Grimm Brother's Fairy Tales. The show centers on Portland homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli, Caroline and Jackie), who discovers he's descended from an elite line of criminal profilers known as Grimms. He soon finds his responsibilities as a detective increasingly at odds with his new responsibilities as a Grimm. Also starring in Grimm are Russell Hornsby (Lincoln Heights) as Hank, Bitsie Tulloch (The Artist) as Juliette, Silas Weir Mitchell (My Name Is Earl) as Monroe, Sasha Roiz (Caprica) as Captain Renard, Reggie Lee (The Dark Knight Rises) as Sgt. Wu, Bree Turner (The Ugly Truth) as Rosalee and Claire Coffee (Franklin & Bash) as Adalind.

Today we'll give you Centric's fall 2014 schedule. Some of it starts today, but most starts in a few weeks on Sept. 29. First up, Family Matters is joining Centric's line-up beginning today and will air at 5 & 5:30pm for the next few weeks. It will change timeslots on Sept. 29, so keep reading. Joining the primetime schedule at 8pm will be reruns of Scandal. Sister network BET was airing Scandal and will continue to do so, as they will have repurposing rights to new episodes that air on ABC a few days later. More on BET tomorrow. With the addition of these two series this week, Wayans Bros. will be off the line-up. Centric will also air the talk show Queen Latifah weeknights at 11. There are just minor time changes this week, but you can catch a 30th anniversary marathon of The Cosby Show this weekend (Sept. 20-21) from 10am-10pm.

Moving on to Sept. 29, we will detail the full schedule. CSI: NY will move to 9am replacing New York Undercover. Up next, Cosby Show and Family Matters will get morning plays, airing an hour each from 10am-12pm. Movies will continue to air about 12-2:30pm, with The Steve Harvey Show now airing 2:30pm-4pm. That sitcom will be the perfect lead-in to the new acquisition, game show Family Feud hosted by Steve Harvey, airing at 4 & 4:30pm. More sitcom time changes will occur in the evening, with The Jamie Foxx Show moving to 5-6pm and The Cosby Show's evening hour moves to 6-7pm. At 7pm, Centric will air the talk show Arise 360, which is aired live on the internet at 3pm, but now Centric will air it on TV at 7pm. In primetime, Scandal is at 8pm, but now new sitcoms will air from 9-11pm, with Family Matters at 9 and My Wife & Kids, moving over from BET to Centric, at 10. Queen Latifah is at 11, leading into a movie at midnight. Sitcoms will air from 2:30am-4am, with different ones each day: Jamie Foxx on Monday nights, Steve Harvey on Tuesday nights, My Wife & Kids on Wednesday nights, Family Matters on Thursday nights and the return of Moesha on Friday nights. Weekends will continue to be movies and sitcom marathons. So what will BET have in store? We'll let you know tomorrow as they will have a new acquisition that we hinted about...

The primetime Hallmark Hall of Fame movies are leaving broadcast television. Hallmark Cards announced that new movies in its acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame series will debut in 2014-15 on Hallmark Channel, rather than ABC. The move comes after three years (Nov. 2011-May 2014) of a unique arrangement under which the premieres of new Hallmark Hall of Fame movies have aired on ABC and encore presentations have aired on Hallmark Channel the following week. Hallmark Channel will now air both the premiere presentations and multiple encores of each production. The first movie in the new arrangement will be One Christmas Eve in late November. Anne Heche, appearing in her third Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, will star as a recently-divorced mom who wants her two kids' first Christmas "without dad" to be perfect. An entertaining but unfortunate series of Christmas Eve mishaps ensures that won't happen - unless perfect means the family has its most memorable and heartwarming Christmas ever.

Viacom networks TV Land, BET and CENTRIC have announced that they will simulcast the LIVE season three premiere of TV Land's original sitcom The Soul Man on Wednesday, March 26 at 10:30pm ET/PT. CENTRIC will also showcase the series beginning in April by running marathons of the first two seasons. Additionally, starting April 5, CENTRIC will air the new third season every Saturday at a special time of 10pm, 10 days after the episode debuts on TV Land. All subsequent episodes will air Saturdays at 9pm. The LIVE season premiere of The Soul Man will air on all three networks immediately following the LIVE season premiere of Hot in Cleveland, airing on TV Land at 10pm ET/PT. Fans can live tweet along with all three networks using the hashtag #SOULMANLive.

The Soul Man stars Cedric "The Entertainer" and Niecy Nash and follows R&B; superstar-turned-minister Reverend Boyce "The Voice" Ballentine (Cedric) after he relocated from Las Vegas to St. Louis with his wife Lolli (Nash). While learning to adjust to their new humble life, they have plenty of obstacles in their way. One of these is Boyce's brother Stamps (Wesley Jonathan), who seems to have taken up permanent residence in their house - and that's only made worse when Stamps sparks a new relationship with Lolli's sister (Kellee Stewart). Eight episodes have been ordered for the third season.

The Big Bang Theory, which is TV's most-watched comedy and the top-rated broadcast entertainment show among adults 18-49, has been renewed for an additional three years, extending it through the 2016-2017 season. Also, CBS announced pick-ups for 17 other series for next season. Combined with its previously announced pick-ups, CBS has now renewed 20 returning series for the 2014-2015 season, encompassing 17 hours of primetime programming. The 18 series renewed comprise 15.5 hours of CBS's weekly primetime schedule and include nine dramas, five comedies, two reality series and two news programs. The nine dramas picked up are: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Person of Interest, CSI, Hawaii Five-0, Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, Elementary and The Good Wife. The other renewed comedies in addition to The Big Bang Theory are 2 Broke Girls, The Millers, Mike & Molly, Mom and Two and a Half Men. In alternative programming, the Network announced pick-ups for its Emmy Award-winning reality series The Amazing Race and Undercover Boss, joining the previously announced renewal of Survivor for two more editions in 2014-15. Finally, in news, CBS will return 60 Minutes and 48 Hours Mystery. There are other series that still could be picked-up for next season, like The Crazy Ones, but no word yet and we probably won't know until the upfront in May. Stay tuned!

Centric has rescheduled its What's Happening Now!! 22-episode marathon for Friday, Feb. 21, 2014! The marathon was previously scheduled for January 1, but Centric decided to reschedule for a later date. And now that time has come and they will air the series for the first time on Feb. 21 from 9am-8pm - an 11-hour / 22 episode stunt. The complete 22-episode first season will air of this 80's revival of What's Happening!! We guess if the marathon does well we could see more marathons of this 3-season sitcom or perhaps it even could be added to the regular line-up? If you're a fan of the show, we suggest you watch the marathon on Feb. 21 on Centric. In the series, Roger "Raj" Thomas returns to live in the old neighborhood he grew up in to start his married life accompanied by his bride Nadine, a social worker. When his mother remarried and moved out of the state, she sold them the house. Appointed caretakers to the property when Mrs. Thomas moved away, Dwayne and Shirley drive by the house and assume that someone has broken into the Thomas home when they see lights on inside, completely unaware that Raj has moved in. After everyone finds out, they get a warm welcome from friends Shirley and Dwayne, but the cold shoulder from Rerun. Tune in Friday, Feb. 21 on Centric!

A couple days ago we mentioned that ION Television has acquired reruns of Blue Bloods, now we have more news on the series airing elsewhere. CBS Corporation announced a multi-platform syndication model for Blue Bloods, licensing off-network episodes of the series to distribution partners in broadcast, cable and subscription video on demand (SVOD). For subscription video on demand (SVOD), CBS has signed a non-exclusive content licensing agreement with Hulu Plus, which will offer its subscribers the first four seasons of Blue Bloods, beginning later this year. CBS also announced a new licensing agreement with WGN America, which will present off-network episodes of Blue Bloods exclusively on basic cable, also starting later this year. And as previously announced, ION Broadcasting has acquired the exclusive weekday, primetime syndication rights and will broadcast previous seasons of Blue Bloods on its stations in Fall 2014.

Today, we've got another one of our recurring Seven Questions interviews featuring Jaleel White, who was best known of course for playing TV's Urkel on the series Family Matters (a role so popular that some people simply refer to the show as Urkel even). Despite playing that breakout character, though, he is much more than just Urkel, and we are interviewing him in advance of the movie The Wrong Woman, which stars Danica McKellar (another favorite from sitcoms past, previously playing Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years). The movie, based upon the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Wrong Man, follows McKellar's character, a wife and mother who is accused of attempted murder and is forced to go to trial to prove that she is innocent. White plays Detective Hamer, who is a detective with a definite bias.

The Wrong Woman debuts Saturday, December 28 at 8 PM ET/PT on Lifetime. It isn't the first time that White and McKellar have worked together, though, and we discuss this and more (including a little about Family Matters, naturally) in our latest "Seven Questions."

SitcomsOnline: Tell us a little about your character Detective Hamer. Does he actually think Ellen is the woman who committed the murder?

Jaleel White: Detective Hamer is very straightforward. He is definitely approaching this case from an immediate bias and it's written right on his face that he believes Ellen is definitely guilty, in how he talks to her and how he deals with her. It's always designed to unnerve her.

SitcomsOnline: What was it like teaming up with Fred Dryer, who was famous for playing a detective before in Hunter?

Jaleel White: Great! I'm getting a chance to do these things now that people wouldn't necessarily expect of me, and we're definitely on paper an unlikely detective team. But anytime I get place beside a veteran, it's just a great experience. We feed off of each other and I can't really say enough about the guy.

SitcomsOnline: You and Danica McKellar both were sitcom stars from the same era, and you've even appeared in a made-for-TV movie, Camp Cucamonga, around the same era. Were you two friends and how was it like working on this project with her?

Jaleel White: Oh man, Danica is cool! I've known Danica my entire life, though. I've known her since we were kids, and this whole business can be really full circle at times. So when I saw her on the set, she was just like "Jaleel!" The first time we worked together, I was probably like 13 pushing 14, and she was about 14 pushing 15. It was nice nostalgia. For Camp Cucamonga, if anything, it just reaffirms the fact that this is a community, and you should feel lucky to be part of it. There are so many people from even that cast, such as Jennifer Aniston, John Ratzenberger, to Danica, who I just continue to cross paths with, and I hope I will continue to cross paths with.

SitcomsOnline: Family Matters is turning 25 next fall. Do you think that will there be some sort of TV reunion you think? Maybe a sit-down retrospective or better yet, an actual reunion movie? Also, what was it like being the breakout character in the series that many people simply just refer to as "Urkel?"

Jaleel White: Oh, no, I don't think there will ever be any sort of reunion. Some things, they should stay in their pure raw form. I don't think it has to do with the cast not wanting to get back together. I continue to talk to some of the cast members through Facebook and whatever. The business of what TGIF was, well Warner Brothers has moved well beyond, and so has ABC, and those are really the players that decide whether or not reunions are talked about and possibly executed. You know, breakout characters don't happen anymore due to the nature in which deals occur in Hollywood, a star would have the autonomy to squash that. We should almost enjoy the fact that they did occur. I definitely enjoyed being part of that era.

• Jaleel White Official Website 
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• Jaleel White on Wikipedia

Two weeks ago we told you about the What's Happening Now!! marathon on Centric on New Year's Day, but now they have pulled the stunt. Instead, we will get another marathon of Girlfriends instead on January 1 from 9am-8pm. No word on if and when What's Happening Now!! marathon will be rescheduled. We will certainly let you know, though if they do decide to reschedule. Perhaps they will add What's Happening Now!! to the regular schedule soon? We hope so at least, stay with us for further updates.

With the success of middle-class African American shows of the 1980's, Bud Yorkin made an attempt to resurrect What's Happening!! with the majority of the original cast. What's Happening Now!! debuted in first-run syndication in 1985. This time around, Raj (Ernest Thomas) and best friends Rerun (Fred Berry) and Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) have matured and were trying to juggle the pressures of their personal and professional lives. Like its original predecessor, What's Happening Now!! was well received in the first couple of seasons. But by the third year, audiences had faltered and the production company pulled it from the air at the end of the season.

Centric will be closing out the year and starting out the year with marathons. Starting Friday, Dec. 20 there will be sitcoms, dramas and even a movie stunt. Kicking it off will be Girlfriends on Dec. 20. The weekend of Dec. 21-22 will have a Cosby Show marathon. Then the week of December 23 will have sitcoms from 9am-8pm. First up will be The Wayans Bros. on Monday, The Parkers Tuesday, The Jamie Foxx Show Wednesday, In Living Color Thursday and even a 227 sighting on Friday, Dec. 27. 12/27 is close enough to 227, I guess. Then the weekend of Dec. 28-29 will have a marathon of The Steve Harvey Show. On Monday, Dec. 30, spend the day with Bernie Mac from 9am-8pm. New Year's Eve will have a movie marathon from 9am-4am, while on New Year's Day Centric welcomes in 2014 with What's Happening Now!! for the very first time! Yep, the follow-up series from the '70s sitcom What's Happening!!, premieres on Centric on Jan. 1 with a marathon from 9am-8pm. The complete 22-episode first season will air of this 80's revival. Then the marathons end with dramas from Jan. 2-5, with New York Undercover on Thursday, Jan. 2 and Friday, Jan. 3 from 9am-8pm both days, while a weekend marathon of The A-Team ends the week.

Will What's Happening Now!! join the Centric line-up as a regular? Stay tuned! We hope it does, as we can see the parent series now on Encore Black and TV One, so it would be nice to see the revival series on TV again! The more Raj, Dwayne, and Rerun, the better!

Ever wonder what your life would be like without your weekly dose of insane talk show host and comedian Eric Andre? Worry no more! Eric Andre (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) and his laid back co-host Hannibal Buress (SNL, 30 Rock) will be back for a third season of The Eric Andre Show on Adult Swim in 2014. Season two of The Eric Andre Show kept you on the edge of your seat with guest stars Dominic Monaghan, James Van Der Beek, Brian McKnight, Eric Balfour, Henry Rollins, and T-Pain. Also one of the top shows in the late night talk show race, The Eric Andre Show grew double-digits in ratings from season one and out-delivered the rest of the late night talk show competitors (on broadcast and cable) with Adults/Men 18-24 in its second season. Expect just as many insane antics, completely pointless interviews and disorderly conduct with season three. Tune in this Friday night as Eric welcomes his guests Scott Porter and Brutus the Barber Beefcake at 12:30am on Adult Swim.

Centric will revamp its weekday schedule this fall starting Monday, Sept. 30, 2013. We gave you sister network BET's fall schedule last week and mentioned that The Parkers is leaving BET and likely moving to Centric...and that is indeed happening. After a weekend marathon on Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29, the sitcom will air weekdays from 3-4pm and Mon-Thurs from 9-10pm. We also mentioned Moesha will be off of BET's schedule and it looks like Centric will remove it this fall as well. The sitcom was airing weekdays 2-3pm and 12-1am, and will be replaced by a movie and Bernie Mac. In addition to Moesha being off the Centric schedule, A-Team, Miami Vice, and In Living Color are also leaving. And first-run syndicated sitcoms The First Family and Mr. Box Office will now be expanded to a strip airing an episode each weekdays 4-5pm and again 8-9pm. New episodes will continue to air on Friday nights in primetime.

Centric's other signature sitcoms like Cosby Show, Steve Harvey Show, Jamie Foxx Show, Girlfriends and Bernie Mac will all be still on but at different times. The Wayans Bros. will remain put at 4pm, while encores of The Wendy Williams Show remains at 6pm. With a few dramas leaving, New York Undercover will now be the only drama on the line-up. Anyway, view the full Centric Fall 2013 schedule. If anything changes, we'll let you know. Stay with us.




ABC Family has cast Lucy Hale, star of the networks' #1 hit series Pretty Little Liars, to guest star in an upcoming episode of the ABC Family sitcom Baby Daddy. Hale will shoot sometime in November, to air as part of Baby Daddy's season three in 2014. At the launch of season 2 for Baby Daddy, Tahj Mowry (Tucker on the series) visited the set of Pretty Little Liars and shot a series of fun videos as his character Tucker, an aspiring television producer, called "Hey Tucker." The inspiration for her guest casting came from Lucy Hale herself, when in her sit down interview with Tucker, mentioned how she would love to be on Baby Daddy. The season two summer finale of Baby Daddy airs tonight (Wednesday, September 4) at 8:30pm ET/PT on ABC Family. The sitcom stars Jean-Luc Bilodeau (Kyle XY), Derek Theler, Tahj Mowry (Smart Guy) with Melissa Peterman (Reba) and Chelsea Kane (Dancing with the Stars).

Baby Daddy will return for its second half of season two in early 2014, while the third season batch of episodes is set to premiere in summer 2014.

Centric has brought back The Jamie Foxx Show on the regular schedule. The sitcom had been airing just in marathon blocks of late on both BET and Centric, but now it is back on the regular schedule. It is airing weekdays back-to-back from 12-1pm, replacing an hour of The Wayans Bros. Not to worry, that sitcom will remain airing in its other block from 5-6pm. Centric is also adding another hour of Moesha replacing Malcolm & Eddie weekdays from 2-3pm. Moesha will also remain in its 12-1am block as well and in the mornings on BET, but Malcolm & Eddie is now off of the Centric schedule. No word on when it will return, but as always, we will let you know if and when it does. No other schedule changes will be made to the regular schedule. Centric also has 227 on the bench and they air it from time to time in marathon blocks. Back to The Jamie Foxx Show, it will have a marathon on Friday, June 21 from 9am-6pm. In fact, all this month Centric will have Friday marathons, with Steve Harvey Show this Friday, Jamie Foxx as mentioned on June 21, and Moesha on June 28.

Centric will also continue to air marathons on weekends as well, with The Cosby Show getting the Father's Day weekend marathon this weekend (June 15-16) from 10am-10pm. Other weekend marathons are: The Wayans Bros. June 22-23, New York Undercover & The A-Team on June 29-30, Girlfriends on July 6-7, The Jamie Foxx Show again on July 13-14, more The Wayans Bros. July 20-21 and Bernie Mac July 27-28. As for the 4th of July, Centric will celebrate the holiday with the first family, with a marathon of the first-run syndicated comedy The First Family from 11am-5pm. Fellow comedy Mr. Box Office will get the marathon treatment the following day from 11am-7pm. As always, stay with us for the latest updates.

The MeTV Network has signed three new affiliation agreements with Gray Television stations in these markets: KSNB (Lincoln, Nebraska - DMA #105), WSWG (Albany, Georgia - DMA #145) and WTVY (Dothan, Alabama - DMA #169). These new affiliates bring MeTV to 150 markets and the network now clears 90% of the country. In addition to being available in all top ten television markets, the network can be found in 28 of the top 30 markets in the U.S. Some several major media groups, including Hearst, Gannett, Raycom, Allbritton, Media General, Post-Newsweek, Nexstar, London Broadcasting, Belo, Hubbard, Cordillera, Bahakel, Fisher, Cox, Morgan Murphy, Grant, New Press Gazette, New Age, Granite, Capitol, Dispatch, Journal, Bonten and Titan. MeTV features a wide range of programming which audiences and advertisers find comfortable and engaging. MeTV's library includes almost 100 series from Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, CBS Television Distribution, NBCUniversal Television as well as many independent series owners and producers. MeTV's line-up include some of the most beloved television programs ever produced, including: M*A*S*H, The Brady Bunch, The Beverly Hillbillies, Perry Mason, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gunsmoke, I Love Lucy, and the original Hawaii Five-O series.

BET and Centric held its upfront presentation yesterday and we had some sitcom worthy announcements. First up, BET has picked-up a seventh season of its hit comedy The Game. As you know, The Game on BET is a record-breaking, history-making phenomenon, with 7.7 million viewers on premiere night in 2011, making BET the home of the #1 sitcom debut in the history of cable TV. In 2013, players come and go but The Game goes on, with Lauren London and Jay Ellis joining the cast in season six. Brandy returns in her expanded role as Chardonnay, aka Mrs. Jason Pitts, along with series favorites Hosea Chanchez, Coby Bell and Wendy Raquel Robinson. Season 7 promises to deliver more sexy dramedy as the cast negotiates the ups and downs of love and football. Look for The Game season seven to premiere in early 2014. Also returning will be multi-camera comedy Let's Stay Together. Looking back, in 2011 the premiere of Let's Stay Together debuted at #2 right behind The Game, making it a certified smash hit. This fun, flirtatious comedy about two couples and one sexy single is back for a fourth season of laughs and love lessons. Audiences adore and relate to this cast. Averaging nearly 3 million viewers in its first season, the series debut ranks among the top 3 Tuesday sitcom premieres over the past 10 years. Making relationships work is easier said than done, but Season 4 is sure to be filled with juicy new plot twists that will continue to keep Let's Stay Together on viewers' must-watch list. This comedy will also return in early 2014. Currently, both comedies just started their current seasons last Tuesday and are airing through May 21.

Moving on to sister network Centric, they have announced a few acquisitions. First, they will be airing episodes of current first-run syndicated sitcoms The First Family and Mr. Box Office. Both sitcoms were originally planned to launch in the fall, as we mentioned, but the deals didn't go through and they will start on Friday, April 19. The First Family will air Fridays at 8pm and 9pm, while Mr. Box Office will air Fridays at 8:30pm & 9:30pm. They both air on weekends in local broadcast syndication, so check your local listings. They will encore between 2-4am on Friday nights as well. Also, Centric has added reruns of the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie as of April 1. The series was airing on and off on sister network MTV2. The Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin sitcom is airing weekdays 2-3pm, replacing Everybody Hates Chris. Both of Malcolm-Jamal Warner's comedies will air in a Sunday night block as well, with Malcolm & Eddie from 9-10pm leading into his earlier series The Cosby Show from 10-11pm. That's about it that was sitcom/scripted TV series related in BET/Centric's upfront. In scheduling news, 227 will get a stunt on Centric on Saturday, April 13 from 4-9pm, while Everybody Hates Chris gets one on Saturday, April 27 from 11am-7pm. Both series are currently not on the regular line-up. On BET, we have a marathon of The Jamie Foxx Show on Saturday, April 13 from 8am-6pm, another series currently not on the regular line-up. One other note, recent addition Family Matters will get a marathon on Saturday, May 25 from 8am-7:30pm, kicking off Memorial Day weekend. Stay with us for continued updates.



On the next...The Middle:
By: Pavan

ABC's Comedy Wednesday sitcom starring Patrica Heaton airs Wednesday nights at 8:00pm and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (April 3). The episode features The Bachelor host Chris Harrison in a voice-over. In the episode airing tonight, "The Bachelor," Frankie (Patrica Heaton) can't hide her disappointment over whom The Bachelor chooses to marry and ends up moping around the house for days about it; Mike (Neil Flynn) tries to toughen Sue (Eden Sher) up when she joins the school's tennis team and continually compliments her opponents during their matches; and Axl (Charlie McDermott) and Cassidy (guest star Galadriel Stineman) try to figure out where their relationship stands after their big fight.

Spring is in the air! As the season changes, lots of things are happening in the Heck household: The Bachelor season has ended and Frankie is upset, Sue plays tennis while Mike helps, Axl and Cassidy go through a rough patch, and Brick surprises with a new "obsession." The Axl-Cassidy storyline is a continuation from the previous episode where we see Cassidy and her ex-boyfriend holding hands while Axl sees that from far away. They confront each other about that incident and what Axl saw, wasn't really what he thought he saw. Cassidy gets upset and Axl tries to win her back, but how will it go? I hope it is a happy ending, because these two are good for each other. The best storyline once again goes to Sue. She accidentally gets on the tennis team (yeah, only in Sue's world this can happen) and is ecstatic. She goes to practice and Mike is helping and he realizes Sue is actually good! However, when Sue plans an actual game she is just full of compliments...for the opponents. Mike tries to get her out of that habit and hilarity happens when she plays her next match. I'll just say, if only the entire world is nice and positive like Sue Heck then everyone would be living in peace. And the final storyline is the main storyline about Frankie watching The Bachelor and she doesn't pay attention to anything around her (and also has a Roseanne-style laugh). While watching the finale, she is upset at The Bachelor's decision in picking his fiance. She wanted Alyssa, but he went with Kendall! This causes Frankie to lose it for about six days and she is just obsessively upset. She'll get a boost from an unexpected source at the end that is hilarious.



"There's not a thing that I would change... 'cause The Middle is amazing. Just the way it is." We get a nice Bruno Mars song at the end of the episode and it can be reworded to fit this show, just like above. This episode perfectly shows us the talent and greatness of this series. It has the laughs, the emotional moments, and Sue Heck. Everyone shines in this episode, like usual. Sue Heck shines the most because she brings it to yet another level in this episode. I don't think I have ever seen anyone as nice and positive like that, especially playing a game or sport. Everyone wants to be competitive, but Sue just roots everyone on. She stole the episode. Not to say everything else wasn't great, it was, but Sue was just perfection. You'll want to tune in tonight for another great episode of this sitcom. B

BET Networks announced that it has licensed an extensive package of iconic, successful off-net programming from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. And the off-network programming are '90s sitcoms! The series, which features such world-recognized and award-winning actors such as Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Martin Lawrence, includes The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Family Matters, Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show and The Wayans Bros. to air on BET and Centric. In addition, Viacom sibling Nick at Nite has retained the rights to continue airing Full House, while another sibling, MTV2, has acquired the rights to air Living Single. As for the current schedule, Family Matters already started airing on BET earlier this month, as we previously mentioned. The sitcom was borrowed from sister network Nick at Nite and has made the move to BET. In regards to the other sitcoms we mentioned, Martin currently is on sibling MTV2 (shared with TV One), while The Jamie Foxx Show and The Wayans Bros. have already been airing on BET/Centric for sometime now, so these are more renewals than anything. The Wayans Bros. sometimes even pops-up on sister net MTV2. Martin will start on BET/Centric soon and it will be exclusive to BET Networks in the next few years (by Fall 2015), Barbara Zaneri (Executive Vice President, Program Strategy, Scheduling and Acquisitions, BET Networks) tells us. Stay tuned for updates on that.



The real new deal for BET/Centric is for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Currently, it is not airing on any Viacom-owned network, as it is airing on TBS and ABC Family. Barbara Zaneri has told us exclusively that The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will be exclusive to BET Networks and Viacom Media Networks and will begin airing in Fall 2014. MTV2 also has a brand new deal. It has acquired Living Single, which like Fresh Prince, is currently not on a Viacom-owned network. Living Single currently airs on TV One and we'll have news on its launch date on MTV2 shortly. Barbara says it won't pop-up on BET/Centric for now, but she loves the show, so you never know. Like Martin, Fresh Prince, Barbara tells us the series will be exclusive to BET/Viacom Networks. And finally, Full House is a renewal for Nick at Nite (it's being shared with ABC Family), so you'll continue to see that in primetime on Nick at Nite. We're not sure if this renewal will be now exclusive to Viacom, but we'll find out soon. Stay with us as we will bring you premiere dates and the schedule for these shows (especially Fresh Prince and Living Single, since they are brand new deals) on BET, Centric, and MTV2. There could be more shows in this deal, but these are a lot of shows and deals. We mentioned Roc to Barbara, since that would go well with The Jamie Foxx Show, since Jamie had a recurring role on that series. Special thanks to Barbara Zaneri for all key exclusive and launch information!

ABC has announced its season finale dates for 2012-13 series. The finales begin this Friday (Friday, March 22) with the season finales for sitcoms Last Man Standing and Malibu Country beginning at 8pm. Look for our reviews of both tomorrow before they air! Happy Endings will then move into the hour with back-to-back episodes for at least the next three weeks (March 29, April 5, and April 12). The Neighbors wraps up its freshman season next Wednesday (March 27) at 8:30pm, as we knew. Then the remaining finale dates are new news. Suburgatory, which moves back to 8:30pm on April 3, will conclude its second season on Wednesday, April 17 with a 2-episode finale starting at a special time of 8pm. The remaining season finales will air in the May sweep primarily, with Wife Swap (which has its season premiere tonight) on Thursday, May 2 at 8 (summer series Wipeout premieres May 9). The other ABC Thursday finales will be on Thursday, May 16 with Grey's Anatomy at 9 and Scandal at 10. On to Sunday, new drama Red Widow will conclude on Sunday, May 5 at 10 (if it doesn't get pulled due to low ratings). The big Sunday guns of Once Upon a Time and Revenge will end their seasons the following week on May 12 from 8-11pm, with Revenge having a two-episode finale from 9-11pm. America's Funniest Home Videos will conclude its season on the final Sunday of the season on Sunday, May 19 at 7pm (leading into the Billboard Music Awards).

New celebrity competition series Splash, which premiered to good ratings this week, will end its first season on Tuesday, May 7 at 8pm. Dancing with the Stars will end its season with a two-night finale event, with The Finals airing Monday, May 20 from 8-9pm and The Finale on Tuesday, May 21 from 8-10pm. No word what will air May 14 at 8 or May 21 at 10 (the latter could be regularly scheduled Body of Proof as usual, but I don't think it will be). Speaking of Body of Proof, it will have its season finale the following Tuesday on May 28 at 10, which is the first Tuesday of the summer. Back to Monday, Castle will have its season finale on Monday, May 13 at 10, since The Bachelorette will premiere May 20 from 9-11pm, as previously announced. On Friday, May 17, Shark Tank will end its series high 26-episode season at 9pm. Happy Endings is scheduled for Fridays at 8, but that is just for three weeks, as of now. ABC could opt to air it Wednesdays at 8:30pm for May sweep to finish off its remaining four episodes, however ABC had previously announced new sitcom Family Tools for that slot, though we haven't heard anything more on it since. They could air that series in the summer instead. Back to the finales, ABC ends the season with the Wednesday finales on Wednesday, May 22: The Middle at 8, Modern Family at 9, and freshman drama Nashville at 10. ABC will premiere How To Live with Your Parents on April 3, but no finale date has been announced yet, but it will likely be on May 22, too. That would mean that only 8 episodes will air out of its 13 episode order, but ABC could hold on to the remaining five for next season, should it do well in the ratings. View the ABC 2012-13 season finale dates. That's it, stay with us for further information as always!

VH1 Classic has acquired the rights to the classic animated comedy Rocky and His Friends. It originally aired on ABC from 1959-61 known as Rocky and His Friends and then as The Bullwinkle Show for the remainder of its run on NBC from 1961-64. The series will begin tomorrow with a Thanksgiving marathon from 11am-7pm. The series will join live action comedies Married...with Children and The Larry Sanders Show on the late night line-up. Rocky and His Friends will air three nights a week Sun-Tues (early Mon-Wed) at 1am following The Larry Sanders Show at 12:30am (which is five days a week, Sun-Thurs) in its new time period. Married...with Children will move to Sun-Thurs at 11:30pm & 12am, so a half-hour earlier. The sitcom will also remain weekdays 6-7pm.
Rocky and His Friends is the animated antics of flying squirrel Rocket J. Squirrel, or Rocky, and his dim companion, Bullwinkle J. Moose. And let's not forget the two spies who always complicate things for our heroes: Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale.

BET will be sharing the comedy Moesha with sister network Centric beginning next week! Centric has been airing the series since October, airing it weekdays from 2-3pm ET. Moesha will actually get a marathon on BET on Thanksgiving Day from 8am-3pm and an overnight marathon on Sunday, Nov. 25 from 11:30am-8am leading into its new regular time period on BET beginning Monday, Nov. 26. BET will air the Brandy sitcom weekdays from 8-9am ET, cutting back an hour of Everybody Hates Chris, which will remain airing 9-10am. No other schedule changes will be made on BET, as My Wife & Kids, The Jamie Foxx Show, and The Parkers remain in their time periods from 10am-4pm.
BET will also showcase Thanksgiving weekend marathons of The Parkers and The Steve Harvey Show on Friday and Saturday. Moesha will get another marathon on Saturday, Dec. 15 from 10am-5pm. Stay with us for any more news on BET and Centric.

Centric will be adding a few new sitcoms this fall! The Centric fall 2012 schedule will begin on Monday, Oct. 1 and they will be adding the popular sitcom Moesha starring Brandy and the late Bernie Mac's comedy Bernie Mac, which will move over from sister network BET. Moesha will air back-to-back at 2:00pm & 2:30pm and also in primetime at 9:00pm & 9:30pm, while Bernie Mac will air in primetime at 8:00pm & 8:30pm and again at 12 midnight & 12:30am. The Jamie Foxx Show will be leaving the line-up, but that comedy will move to sister network BET. We will have more on that when we announce BET's Fall 2012 schedule, so stay tuned for that! Elsewhere on the schedule, In Living Color is back on Centric to a regular time period airing weekdays at 11:00am & 11:30am, as is Girlfriends airing weekdays at 1:00pm & 1:30pm. This means 227 is off the schedule completely, as its contract expires at the end of September. Other favorites like The Cosby Show, A-Team, Miami Vice, Steve Harvey Show, Wayans Bros and NY Undercover will remain on the schedule. And if you're wondering, yes Moesha will remain on GMC TV as well, as we mentioned.

That's pretty much the fall 2012 schedule, but of course on weekends we will get marathon stunts. Moesha will get a marathon on Saturday, Oct. 6 from 11am-7pm (select encores 2-4am) and Sunday, Oct. 7 from 10am-5pm. In primetime those two days, you'll see episodes of Bernie Mac, Steve Harvey Show, In Living Color, Girlfriends, Cosby Show, and Wayans Bros - all of which air weekdays as well. Beginning Friday, Oct. 5, Centric will air the syndicated first-run sitcoms The First Family and Mr. Box Office in the 8pm hour. Both sitcoms are going to be airing this fall on weekends in broadcast syndication (in NYC on Saturdays in primetime on WPIX). Back to weekends, Centric marathons for September are: Girlfriends (Friday, Sept. 7 from 10am-11pm), The Cosby Show (Saturday, Sept. 8 & Sunday, Sept. 9 from 10am-11pm), The Jamie Foxx Show (Saturday, Sept. 15 & Sunday, Sept. 16 from 11am-9pm), The Steve Harvey Show (Saturday, Sept. 22 & Sunday, Sept. 23 from 11am-9pm), and a Shaka Zulu stunt (Saturday, Sept. 29 & Sunday, Sept. 30 from 11am-11pm). We will keep you up to date of the October marathons.

View the full Centric Fall 2012 schedule. Stay tuned for further updates. Moesha is a sitcom (which, in later years, took more of a dramatic turn) that follows the life and times of a black teenager living in the Leimert Park section of Los Angeles, CA. For years since her mother died, Moesha Mitchell has taken care of her father Frank and younger brother Myles. So when a teacher at her school, Dee, marries Frank, Moesha feels her territory being encroached upon by a new step mother. Bernie Mac follows a stand-up comedian that suddenly becomes a father when he takes custody of his sister's three children.

Maude is turning 40! The hit '70s sitcom starring Bea Arthur will be celebrating its 40th anniversary on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 and Antenna TV will celebrate with an all-day marathon beginning at 11am and lasting into the wee hours to 3am! That's 16 hours (32 episodes) worth of Maude! Classic episodes from all six seasons will be represented. "Watch it!" Episodes airing in the marathon include the series premiere "Maude's Problem," where Maude resents Carol's psychoanalysis. Other episodes include "Walter's 50th Birthday," where Walter sinks into depression as his 50th birthday nears; "Consenting Adults," where Walter leaves when Maude decides to run; and "Feminine Fulfillment," where Maude looks for the reason for Vivian's erratic behavior.. Maude regularly airs on Antenna TV Mon-Thurs 8pm & 8:30pm ET and Sunday nights at 2am & 2:30a ET.

View the episode list for the Maude 40th Anniversary Marathon on Antenna TV, or "God'll get you for that!" Sitcoms come and go. And then there's Maude, the groundbreaking Norman Lear comedy. The show revolves around Maude Findlay (Bea Arthur), a very outspoken middle-class woman who wears her liberal politics on her sleeve and shares her home in suburban Tuckahoe, N.Y., with fourth husband Walter (Bill Macy); her divorced daughter, Carol (Adrienne Barbeau); and Carol's adolescent son, Phillip (Brian Morrison). Walter and Maude's best friends are next-door neighbors Dr. Arthur (Conrad Bain) and Vivian Harmon (Rue McClanahan). Among the domestic help that Maude helps "liberate" during the run of the show are Florida Evans (Esther Rolle) and Mrs. Nell Naugatuck (Hermione Baddeley). Maude premiered on Tuesday, September 12, 1972 at 8pm on CBS.

Actor Sherman Hemsley, best known for his role as the cranky George Jefferson on All in the Family and The Jeffersons, and as Deacon Ernest Frye on Amen, has died. He died on July 24 at his home in El Paso, Texas, apparently of natural causes. Mr. Hemsley was 74.

Hemsley's professional acting career began as a stage actor in New York. He made his Broadway debut in Purlie in 1970 and toured with the show for a year. In 1971, Norman Lear called him and offered him the role of George Jefferson, a neighbor of the Bunkers, on All in the Family. Hemsley declined the offer because of his theatre work, but he joined the cast two years later. He made his debut as the character on October 25, 1973, in the episode "Henry's Farewell." From 1973-1975 he appeared in a total of thirteen episodes of the series, plus two additional episodes after he left for the spinoff. The Jeffersons premiered on CBS on January 18, 1975. The show became an immediate ratings hit and was one of the most successful and longest-running spinoffs in history. It ran for 11 seasons and 253 episodes. At the time of its cancellation in 1985, it was the longest-running primetime scripted series on the air. Hemsley received an Emmy nomination in 1984 and Golden Globe Award nomination in 1985. The actors on the show were nominated for Emmys a total of 13 times. His television wife, Isabel Sanford, was nominated seven times from 1979-1985 and won in 1981. Although they were twenty years apart in real life, Hemsley and Sanford had great chemistry together. They also appeared together in two episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1995 and 1996. In the late 1990s and in the early 2000s, they appeared in a series of commercials for The Gap, Old Navy and Denny's. The cast also reunited for a Jeffersons stage-play. Hemsley and Sanford appeared at the 2nd Annual TV Land Awards in 2004. Hemsley's final credited acting appearance was as George Jefferson in a 2011 episode of Tyler Perry's House of Payne. His Jeffersons co-star Marla Gibbs also appeared in the episode as Florence Johnston.

Hemsley's second major role was on the 1986-1991 NBC sitcom Amen. He starred as the fiery Deacon Ernest Frye for five seasons. The series, which co-starred Clifton Davis, Anna Maria Horsford, Roz Ryan, Barbara Montgomery and Jester Hairston, ran for 110 episodes. Hemsley next voiced the character of B.P. Richfield, Earl Sinclair's horrifying boss, on the live-action 1991-1994 ABC sitcom Dinosaurs for four seasons. In 1996-1997, he co-starred with Dorien Wilson on the UPN sitcom Goode Behavior. Hemsley played the role of Willie Goode, a newly paroled con artist, for one season. In 2006, he was a cast member on the celebrity reality series The Surreal Life. His other television guest appearances include The Incredible Hulk, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, E/R (1984 CBS sitcom as George Jefferson), The Twilight Zone (1985), 227, What a Dummy, Designing Women, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Burke's Law, Thunder in Paradise, Lois & Clark: The New Adventure of Superman, Me and the Boys, Family Matters, The Wayans Bros., In the House, Martin, Clueless, Sister, Sister, City Guys, The Hughleys, and Family Guy (voice). Hemsley's film credits include Love at First Bite, Stewardess School, Mr. Nanny, Senseless, and American Pie Presents: The Book of Love.

The Archive of American Television conducted an interview with him on August 17, 2003. No information on any survivors has been released. He never married and had no children. Mr. Hemsley was a very talented and funny actor. George Jefferson was one of the most memorable and iconic characters in the history of television. George wasn't the the most likable character, but Hemsley made him enjoyable and beloved. He's movin' on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky. He will be greatly missed.

Share your Sherman Hemsley memories on our The Jeffersons or Amen message boards. View Sherman Hemsley photos in our The Jeffersons and Amen photo galleries.

Many networks will honor Sherman Hemsley as a tribute to him. First up, Centric will air his episodes of 227 ("The Big Deal") and The Wayans Bros. ("It's Shawn, It's Marlon, It's Super Boys") today (Wednesday, July 25) at 12 noon and 5pm ET. The Wayans Bros. episode will also encore at 9pm ET tonight. On Friday, July 27, TV One will replace this Friday's scheduled Good Times marathon with The Jeffersons from 8pm-12am and 1-2am (Good Times airs 12-1am still, though). This marathon will feature episodes centered around Sherman Hemsley's Emmy-nominated performance of George Jefferson. Episodes airing are: the series premiere "A Friend in Need," "George's First Vacation," "Movin' on Down," "Louise Suspects," "George the Philanthropist," "Once a Friend," "The Ones You Love," and "The List." An hour later from 1-2am, The Jeffersons was already scheduled to air, as was Amen from 2-3am, so the Sherman Hemsley marathon sort of continues in the late night as well! If you want more Amen, the following Friday (Aug. 3), will have Amen (which was already scheduled) from 8-11pm. Both The Jeffersons and Amen airs weekday mornings on TV One in a block from 7-9am.

Elsewhere, TV Land will have a 4-hour marathon of The Jeffersons this Saturday starting at noon ET through 4pm ET. Episode information will be released shortly. The TV Land Facebook page will also pay tribute to Hemsley, celebrating some of his greatest moments on television.

Antenna TV will commemorate the life of Sherman Hemsley this Sunday, July 29 with "All in the Family - Tribute to Sherman Hemsley." The three hour marathon will begin at 9pm ET/6pm PT and feature six George Jefferson themed episodes of All in the Family. They will include his first appearance ever as that character and The Jeffersons backdoor pilot episode that aired as an All in the Family episode.

9:00pm All in the Family "Henry's Farewell"
9:30pm All in the Family "Lionel's Engagement"
10:00pm All in the Family "Pay the Twenty Dollars"
10:30pm All in the Family "Lionel, the Live-In"
11:00pm All in the Family "George and Archie Make a Deal"
11:30pm All in the Family "The Jeffersons Move Up"

MeToo in Chicago, IL honors the life and career of Sherman Hemsley, best known as George Jefferson on the iconic television series The Jeffersons. On Saturday, July 28, beginning at 11 AM CT, tune in to MeToo for episodes of Amen, All in the Family and The Jeffersons. MeToo is available over the air on 26.4, XFINITY 247/358, RCN 22, WOW 171 and U-VERSE 48. The Jeffersons airs regularly on MeToo Monday through Saturday at 5:00 pm with All in the Family following at 5:30 pm CT. Amen airs on sister station The U Too weekdays at 12 noon CT.

Stay with us as we receive any further TV tribute news. Other possible networks include GMC TV (they also air Amen). We will post it right here, so come on back! Mmm hmm mmm!

Today it is day two for the NBC portion of the TCA Summer 2012 Press Tour. However, NBC will be showcasing their cable networks today, so we won't cover in detail. The day will start out with breakfast with the cable network mun2. Oxygen and Style will showcase some series after that, including reality series Tia & Tamera. Then it will be time for lunch and E! will be showcasing their series. Panels will follow, like for the upcoming talk show Love You, Mean It with Whitney Cummings. E! will have all sessions after lunch. So not much to report, but we do have some NBC updates from yesterday that we will cover now.
NBC will air two live half-hour Saturday Night Live Election Specials on Thursday, Sept. 20 and Thursday, Sept. 27 at 8pm ET. These were pretty popular in 2008 when Sarah Palin was in the limelight, but will it be as popular this time? As previously announced, 30 Rock will premiere on Oct. 4 in the time period. Also, NBC and Sky Living announced the co-production of Dracula, a provocative new drama series version of the classic Bram Stoker novel starring Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role. Dracula is from the producers behind the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning hit Downton Abbey, Carnival Films & Television, along with Flame Ventures and Playground, and will begin production later this year. The 10-episode series introduces Dracula as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. There's only one circumstance that can potentially thwart his plan: Dracula falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.

Stay tuned tomorrow for TCA Summer 2012 Press Tour: ABC Day 1!