ION Television March 2010 --

Blog Story: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/2010/02/ion-television-march-2010-acquires.html


Regular schedule changes listed ONLY:

What's New: Shark and The Guard

Effective Saturday, March 6, 2010
Saturdays
3:00pm & 3:30pm M*A*S*H (replaces filler/Movie)
4:00pm & 4:30pm My Name is Earl (replaces filler/Movie)
[Note: Both series now have set times.]

Effective Saturday, March 13, 2010
Saturdays
9:00pm & 10:00pm The Guard (replaces Movies)

Effective Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturdays
9:00pm & 10:00pm Shark (replaces Movies)




Here is the FULL regular schedule for March:
Mon-Thurs
3:00PM qubo on ION (Wed-Thurs)
4:00PM M*A*S*H
4:30PM M*A*S*H
5:00PM Family Feud
5:30PM Family Feud
6:00PM Family Feud
6:30PM Family Feud
7:00PM Ghost Whisperer
8:00PM Ghost Whisperer
9:00PM Criminal Minds (Mon-Tues); Ghost Whisperer (Wed); NCIS (Thurs)
10:00PM Criminal Minds (Mon-Wed); NCIS (Thurs)
11:00PM Criminal Minds

Friday
3:00PM qubo on ION
4:00PM M*A*S*H
4:30PM M*A*S*H
5:00PM Family Feud
5:30PM Family Feud
6:00PM Family Feud
6:30PM Family Feud
7:00PM-9:00PM Big Screen Movies
9:00PM Criminal Minds
10:00PM Criminal Minds
11:00PM Criminal Minds

Saturday
3:00PM M*A*S*H
3:30PM M*A*S*H
4:00PM My Name is Earl
4:30PM My Name is Earl
5:00PM Movie
7:00PM Movie
9:00PM The Guard
10:00PM The Guard

Sunday
3:00PM-9:00PM Filler/Movies
9:00PM Shark
10:00PM Shark





Movies, Stunts, Marathons




- Movie Schedule
Weekends in primetime

Friday, March 5, 2010
7pm-9pm Around the Bend (2004)

Saturday, March 6, 2010
5pm-7pm Around the Bend (2004)
7pm-9pm Top Gun (1986)
9pm-11pm Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Sunday, March 7, 2010
3pm-11pm preempted for Shark Marathon (see below)

Friday, March 12, 2010
7pm-9pm Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Saturday, March 13, 2010
5pm-7pm & 7pm-9pm Top Gun (1986)

Sunday, March 14, 2010 (M*A*S*H airs 3-4pm)
4pm-6:30pm & 6:30pm-9pm I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)

Friday, March 19, 2010
7pm-9pm The Clearing (2004)

Saturday, March 20, 2010
5pm-7pm & 7pm-9pm Lethal Weapon (1987)

Sunday, March 21, 2010
3pm-5pm The Clearing (2004)
5pm-7pm & 7pm-9pm Top Gun (1986)

Friday, March 26, 2010
7pm-9pm Lethal Weapon (1987)

Saturday, March 27, 2010
5pm-7pm Elektra (2005)
7pm-9pm Daredevil (2003)

Sunday, March 28, 2010 (M*A*S*H airs 3-4pm)
4:00pm-6:30pm & 6:30pm-9pm I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)





- Shark Marathon
Monday, March 1 through Friday, March 5, 2010 at 11pm each night and full-day marathon on Sunday, March 7, 2010 from 3pm-11pm
Regular schedule: Sundays at 9pm and 10pm ET/PT starting March 14, 2010
A legal drama that starred James Woods as Sebastian Stark, a notorious Los Angeles defense attorney who becomes a prosecutor, aired from 2006 to 2008 on CBS. The series lasted 38 episodes.
Marathon schedule: Episodes 1-5 at 11pm each night from March 1-5; Episodes 1-8 from 3pm-11pm on March 7.



- The Guard
Saturdays at 9pm and 10pm ET/PT starting Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Guard is a Canadian drama television series portraying the life of the Canadian Coast Guard along the British Columbia Coast. The show primarily revolves around the four main characters: Miro Da Silva (Steve Bacic), Laura Nelson (Sonya Salomaa), Andrew Vanderlee (Jeremy Guilbaut) and Carly Greig (Zoie Palmer). There is also a strong supporting cast, including Gordon Michael Woolvett (as Barry Winter), who worked with Bacic previously on Andromeda; and Eve Harlow.
The series thus far has aired for two seasons in Canada with 22 total episodes.




-The Emeril Lagasse Show
TBD
"The Emeril Lagasse Show," a new weekly, entertainment television show featuring celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. The original, primetime series will be recorded before a live studio audience and will capture Emeril's passion for people, entertainment, music, food and celebration. The hour long program will air on Sundays at 8pm beginning TBD.
"The Emeril Lagasse Show" will feature one of America's most popular chefs as he has never been seen before. Each week, Emeril will welcome celebrity guests, musicians and entertainers to break news and break bread as Emeril shares his world, his friends and his passions with the studio audience and viewers at home. A house band will be on set, playing live music and interacting with Emeril, guests and audience. The show also will include entertaining and surprising field pieces that will be shot in and around New York City where the show will be taped. TV veteran Karen Katz and After Five Productions, which executive produced Lagasse's long-running Food Network series, "Emeril Live," will be executive producer of "The Emeril Lagasse Show."





Read the blog before you post. It will give much more insight than just the schedule, so please link this if you're posting elsewhere: http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/2010/02/ion-television-march-2010-acquires.html

Interesting line-up changes for March from ION.

'The Guard' is a well-produced Canadian series with two seasons worth of episodes that just might click with the ION viewership. The series has Mr. David James Elliott (from 'JAG') in a recurring role.

I also find the addition of 'Shark' to be an interesting choice. ION has done very well with encores of CBS series, and 'Shark' returns to Sunday nights where it struggled in its CBS run. However, I think Sundays are a good night for legal series (all those successful seasons of 'The Practice'), and if it does well, ION might want to eventually pair it up with 'Boston Legal', which I think it still has encore rights to.

In Week 20, ION fell back a bit, probably due to 'The Super Bowl' on Sunday night wiping out ION on that evening.

Week 20 (February 1-7, 2010):
0.7HH/1%, 0.3 (440,000) A18-49, 1,060,000 P2+ viewers
(this is ION's 10th consecutive week attracting over one million viewers)

Season-to-Date (September 21, 2009 to February 7, 2010):
0.7HH/1%, 0.3 (400,000) A18-49, 1,020,000 P2+ viewers

All this season, more and more viewers have been keeping an eye on ION, which has the best year-over-year numbers of any broadcast network.

You know what might be a good fit for "Shark"? how about "The Guardian"? Simon Baker's previous CBS series which ran for three seasons and has not been seen in widespread syndication. (I think Sleuth may have aired it, but that is a small venue in terms of audience).

ION TELEVISION HEATS UP PRIMETIME WITH NEW

ORIGINAL COAST GUARD SEARCH AND RESCUE DRAMA

“THE GUARD”


Weekly Series Premieres Saturday, March 13 with

Back-to-Back Episodes at 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM, ET


Series Guest Stars David James Elliot (“JAG”)


West Palm Beach - February 16, 2010 -- “Keeping your head above water” takes on new meaning in ION Television’s new original primetime high-action marine rescue series, “The Guard.” The series premieres for the first time to the U.S. audience with a two-hour block of back-to-back episodes on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM, ET. Following its debut, “The Guard” will continue to air on ION Television in the same time two-hour period with back-to-back episodes each Saturday night. “The Guard” centers around four members of the Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Team who knowingly place themselves at risk everyday in order to save lives.

“We are excited to add ‘The Guard’ to our lineup of original programming,” said Kristine Hunsinger, Senior Vice President, Planning, Scheduling and Acquisitions, ION Media Networks. “Coming off the critically-acclaimed success of our first original drama ‘Durham County,’ we are sure viewers will enjoy the sexy, adrenaline-filled search and rescue drama ‘The Guard.”

Produced by Halifax Film and Brightlight Pictures, “The Guard” is a one-hour character-driven drama series that focuses on the lives of an imperfect, offbeat and sometimes, difficult rescue team. Led by Duty Captain Miro Da Silva (Steve Bacic), these heroic Coast Guard rescue specialists put their lives in danger as they dangle from helicopters and plunge into seas in order to rescue those in peril. Off-duty, rough waters still plague the team as they deal with their own personal issues. Da Silva is having financial troubles, Rescue Specialist Jeremy Guilbaut (Andrew Vanderlee) is suffering from emotional problems after a rescue gone awry, Rescue Specialist Carly Greig (Zoie Palmer) is an alcoholic with commitment issues and Rescue Specialist Laura Nelson (Claudette Fink) lives with David Nelson (David James Elliott from “JAG”) who suffers from MS.

Writers for “The Guard” include Raymond Storey, Peter Smith, James Taylor Phillips, Abigail Kinch, Michael MacLennan and Karen X. Tulchinsky. Charles Bishop, Stephen Hegyes, Raymond Storey and Shawn Williamson serve as executive producers. The series has received 3 Gemini Award nominations and 11 Leo Award nominations including two wins: Best Supporting Female Performance for Julie Patzwald and Best Supporting Female Performance for Eve Harlow.

ION Television acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to the award-winning original TV series, “The Guard” from Lionsgate. In addition, the network secured all U.S. television, digital media rights, internet streaming and video-on-demand rights.

Lagasse's Show has been delayed. It won't launch March 28 at 8pm. Stay tuned for the premiere date. Airing on Sunday, March 28 is:

Sunday, March 28, 2010 (M*A*S*H airs 3-4pm)
4:00pm-6:30pm & 6:30pm-9pm I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
9pm & 10pm Shark

In Week 21, ION was within their season-to-date average, all the more remarkable due to facing three nights of NBC's 'Winter Olympics' ratings juggernaut.

Week 21 (February 8-14, 2010):
0.7HH/1%, 0.3 (390,000) A18-49, 1,100,000 P2+ viewers
(this is ION's 11th consecutive week attracting over one million viewers)

Season-to-Date (September 21, 2009 to February 14, 2010):
0.7HH/1%, 0.3 (400,000) A18-49, 1,030,000 P2+ viewers

All this season, over a million viewers have been keeping an eye on ION, which has the best year-over-year numbers of any broadcast network.

I still say that this network goes broke within the next 5 years. The numbers only sound impressive compared to what ION was doing previously. They are spending boat loads of money for this new programming (not to mention their huge debt load) and I highly doubt the increased ad revenue is keeping pace.

In Week 22, ION was within their season-to-date average, despite facing seven consecutive nights of NBC's all-primetime 'Winter Olympics' ratings juggernaut. Given that all other networks are way down year-over-year (except MyNetworkTV showing good gains and The CW showing minor gains), ION's exceptional performance with its viewer-popular sked puts it head and shoulders above the other networks

Week 22 (February 15-21, 2010):
0.7HH/1%, 0.3 (380,000) A18-49, 1,010,000 P2+ viewers
(this is ION's 12th consecutive week attracting over one million viewers)

Season-to-Date (September 21, 2009 to February 21, 2010):
0.7HH/1%, 0.3 (400,000) A18-49, 1,030,000 P2+ viewers

After 18 nights of the 2010 February Sweep, look at how dramatically ION is up vs. last season (where the February Sweep took place in March):

2010 February Sweep - ION: 0.7HH/1%, 0.30 ,A18-49, 1,056,000 P2+ viewers
2009 February Sweep - ION: 0.4HH/1%, 0.16 ,A18-49, 619,000 P2+ viewers
Year-over-Year: Households up +69%, A18-49 up +83%, P2+ viewers up +71%

Those Sweep numbers have to have a lot of ION affiliates with big grins on their faces these days. Ever since the end of the November Sweep, over a million viewers have been keeping their eye on ION, which has the best year-over-year numbers of any broadcast network with a line-up that is positively Olympic-proof.