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NETWORK TV Fall 2024
It's that time of year again! The networks are releasing their fall line ups
CBS has released their fall schedule. Here are some details
On Mondays they have cut back on comedy by an hour and adding in drama instead
Mondays start with two new comedies , followed by the remake of "Magnum P.I" and a new time night for "Bull"
"Murphy Brown" comes on after Mom on Thursdays
This is the first year in a few where CBS won't have Thursday Night Football
Midseason : "The Code", "Elementary", "Fam" , "Instinct", "Life in Pieces," "Man With a Plan", "The Red Line" , "The Amazing Race", "Blood & Treasure" , "Big Brother". "Big Brother Celebrity Edition".
Now here's the schedule , all times ET, new series highlighted in blue
ABC has released their fall schedule. Here the details first.
"Roseanne" is ready to going to be ready to go in the fall.
ABC relies on game shows and reality shows on Sunday again "Dancing With the Stars: Junior" will air Sundays , followed by "American Idol" in the midseason.
"The Alec Baldwin Show" will air on Sundays as well.
ABC brings back comedies to Fridays. After canceling "Last Man Standing" , and "Dr.Ken" at the end of the 2016-17 season and with FOX picking up the first show. "Fresh off the Boat" and "Speechless" move to Fridays
"Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" does return but it's been pushed to midseason
Also ABC is loaded with comedy airing 2 hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 1 hour on Fridays means they have 5 hours a week of Comedy
"Grey"s Anatomy"'s spinoff , "Station 19" gets a Thursday slot right after it's parent show.
Midseason returns : "American Idol", "The Bachelor", "The Fix", "For the People", "Grand Hotel", "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D", "Schooled', and "Whiskey Cavalier".
Here's the full schedule all times ET , new series highlighted in blue
"The Orville" returns December 30th after an NFL Double Header and then moves to its Thursday Night slot
FOX now has the rights to the simulcast of Thursday Night Football
"Gotham" returns for a fifth and final season is coming to midseason , along with a new drama, "The Passage".
A new "Cosmos" limited series will air in the spring.
"LA to Vegas" and "Ghosted" are still TBD if renewed or not.
"Bob's Burgers" moves from 7:30/6:30c ot 8:30/7:30c
Midseason : The Four, Beat Shazam, Gordon Ramsay's 24 hours to Hell and Back, Love Connection, Masterchef, MasterChef Junior , Showtime at the Apollo, The Passage (new) , Proven Innocent (new) .
Here's the schedule all times ET , new series highlighted in blue
Monday
8PM The Resident (new time slot)
9PM 9-1-1 (new time slot)
Tuesday
8PM The Gifted (new slot)
9PM Lethal Weapon (new time slot)
Wednesday
8PM Empire
9PM Star
Thursday
8pm/ 5pt Thursday Night Football
Friday
8pm Last Man Standing
8:30PM The Cool Kids
9PM Hell's Kitchen
Saturday
8PM College Football
Sunday
8PM The Simpsons
8:30PM Bob's Burgers (New Time Slot)
9PM Family Guy
9:30PM Rel
Peanuts
Charlie Brown has a lot of baseball specials. This is our second one in a row to cover. We are looking "It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown". This special came out in 1996 it was the only special that aired on TV didn't premiere on a network. It was supposed to air on CBS in 1992 but CBS changed their minds and it never aired then it came out on VHS in 1996 with Nickelodeon airing the special in 1998. (If Nick didn't air it, this would have been the the a third special that never aired on TV) Did CBS pass this up for a reason? Let's find out.
The special begins with snow. (What ? It CAN snow in spring you know) Charlie Brown is shoveling the snow and then starts on a snow mound to be a pitcher's mound because he's really into baseball. Charlie Brown keeps yelling that it's spring training. (Poor CB is losing it) All his player leave and he starts talking to a a snowman.
Now it's not snowing and well it's now really time for some spring training . Though, I am not sure how well the team will do. Hey, there's Leland ,a minor character from the comics, who apparently might be Freida's brother. (In this special he apparently is) Leland wants to try out for a baseball team and he of course, goes to Charlie Brown's team. Leland also thinks Lucy is pretty. (awww) He asks Charlie Brown to try out and C.B gives him a chance. (Honestly, Leland is a good as the other players on that team)
Leland is an icon/ Copyright Peanuts
I'm going to note music here, because why not? This is also the last special not have any scoring music written by Vince Guaraldi. Other specials after this one did reuse cuts or had other music but still used Guaraldi's cuts as well. The music in this special for example when Lucy and Charlie Brown are practicing sounds very early 90's like the two of them are about to start rapping kind of sound. This was the last special where Judy Munsen was a composer for , she worked on 14 Peanuts specials and two movies.
Lucy also wonders why the team doesn't have uniforms. (She didn't watch Charlie Brown's All Stars) Linus says that Lucy is right (I'm scared) they are the only team without uniforms. Inspeaking of Charlie Brown's All Stars, Mr.Hennessey is back. Yep, the hardware store owner says he will sponsor the team's uniforms if they win. (He's not a gambling man) They visit his hardware store where Snoopy gets attacked by hardware. To be exact they have to win the first game of the season. Off note: When did Marcie leave Peppermint Patty's team to join CB's team?
See Marcie randomly there/ copyright Peanuts
It's the big game day. The best way to start a baseball game is the hockey pokey then Franklin raps. It's the most 90's scene ever.
After all that, the game begins. Woah wait a minute , back to that thing: What's Franklin doing on Charlie Brown's team? He's on Peppermint Patty's team , did they trade? I need a back story! Alright back to the game. In standard Charlie Brown team fashion it doesn't go well. Then it starts going well. (They did that on purpose) Then it's Leland's turn. Poor fellow gets two strikes then the ball gets stuck in helmet and he makes it to home, The team wins 27-26.
ummm great team names/ copyright Peanuts
Now his team gets their uniforms. Leland quits the team because his uniform is too big. They play another game but it goes in normal Charlie Brown team fashion and they lose. (27-25)
May is the month that is usually the home of season and series finales, since it's the end of the TV season. Many shows never have a chance to have a planned finale since most most shows fail in catching on in the first place. This month we take a look at some examples of how shows made their ends.
"Green Acres" was a popular show in the 1960's it ran on CBS from 1965 to 1971. Since, this article is about last episode we talk about how ... wait a minute. Green Acres really doesn't have an official series finale. Many TV series in the last 50's and all through out the 60's were based in rural and or small town areas , CBS in particular. They were mostly well revived and popular series that came out in this time. Over the course of events in the 1960's things were changing on the outfront and one thing networks really wanted was to be part of the change. Seeking younger viewers is something networks strive to do. The idea was they starting to reject programming that didn't take place in urban areas, that didn't have young people , or didn't fit with a social narrative of the times.
Maybe one day I'll talk about the so-called "Rural Purge" but since we are here to talk about "Green Acres" we are going to get to that but using the purge as a connector. The Rural Purge as it is called is what is called a period of between 1970 to 1975 when networks (especially CBS) decided to no longer have as much programming set in non urban (read: hip, city folks) areas. This series was doing well in ratings for the network. In fact, in it's last season it was in a block of programming where it aired Tuesdays at 8PMET/PT , after the other popular series that was rural purged , "The Beverly Hillbilly's", which aired at 7:30pm (more on that in a second) , and it was on before "He Haw" another show that was Rural Purged and if I ever talk about that show , it had that last laugh there.
Now the not last episodes , last episodes.
It's as if they were anticipating what CBS was doing the people working on the show made two episodes that ended up being the last two as back door pilots for new series that they in hoped to be new series. Episode called "Hawaiian Honeymoon" which was a backdoor pilot for a hopeful series called "Pam". The only connector that is was Green Acres was Oliver and Lisa going to Hawaii just to make sure CBS didn't get confused and somehow air the Green Acres theme but pop in a different show. The next episode called "The Ex-Sectary" did the same thing it had Oliver and Lisa be there at the start, trying to connect them to the story but the rest of the episode is a back door pilot for a show called "Carol" which also didn't make. Both these series pilots focused on a young woman in the working world , the kind of idea CBS was looking for.
So the last episode that is "Green Acres" is the episode that aired on March 9th , 1971. This episode is called "Lisa the Psychologist" and it was a normal episode of the series. It is a strange case because there are many series that have not really had a finale because they were canceled before it could have one or the people working on the show didn't know it was going to end. The reason why I picked this case is because of the external things around its end.
Bringing back the 7:30pm thing now. The FCC had made a new rule around early 70's to come into effect in the 1971 was that the hour before 8pm ET/ 7ct had to be given to local stations to help foster independent productions and local programming. With the 7:30pm/6:30ct half hour not of access for network programming anymore, networks had to shave that time off and many programs got caught in the loop. Green Acres wasn't airing at 7:30 though. Infact Tuesday of the next season CBS still started at 7:30 for the time being, they moved the "Glen Campbell GoodTime Hour" to Tuesdays taking the Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres slots. So it wasn't even rural purged and replaced with the shows CBS was replacing other things with but with one of the shows that manged to laugh at the purge for awhile. (Though Campbell's show was canned at the end of the 1971-72 season.)
This wasn't a look at an episode in particular but, a look at how one show didn't get it's goodbye chance because of some external factors. Also ironic because this show was about a city guy who wanted to move to the country to be a farmer and the series was ended because it wasn't in the city. (I will note that Rural purge is also included with series that didn't have a rural theme but also got canned too.)
I don't plan it this way but yes I have a blog post because they did do a reunion movie for "Green Acres" which you can read about HERE .
Taking a break from this series of posts as we have other themed things do , but will be back to this topic later with sometimes a last episode is built up as a big going out party with an arc plot and everything.
Tune in next time when we replace all programs or remake current shows but they take place in the country now. Imagine the fun of "Big Acres Theory".
May is the month that is usually the home of season and series finales, since it's the end of the TV season. Many shows never have a chance to have a planned finale since most most shows fail in catching on in the first place. This month we take a look at some examples of how shows made their ends.
Unlike the last show we looked at where it had a finale that they had planned this show didn't have that chance , but even more their finale left loose threads and this is a finale that wasn't supposed to be one. We look at "Alf" Consider Me Gone. Though that would a good title for a finale.
"Alf" had ran for four seasons on NBC from 1986 to 1990 and was popular where when the show wrapped up it's fourth season they had some well something, something to make sure that the fifth would start off fun but, plans changed.
The episode starts with Alf being his normal self when eventually he picks up a signal that he thinks is from someone from his home planet ,Melmac. His friends apparently have bought a planet and they want Alf to join him. Alf is considering if he wants to leave or not. (Should I stay or should I go?) Meanwhile, the alien task force is also getting the signals and they wonder if it is aliens. (Insert picture of guy on History Channel saying aliens here) If Alf wants to leave he has only one chance to do so. He gives his answer he decides that he wants to leave. The task force also captures Alf's signal back to his friends and know it's from Earth but not where it's from.
The Tanner family is un happy that Alf is leaving (Well not Kate) at his going away party. They give him some gifts. [Cutting away from the episode for a minute] This scenes here would have actually made a good series finale, with Alf deciding to leave and the family saying goodbye. It has all the great workings of being a series finale and a fine one. [more on that later] So, Alf say his goodbye to the house as the family is going to drive him to spot where he's going to picked up. The Alien Task Force finds out about the space craft is coming down and they of course, are going to do their thing. The aliens come done to pick up Alf when the Alien Task Force come from behind and his friends fly away in fear. The Task Force surrounds Al, and the original cut of the episode ends with to be continued.
My personal note about this episode: When I was watching the series on repeats as a kid, I never knew the show ended so when this episode came on and I saw the line to be continued, apparently the channel I had watched on it didn't use the cut where that doesn't appear (Amazon Prime Streaming's version for example doesn't have that message) and I thought the next day when they were airing the first episode , i thought I had somehow missed it or the channel messed up. I didn't know for years that this was how Alf ended.
As said above, I feel the episode before the alien task force comes in and Alf's friends leave would have actually made a great series finale for Alf. Though, I will add the build up with the task force was also hinting to more than just a finale. The people working on this show didn't know this was going to be the last episode and they had made a two parter as an insurance policy and sadly, it ended up being the last episode. It is kind of funny how this show ended though , Alf crashes into the world causes a stir makes messes and the end of the whole thing it's a mess. Many series do get unexpected or unplanned finales, because maybe the show was getting expensive or the network was trying a different direction or 892 other reasons. Alf's finale is remembered because of the cliff hanger and it wasn't supposed end here it's like reading something in a book or something and it just.
Alf did get some sort of reprieve in 1996 thanks to ABC. We have written about that HERE
Next time, some series don't get a chance to choose their finales, but what if a series never really had a chance to end and it's final episodes weren't even for the series? That's Next time.
Tune in next time, after we get picked up by a space ship, we just got a call and we are going!
May is the month that is usually the home of season and series finales, since it's the end of the TV season. Many shows never have a chance to have a planned finale since most most shows fail in catching on in the first place. This month we take a look at some examples of how shows made their ends.
We start with "Leave it To Beaver" this series is a classic sitcom that's still being rerun today even though it aired starting in 1957. Funny enough, the finale episode we are looking at aired in June of 1963 so June not May. "Beaver" had 234 episodes and ran a span of 6 seasons. It was running well , but some of the actors wanted to move on and so they got their wish. This episode is called "Family Scrapbook".
This episode is considered the first episode (ha) in a prime time series have an episode expressly written to be a finale, other series ended like normal. Through this process I will be looking at different kinds of series finales so this kind is called the finale that looks back at the series as away to say goodbye.
It starts with June doing some cleaning and she finds a box with some old stuff . The stuff in the box brings June and Ward some memories then they find the scrapbook the episode is named after. It's full of old pictures and they decide to have the kids look at the book with them. If you ever wondered by Theodore is called the Beaver this episode explains that. The episode uses the pictures as a way to guide into clips of past episodes of the series. It shows memorable events from the past six seasons. Yes, this episode is a clip show with the wrap round segments being the new content. There's not much to say on what happens in the episode because of that. Going to the last couple minutes of the episode Ward and June talk with each other and are talking about how they've grown up while it cuts to Beaver and Wally laughing at a toy.
Over the time of watching this series, viewers watched for 6 years as the two boys grew up and the wondered what the family would do the next week. I consider this episode to be a thank you episode to the viewers for sticking by and enjoying the moments put together. Clip shows aren't much of my thing but I like it used for the last episode more than say random episode in season 4 when a show needed something to fill time. Beaver had grown up and was on his way to high school and Wally was on his way to other things so it's a good time to end the series.
This was also one of the first family sitcoms to look at things from the kids' point of view not Mom and Dad (Father Knows Best) and so the audience could identify as either currently a child or remember their own childhoods. Since Beaver was moving on to high school and we've done pretty much the high school plots with Wally it was good time. To get a little dark as an analogy think of this episode as like when someone dies and people look back the person's life this episode was that a look at this series as Beaver won't be on the air (as new episodes) anymore here's the show's life and moments we were glad to share it with you.
Is this a good series finale? Yes, it has things you want in a finale a way to say goodbye to a series you love and one way is to remember what it brought you over the years.
Next time, what happens if you planned a whole big 2 part episode where one episode was the season finale and next was to be the new season premiere, but then you find out the show was canceled? That's what we talk about next in our journey of season finales with Oh What? Damn you network!
Tune in next time when we shut down the blog and reminiscence about our episodes.
Also on the Blog:
You know this thing that's been happening where they make continuation series of a series that ended like years before ? (Fuller House, Raven's Home, Girl Meets World, etc..) Beaver had that in the 80's I've written about that before. HERE
