tbs-related stories
Everybody loves George Lopez
Each celebrity was paid $10 for their shout-outs to Lopez. Just kidding!
Will you miss The Bill Engvall Show?
If you haven't heard, TBS has canceled The Bill Engvall Show after three seasons. I watched one episode of the show during its first season and found it to be a cute and harmless family sitcom. Did you watch it, and if you did, will you miss it?
Are We There Yet? coming to TBS, and bringing Terry Crews with it
TBS started the 100-episode order with the Tyler Perry family of sitcoms. And now they're at it again with a similar offer on the table for a television adaptation of Ice Cube's film Are We There Yet? Even better, they've nabbed Everybody Hates Chris' Terry Crews to play Nick, the role Ice Cube played in the film and its sequel.Crews was always the funniest character on Everybody Hates Chris, and seeing him as the fish out of water marrying into an instant family should give him plenty of opportunity for laughs. It's nice to see that shows featuring predominantly African American casts are still being developed somewhere since they've left network television completely now with the cancellation of The CW's comedies.
Continue reading Are We There Yet? coming to TBS, and bringing Terry Crews with it
Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show
The variety show format seems like a no-brainer for success - get someone with star power and surround them with a bunch of ringers and some weird people spinning plates or bending themselves into curious shapes, and voila! Instant hit, right? But there have been some spectacular failures in recent TV history. Maybe it's the fact that there are so many talent/reality shows now that a show with no "winner" or competition doesn't seem as interesting. Somehow, despite all of that, Ellen DeGeneres has managed some success with the format, and is now on her third - Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show, on TBS Saturday at 9PM.
Perhaps it's the fact that it's on TBS, which means the stakes are slightly lower than on the main networks. Or the fact that DeGeneres brings a loyal fanbase from her Ellen DeGeneres Show and her stand-up. Those would be the reasons you would look for if you were an industry executive or a media critic.
Continue reading Ellen's Bigger, Longer & Wider Show
It looks like Earl has checked off his last list item after all
If any of you Hickey fans were hoping that the show might live on in cable, it's time for me to shatter all your hopes and dreams like that first girl who told you you just weren't all that. The truth hurts. It looks like the producers couldn't make the numbers work, so new episodes of My Name Is Earl won't be coming to TBS after all. I'm of mixed feelings about this now. I really enjoyed the show for the most part, but now that I have some distance from it, I don't think I'll be too shattered if it's gone.Continue reading It looks like Earl has checked off his last list item after all
TBS might save My Name is Earl
Usually, TBS and I don't agree on what's funny. Sure, we both like Seinfeld, but who doesn't like Seinfeld? Normally, I stay away from the network's aggressive slate of not-so-groundbreaking sitcom pap like The Bill Engvall Show and Tyler Perry's House of Pain. But now I'm happy to hear that – instead of developing another show around another unfunny family-friendly comedian – TBS is in talks to pick up My Name is Earl for 13 new episodes.NBC unceremoniously canceled Earl a few weeks ago when it announced its new fall season during its Upfront presentation. TBS already has Earl repeats lined up for the fall, as part of a deal with the show's producer, 20th Century Fox, but it's still unclear if the network will be able to produce new episodes of the show on a basic cable budget.
Continue reading TBS might save My Name is Earl
TBS is turning a tagline into The Very Funny Show
"Very Funny" has been a tagline at TBS for a little while now. It's there to clarify for us that The Bill Engvall Show and Tyler Perry's shows are funny. And I'm glad they did, because I've caught snippets of both House of Payne and Meet the Browns and I swear I would have had no idea they were funny if TBS hadn't told me. That's a public service well appreciated.Now they're taking this one step further. TBS' The Very Funny Show will feature stand-up comedians being funny. And not just funny, but very funny. Tim Meadows who was the very funny on Saturday Night Live is pegged to host. And by very funny I mean that he was there for a long time. Actually, Tim can be funny in a stand-up environment, so he may do alright here. All of the footage for the November-bowing series will be filmed at a July event called "TBS Presents a Very Funny Festival: Just For Laughs." So at least the comedians on the very funny show will come from this very funny festival meaning it will be very, very funny. Right?
My Boys: Spring Training (season finale) - open thread
I wonder if a show like My Boys could survive on network television. Probably not. Nothing to do with the quality of the show, but it seems like the type of show that does better on cable (in a 10:30 time slot) than it would on ABC or NBC, with all that pressure. Last night the guys went to spring training in Arizona (maybe a little late for that, but there you go).TBS says, "Hey Earl, call me. Maybe we can work something out."
TBS is currently running repeats of My Name Is Earl, and to pretty solid ratings. With NBC cancelling Earl, it looked like all that might end. Well, not the re-reuns -- they can run forever -- but that influx of new episodes. But in this era of cross-network deals and shows jumping ship to keep costs down, it may not be the end of the road for the Hickey boys after all. Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, loves the show and would be more than willing to discuss having My Name Is Earl move to TBS for a fifth season.He hasn't approached them, but he's said "I'm in the book" about them approaching him. "We'd definitely look," he says about trying to work out a deal to keep the show on the air. Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Friday Night Lights have already found new life in cable deals, though theirs involved sharing with NBC, so it's not unprecedented. And with TBS trying to ramp up its original slate it wouldn't be a bad move to take an established property to anchor the schedule.
Continue reading TBS says, "Hey Earl, call me. Maybe we can work something out."
Hey, TNT and TBS have new shows coming too
With all this news from ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and The CW about their new fall schedules, we can't forget what's happening on cable. TNT and TBS have announced some new shows of their own. Some might say that these shows are even more promising than what the other networks have to offer this fall. In fact, one of them has me more excited than Richard Simmons in a tank top factory.Besides returning shows like The Closer (June 8), Raising The Bar (June 8), Saving Grace (June 16), and Leverage (July 15), TNT also has the following new shows.
Continue reading Hey, TNT and TBS have new shows coming too
My Boys: Facebook The Past - open thread

Is My Boys the sitcom we all should be watching? We hear so much about 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, even Big Bang Theory, but My Boys has its following too. Last night's episode was about Facebook, and yes, the show has a Facebook page!
Press Kits Unwrapped: My Boys, season three

Let's just get this out of the way: My Boys isn't a very good show. Calling it mediocre is even going too far. However, I can't be the only one that's watching it, because the TBS sitcom is already a few episodes into its third season. That's right - My Boys has actually been somewhat of a minor success for TBS, partially due to some wise scheduling. Save for the first half of season one, My Boys is always on during the spring and summer months when - surprise - there isn't much else to compete with. The show might not be great, but hey, new TV is better than no TV.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: My Boys, season three
Jim Gaffigan: The TV Squad interview - VIDEOS
Actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan has come a long way from driving down the stock price for Hot Pockets. He landed his own short-lived sitcom on CBS, thanks to David Letterman, called Welcome to New York and a co-starring role on the hit TBS' dramedy My Boys, which returns for a third season on March 31.
He also racked up a long resume of funny and dramatic roles on hit shows like Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, and That 70's Show. He is also one of the few actors to score appearances on all of the Law & Order series if you don't count the spinoff that hardcore L&O cultists are forbidden to say out loud.
Continue reading Jim Gaffigan: The TV Squad interview - VIDEOS
George Lopez, you get a talk show! And you get a talk show! And you... - VIDEO
Andy Warhol's comment about everyone getting fifteen minutes of fame has apparently morphed into everyone getting fifteen minutes as a talk show host. George Lopez is the latest, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Lopez will start a 34-week test run in November on TBS, in the 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday timeslot.Lopez seems like a personable guy, and if his ABC sitcom was any indication, he should have a pretty good mainstream appeal. But this will be an experiment for Lopez and TBS. The network has only dabbled in late night programming, and many a comedian and comic actor (Joan Rivers, Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller) have found late night talk shows to be a quagmire. The success of the show may depend on how much leeway Lopez has for trial and error (a la Conan, who hit a great stride after a rough start).
Continue reading George Lopez, you get a talk show! And you get a talk show! And you... - VIDEO
George Lopez coming back to TV (but not in a sitcom)
I'm not sure if the world needs another talk show (though if Amy Sedaris were to host one I'd watch it, and I like Bonnie Hunt's show), but we're getting one: TBS has just signed George Lopez to host a late night show on the network.The show (no title yet) will air Monday through Thursday at 11pm, and is described by Turner Entertainment President Steve Koonin as "an outdoor street party." Koonin also says that the show won't just be Lopez behind a desk "interviewing other old people." I'm sure it will please Lopez to be thought of as "old." He also says it's going to be more like Arsenio Hall's show, with live music, comedy acts and musical guests. Yeah, because that's what's missing on Letterman and Leno and Kimmel, live music, comedy acts, and musical guests. If he has a band, then it will truly be groundbreaking television. But I really liked Lopez's sitcom, so more power to him.
The show premieres in November.














