TV news
–“The Office” fans will be seeing a lot more of their favorite show when the season begins in the fall. NBC announced that the comedy show, premiering Sept. 27, will be an hour long. Actually, the first four weeks of the show will be hour-long episodes. It will be interesting to see the rating for the 9 p.m. Thursday hour since the Office will be pitted against Grey’s Anatomy and CSI.
The extended order of “The Office” is part of NBC’s strategy to cut down on the number of repeats throughout the season.
The early shows will deal with Ryan being the boss. He will try and shake things up and attempt to bring the company into the Internet age. The story line also will focus on Jan moving in with Michael – that should be hilarious!
–Jerry Seinfeld will be returning to NBC, for a little while at least. In October, he’ll be making an appearance on 30 Rock. He’ll be in the Oct. 4 premiere of the show.
–“High School Musical 2” will premiere Aug. 17 on the Disney Channel. It begins at 8 p.m.
Original stars Zac Efron (as Troy), Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella), Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay), Lucas Grabeel (Ryan), Corbin Bleu (Chad) and Monique Coleman (Taylor) all return for the sequel. Also returning are Alyson Reed (Ms. Darbus), Chris Warren, Jr. (Zeke), Olesya Rulin (Kelsi), KayCee Stroh (Martha), Ryne Sanborn (Jason) and Bart Johnson (Coach Bolton). Mark Taylor joins the cast as country club manager Mr. Fulton.
–I guess Donald Trump wasn’t fired after all. After “The Apprentice” was supposedly canceled, NBC is now bringing it back.
A new format is in place, however. It will focus on celebrities. The competition will be the same, but now celebrity contestants will play for a charity.
I think I speak for the majority on this one: Please ask Rosie to participate!!
–Here’s a list of premiere dates for NBC:
Sunday, Sept. 9
7 p.m. – Football Night in America
8:15 p.m. – Sunday Night Football
Tuesday, Sept. 11
8 p.m. – Biggest Loser
Monday, Sept. 17
8 p.m. – Deal or No Deal
Monday, Sept. 24
8 p.m. – Chuck
9 p.m. – Heroes
10 p.m. – Journeyman
Tuesday, Sept. 25
9:30 p.m. – The Singing Bee
10 p.m. – Law & Order: SVU
Wednesday, Sept. 26
8 p.m. – Deal or No Deal
9 p.m. – Bionic Woman
10 p.m. – Life
Thursday, Sept. 27
8 p.m. – My Name is Earl
9 p.m. – The Office
Friday, Sept. 28
8 p.m. – Deal or No Deal
9 p.m. – Las Vegas
Thursday, Oct. 4
8:30 p.m. – 30 Rock
Friday, Oct. 5
9 p.m. – Friday Night Lights
Thursday, Oct. 25
9:30 p.m. – Scrubs