TVSquad

Friday's TCA, which continued cable TV presentations, felt like three days rolled into one.

Just how jam-packed and eclectic are the programs and announcements that were made?

Here's a sample: Dynasty diva Joan Collins is checking into BBC America's Hotel Babylon, Richard Dreyfus (Jaws) is not afraid to get back into the water as host of The Discovery Channel's Ocean of Fear: The Worst Shark Attack Ever and Jonny Fairplay (Survivor) of CMT's Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull-Riding Challenge sadly announced that his beloved grandmother passed away two weeks ago.

TV Land, the network that caters to the baby boomers and everyone else who likes a dose of nostalgia in their TV viewing, is making some big changes. They're rebranding their network from being a retro TV destination to being a network that has a whole lot more. And apparently that strategy involves reality shows.

The channel has picked up reruns of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They'll start airing on August 7, and its regular slot will be Tuesdays at 11pm.

I'm baffled by this. Why destroy the network theme that has made you as successful as you are? Or do they consider Extreme Makeover a "future classic?" How many times can you watch the rerun of a home makeover show? And at 11pm??

It's great that they're also going to start running some original programming, but airing reality reruns is lame at best.

Former President Bill Clinton said even though 24 is run by "an uber right-wing guy" (referring to producer Joel Surnow), he thinks the show is fair in making both Democrats and Republicans look equally evil, according to a Reuters article.

Of other contemporary programs, Clinton said he's fond of Boston Legal and that his McFavorite is Grey's Anatomy. (Wonder where he stands on the Callie-Izzie contretemps?)

The Hollywood Reporter also said Clinton likes watching TV Land -- I Love Lucy, All in the Family and Bonanza -- because his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, is frequently away campaigning and it gives "me something to do at night."

Now here's an odd little news item.

TV Land president Larry Jones says that a new TV show is in the works featuring former Laverne & Shirley stars Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams. The two would play themselves and live in Marshall's house, where the show would be filmed.

This could be ... interesting -- or an utter disaster. But it does bring up a fun question: what other former TV pals would you like to see in a reality show? How about Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore living together? How about Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow? Jack Klugman and Tony Randall would be great, but Randall passed away several years ago.

Readers? Maybe Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt would be up for it.

[via Pop Candy]

To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Three's Company, TV Land is airing a 24-hour marathon that will feature the first episode, two test pilots, the retrospective episode hosted by Lucille Ball and the series finale. Also featured during the marathon will be episodes of the two Three's Company spin-offs: The Ropers and Three's A Crowd. The marathon begins tonight at 8:00 p.m.

Barney Fife, Herman Munster, James T. Kirk...and President Bill Clinton?

Yup, the former President is going to be the keynote speaker at TV Land's March 23 event to announce their lineup and programming future. It's the ultimate Baby Boomer talking about the ultimate Baby Boomer network. To quote TV Land spokesman Paul Ward, about the speech: "You better believe it's going to be about the economic and cultural and social influence of Baby Boomers (I don't know why I keep capitalizing "Baby Boomers" but it just looks right).

The event is being held to announce new shows that TV Land is going to air this year. It will be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

[via TV Tattle]

Here's another addition to my list of upcoming television programming honoring Black History Month:

According to Sitcoms Online, TV Land will be re-airing the Wayne Brady talkfest That's What I'm Talking About on February 3. The three-part series featured Brady as he conversed with big names in black entertainment and politics such as Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, D.L. Hughley, Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carrol, Wanda Sykes and many others. TV Land does not currently seem to have any information on what time the repeats will air, but you can watch clips from the shows here (I had to sneak through the back door with my Google key to find the site).

I'll be sure to post about other TV shows and specials dedicated to Black History Month as they become available. If you know of any I missed, let me know in the comments.

In case you missed Julia's earlier post about it, TV Land's countdown of the one hundred greatest quotes and catchphrases kicks off a five-night run this evening at 10 pm (it will also air at 10 pm the following nights).

I like TV Land, I really do, and this is just another example of the network's dedication to light-hearted entertainment that's not meant to be analyzed too deeply. It's easy to find fault with the list and notice certain omissions, but what the heck, it's only television.

Lately I've been watching a lot of classic monster movies like Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. All of these are great films I recommend highly, though not so much Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's monster just doesn't do it for me, it's gotta be Boris Karloff or nobody. That is, unless we're talking television, then Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster suits me just fine. Yeah, I know he's not playing Frankenstein's monster, but let's not split corpse hairs, okay? Anyway, TV Land is airing a 25-hour Munsters marathon starting at 6 am on October 28 and running until 6 am on October 29. Those of you with advanced degrees in "time telling" will notice that's only a 24-hour period, but thanks to daylight saving time, they're able to sneak another episode into the marathon. Given the choice, I'd rather have an Addams Family marathon, but this works, too.