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| This is a
collection of old news and obituaries from the Ask Morty TV
News page. Dates, where shown, represent the date the
story was originally posted on the web site. Because
these are old stories, links within the stories may no
longer be active. For current news and schedules, click
here. |
You Can Browse Old
News By Month...
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Lifetime
to run "Mad About You" |
 [January
29, 2002] Lifetime, sometimes called "Television for
Women who Hate Men," "'The Designing Women'
network" or "All Annie Potts, all day," will be adding
"Mad About You" to it line-up, and cutting back on "Designing
Women." "Mad About You" will debut late Friday night on March
15th. It'll air 12-2:30am that night. Then effective Monday March 18th, it will become a
regular and air: Sun-Thurs 10-11AM Mon and Fri 8-9AM, weeknights 5-6PM and 12-1AM,
Friday night marathons 12-2:30PM. On Monday March 18th there will be a special 10am-11pm
mini marathon. "Mad About You" ran from 1992 thru
1999 on NBC. "Designing Women" will only air Tues-Thurs
8-9AM, it currently airs as often as six times a day. |
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"M*A*S*H"
Reunion Being Considered by Fox |
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[January 19, 2002] With the huge success of "The
Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers," the networks
are clamoring to produce more reunion specials of classic TV
shows. If you scroll down, you'll see that "Three's
Company," "The Cosby Show," "LA Law,"
and "Lost in Space" are some of the titles we can look
forward to. Although Fox has yet to make any moves in the
direction of producing, the show, an AP wire report said the project
(which Fox already owns the rights to) is under consideration. The
final episode of "M*A*S*H" on February 28th, 1983 drew
the largest percentage of viewers, of any TV show in the history of
TV. The series is currently a mainstay on Fox's FX
channel. For those of you that want to own the entire first
season, uncut on DVD, click here.
Also mentioned in the story was that Carol Burnett is in talk with
CBS to do more specials. None of the network are disclosing the
specifics of their upcoming plans, but they all seem to agree that we
can look forward to seeing more of our old favorites. |
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ABC
Prepares New Peanuts Specials & Searches for Voice |
 [January 15, 2002]
(Zap2it.com) - As ABC prepares to air the first new Charlie Brown special in 10 years,
"A Charlie Brown Valentine," producers Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson talked about plans for new specials.
Using the 18,000 cartoon strips by "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz, who died in February of 2000, the producers hope to make about one new special a year.
Full Details
(Zap2it.com) - Although some animated cartoons have been able to use the same actors for long periods of time, such as
"Scooby Doo's" Casey Kasem, who's been voicing the role for more than 30 years, the producers behind the
"Peanuts" specials have to find a new cast every few years.
The reason is because the Charlie Brown specials use children to voice the comic strip characters.
Full Details
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TV
Land Names 'Scrubs' a Future Classic |
[January 15, 2002] (Zap2it.com) - TV Land announced Monday, Jan. 14, that the network is awarding the NBC comedy
"Scrubs" its 2001 TV Land Future Classic Award.
The award was started in 1998 and is presented by the network annually to a freshman series that premiered between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1. Only series that are considered dramas,
situation comedies or sketch comedies are considered. Last year's winner was FOX's
"Malcolm in the Middle."
Full Details
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Sesame
Street's 'Uncle Wally' |
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[January 15, 2002] Bill McCutcheon, a comedic
character actor who played the grandfatherly Uncle Wally for eight years
on "Sesame Street," has died. He was 77. McCutcheon
played Leo the Leprechaun on "Howdy Doody," appeared in
numerous Broadway and off-Broadway shows, regional theater productions,
television programs, commercials and movies, including "Steel
Magnolias," in which he played Shirley MacLaine's
husband.
Full Details
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A
Cosby Reunion & A New 'Lost in Space' |
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[January 8, 2002] Variety reports that NBC is
making a two hour movie update of sci-fi series "Lost in
Space" the will serve as a pilot for a new series. "Lost
in Space,'' will be a complete update of the
classic, stranding a new family in space. In addition,
NBC is talking with production powerhouse Carsey-Werner-Mandabach about
a primetime reunion special for ''The Cosby Show.'' The
clip-based special would likely air in May, 10 years after the hugely
successful series left the air. NBC previously announced plans for
an "L.A. Law" reunion picture to air in May. |
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Three
Classic TV Stars in Screen Actors Guild Controversy |
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[January 8, 2002] In the recent election for president
of the Screen Actor's Guide (SAG), Melissa Gilbert, 37, best known as
Laura Ingalls on the TV series "Little House on the
Prairie," edged out Harper, 61, who played Rhoda on "The
Mary Tyler Moore Show" and her own spin-off show, by fewer than
1,600 votes out of nearly 28,000 ballots cast. But now the hotly
contested election may have to be held all over again. A
Screen Actors Guild committee late Monday set aside Melissa Gilbert's
recent victory over Valerie
Harper in the race for president of the nation's biggest actors union,
ruling that the original round of balloting was tainted by
irregularities.
The third office in question is that of treasurer, a post won by Kent
McCord of the 1960s cop show "Adam-12." McCord,
who won by just 34 joined Harper in challenging the election even though
he won. |
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Wendy's
Founder Dave Thomas Dies of Cancer |
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[January 8, 2002] I try to limit the news on this
page to TV related items, but Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas certainly
became a TV icon. Thomas started doing his own TV
commercials 12 years ago, and was known to be just as nice as the person
you saw on your TV screen. Dave Thomas had been in declining
health, he died today at his home in Florida of liver cancer. ABC
News has done a nice story on the humble man from New Jersey that made
it big...
Full Details
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'Kids
Say the Darndest Things' on Nick |
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[January 8, 2002] Starting January 7th, "Kids
Say the Darndest Things" will replace "Diff'rent
Strokes" in the 9:00PM to 10:00PM time slot. |
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Comedian
Avery Schreiber Dies at Age 66 |
 [January
7, 2002] Comedian Avery Schreiber died today. He started at the famous Goodman Theatre in
Chicago, joined Second City and later gained fame when he teamed
up with Jack Burns to form the comedy duo, "Burns &
Schreiber." They appeared many times on "The Ed
Sullivan Show" and in 1973 they landed their own
variety show, "The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour."
When the team disbanded in the 70's, Schreiber went on to appear in
numerous movies and TV series, including: "Get Smart," "The
Mothers-In-Law," "Blossom." and most recently
on "Becker." He played Captain Mancini on the
infamous "My Mother the Car" and did voices for "The
Animaniacs."
Schreiber had recently been in declining health, said his wife,
Rochelle Isaacs Schreiber. He died of a heart attack at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center. |
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Columbo's
Editor and Mr. Peeper's Creator |
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[January 7, 2002] Bill Parker, 64, motion
picture and television film editor who worked with Peter Falk on his
two-hour television specials of "Columbo," died Friday
of lung cancer at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
Full Details
David Swift, 82, wrote and directed the Walt Disney movies
"Pollyanna" and "The Parent Trap" that made Hayley Mills a teen-age star,
died of a heart attack last Monday. During the early 1950s, Swift created the TV series
"Mr. Peepers" and "Jamie." He wrote teleplays for "Playhouse 90,"
"Philco Television Playhouse," "The Rifleman" and "Wagon Train." He also wrote most of the shows for Imogene Coca's short-lived TV series
"Grindl" (1963) and directed segments of "Barney Miller."
Full Details |
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"Three's
Company" to be a TV Movie |
 [January
3, 2002] The
Hollywood Reporter has announced that NBC is developing a TV movie
based on all the behind-the-scenes drama that has made "Three's
Company" a staple of "E! True Hollywood Story."
The sitcom, which ran on ABC from 1977-84, was savaged by critics but
ranked as a top five Nielsen hit in the late 1970s. Suzanne Somers (Chrissy)
made headlines in 1980 when she held out for a huge raise and a cut of
the show's syndication profits (which is why she was written
out). The Hollywood Reporter says the 'Chrissy crisis' will
be a key plot point in the telefilm. No information
was given about a possible cast or an air date, or whether the project
would be completed in time for the March 15th 25th anniversary of the
series. |
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Oscar-Winning
Star Eileen Heckart Dies at Age 82 |
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Eileen Heckart in "Butterflies
Are Free" 1973 |
[January 2, 2002] Eileen Heckart, a drama
and comedy actress who won an Oscar in 1972 for "Butterflies are
Free," died of cancer on Monday at her home in Norwalk,
Connecticut, The New York Times reported. She was 82.
Heckart was also widely known for her television appearances as Mary
Richards' Aunt Flo -- a globe-trotting reporter -- on "The Mary
Tyler Moore Show." as well as playing Frances Wyler on "Murder
One," Marge on "Cybill," Mother Emma Buchanan
on "The Five Mrs. Buchanans," Ruth Perkins on "One
Life to Live" and Emma Heckart on "Annie McGuire".
She was born Anna Eileen Heckart in Columbus, Ohio, on March 29,
1919. Her parents separated when she was 2 years old and she lived with
her mother, who married five times. Heckart made her film debut in
1956 in "Miracle in the Rain," and she also appeared
the same year in "Somebody Up There Likes Me" and as
Marilyn Monroe's actress friend in "Bus Stop," which
is showing on AMC this week.
Heckart is survived by three sons. Two live in Connecticut and the
other in Los Angeles. Her husband, John Harrison Yankee Jr., to whom she
was married 53 years, died in 1997. |
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More
Classic TV Reunions Planned |
| [January 2, 2002]
Mediaweek: Following the success last month of CBS' Carol Burnett
tribute, network programmers are clamoring to produce either reunion
specials or movies, and they're hoping to air them as early as during
the February sweeps. Among the prospective properties are "Happy
Days", "The Cosby Show," "M*A*S*H,"
"Three's Company," "The Waltons,"
"The Monkees" and, "Batman" .
Full Details |
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