An Archive for TV news from July 2002

NEWS ARCHIVE

July 2002

Morty's News Archive

Friday, June 13, 2025

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.

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Don Knotts Attends 60th High School Reunion

Don Knotts was the senior class president.

[July 29, 2002] [Nando Times] MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Don Knotts sat at the head table at the 60th reunion of Morgantown High School's Class of 1942, but it wasn't because he was an Emmy-winning actor and star of one of television's most beloved programs.

The 78-year-old actor, who portrayed bumbling Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," kept a low profile Saturday as he mingled with about 60 classmates at a local hotel. Full Details

Frank Inn, TV's Animal Trainer

[July 29, 2002] Hollywood animal trainer Frank Inn, who took a mongrel named Higgins from an animal shelter and turned him into a film star called Benji, has died at age 86, his daughter says. Inn had been in failing health since February when he was admitted to a hospital near his Saugus, California, home for a knee injury, his daughter Kathleen Hees said. He died on Saturday at the rehabilitation centre where he had lived since last autumn, she added.

Inn's career spanned more than 50 years and his animal stars included Arnold, the pig from "Green Acres"; the chimps from "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp" and many of Elly May's exotic "critters" on the "Beverly Hillbillies".

August Viewing Guide

[July 27, 2002] While adding entries to the August Viewing Guide, I received an email from Josh. A reminder that Lifetime's "Intimate Portrait" will be Lucille Ball on August 5th. You'll also find some other Intimate Portraits in the guide. Also remember the Biography Schedule has some good TVographys listed (no descriptions but I think you know the format by now).

The Rerun Show Announces Classic TV Cameos

[July 24, 2002] Classic television stars and other celebrities - including Fred “Rerun Berry,” Danny Bonaduce and Gary Coleman -- will make cameo appearances on NBC’s “The Rerun Show” this summer beginning with the series premiere on Thursday, August 1 at 9:30PM. I know I've hyped this a lot, and I haven't seen it. I just think it could be a fun idea. The alternative comedy series recreates classic television shows using original scripts while adding its own comedic, pop-culture spin to the performances. After its premiere, “The Rerun Show” will then move to Tuesday nights for the month of August.

The following guest-stars have been confirmed for cameo appearances: “The Facts of Life” - Gary Coleman (“Diff'rent Strokes”) appears as a shopping mall security guard in the “Shoplifting” episode. “The Jeffersons” - Marla Gibbs (Florence on the original “The Jeffersons”) portrays sex therapist Dr. Beamish in the “A Bedtime Story” episode; Todd Bridges (“Diff’rent Strokes”) makes an appearance as Florence’s (Daniele Gaither) boyfriend in the “Florence in Love” episode. Aries Spears (“Mad TV”) is also featured in the episode in the role of Weezie Jefferson. “Married…with Children” - David Faustino (Bud on the original “Married…with Children”) plays a gay man who accuses Peg of stealing his husband in the “Dance Show” episode. Erik Estrada (“CHiPs”) portrays a police officer in the “Weenie Tot Lovers and Other Strangers” episode. “The Partridge Family” - Danny Bonaduce (Danny on the original “The Partridge Family,” “The Other Half”) recreates his role as Danny Partridge and Alex Michel (“The Bachelor”) appears as Keith’s (Brian Beacock) romantic rival in the “Keith and Lauriebelle” episode. “Saved by the Bell” - Dustin Diamond and Dennis Haskins (Screech and Mr. Belding respectively on the original “Saved by the Bell”) will recreate their original characters with an out-of-this-world twist in the episode “Miss Bayside.” “What’s Happening!” - Fred Berry (Rerun on the original “What's Happening!”) appears as a judge and Alfonso Ribeiro (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) portrays Dwayne in the episode “Rerun Gets Married.”

Airdates for “The Rerun Show” are as follows: Thursday, Aug. 1 (9:30-10 p.m. ET) after “Will & Grace”; Tuesday, Aug. 6 (8:30-9 p.m. ET) after the “SPY TV” season finale; Tuesday, Aug. 13, (8-9 p.m. ET) with two episodes back-to-back; and Tuesday, Aug. 20, (8-9 p.m. ET) with two more episodes back-to-back.

TV Land / Nick at Nite Shows

[July 24, 2002] A first draft of the September TV Land schedule has been posted. Also, a new promo produced by MTV's TV Land and Nick at Nite, to be sent to cable operators, includes a references to "Bewitched," "I Dream of Jeannie," and "Sanford and Son." The Nick at Nite promo features "Roseanne," (scheduled to start September 2003) and "Coach." And that's all I know!

From My Big Brother Pages...

Chiara's Arrest: [The Smoking Gun] In another black eye for reality TV, a contestant on "Big Brother 3" got arrested in late-May for drunk driving, but was still included in the cast of the CBS prime-time show, which debuted earlier this month, The Smoking Gun has learned.

In fact, while the pending criminal case against contestant Chiara Berti was scheduled for arraignment last Friday morning (7/19) Full Details

Dr Will Kirby to Host New NBC Show: [Aaron Barnhart] Will Kirby, the winner of "Big Brother 2," was named host of a new NBC reality/gameshow called "Love Shack" set for a Monday, August 26th preview and the premiere to follow on the next night. Full Details [Update August 3, 2002] The series will not begin in August and has been put on hold.

For full daily coverage of the Big Brother 3 House, visit Morty's Big Brother Page.

Monkees May Return to NBC

Britain's SCLUB7

[July 23, 2002] [Variety] Hey, hey, "The Monkees" may be returning to NBC. The network is in discussions with the creator of "American Idol" to revive the format, featuring a new American boy band in the roles made famous by Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork. NBC would ready the project for a fall 2003 launch.

Simon Fuller, who also created and managed the Spice Girls ( news - web sites), has secured rights to the "Monkees" concept and name. "The Monkees" also served as inspiration for Fuller's teen band SClub7, a pop group of seven members who starred in their own international TV show, released a number of hit records in the U.K. and even designed their own clothing line. Full Details

Revised TNN lineup starting Monday August 5th:

[July 23, 2002] There are only two changes on the schedule, but I know how much you like grids. "Judge Mills Lane" and "Mad TV" at noon are out, "Kids Say the Darndest Things" and "Diff'rent Strokes" are in. The New TNN also announced their new hidden camera gameshow "Oblivious" which will premiere Sunday, August 18 at 9PM ET/PT Update: [July 24, 2002] On July 1st, they changed: 1pm "American Gladiators" 2pm "Real TV" 2am "A-Team," then on August 5th, the following schedule begins:

9:00AM	Kids Say the Darndest	4:00PM	A-Team
9:30AM	Kids Say the Darndest	5:00PM	Baywatch
10:00AM	Diff'rent Strokes	6:00PM	Mad TV
10:30AM	Diff'rent Strokes	6:30PM	Mad TV
11:00AM	Three's Company	7:00PM	Real TV
11:30AM	Three's Company	7:30PM	Real TV
12:00PM	Diff'rent Strokes	8:00PM	Star Trek: TNG
12:30PM	Diff'rent Strokes	9:00PM	VARIOUS (WWE, Movie, etc.)
1:00PM	American Gladiators	11:00PM	Star Trek: TNG
2:00PM	Real TV	12:00AM	VARIOUS (Mad TV, TNN originals, etc)
2:30PM	Real TV	1:00AM	Baywatch
3:00PM	Miami Vice	2:00AM	A-Team

All times are Eastern Daylight Time.

Phyllis White, TV Writer

[July 21, 2002] Phyllis White, a TV writer and founding member of the first television writers union died of a stroke July 7 at her home in Venice. White wrote for such popular shows in the 1960s and '70s as "Cannon," "My Favorite Martian" and "The Virginian." She was 79.

Overlooked A-Team Marathon on Tonight

The New TNN's Sunday Special: A-Team Marathon Tonight! (Sunday July 21)
5:00 PM "There's Always a Catch"
Hannibal and B.A. run into Decker while protecting lobstermen victimized by hoodlums.
6:00 PM "Timber!"
The team helps brother-and-sister lumberjacks thwart a crooked union boss intent on driving them out of
business.
7:00 PM "Sheriffs of Rivertown"
A U.S. oil company wants order restored in a makeshift community housing workers for a South American electrical-power plant.
8:00 PM "The Big Squeeze"
The team works from a pub to stop a loan shark (Joseph Sirola) from terrorizing small businesses; guest Wings Hauser.
9:00 PM "Waste 'Em!"
The team battles a garbage-disposal company sabotaging its competitor and dumping toxic waste into city sewers.

A Peak Ahead

[July 20, 2002] UPDATED! Pavan, the schedule expert got a sneak peek at Nick at Nite's lack luster post-Summer Camp line-up:

9:00PM Kids Say the Darndest Things
9:30PM Kids Say the Darndest Things
10:00PM The Cosby Show
10:30PM The Cosby Show
11:00PM Cheers
11:30PM Cheers
12:00AM The Cosby Show
12:30AM The Cosby Show
1:00AM All in the Family
1:30AM All in the Family
2:00AM Cheers
2:30AM Cheers
3:00AM Three's Company
3:30AM Three's Company
4:00AM Family Ties
4:30AM Family Ties
5:00AM Charles in Charge
5:30AM Charles in Charge

The new addition is "Charles in Charge," why at 5:00AM I can't say. "Kids Say the Darndest Things" is expected to leave in September when "Coach" begins.

I get a lot of mail asking "Why doesn't Nick at Nite run all those great old shows?" This is an easy one, they're on TV Land, Nick runs more current programming. The complaint I have, is "Where's the variety?" Take for instance the 1989 line-up, starting at 8:00PM we had "Mr Ed," "Patty Duke," "Make Room for Daddy," "Car 54," "SNL," "SCTV," "Laugh-In," "My Three Sons," "Donna Reed," and then the schedule repeated, then "Ann Sothern," and at 4:00AM the N@N Movie. Ten shows and a lousy movie (and they were pretty bad)! Now we only get five shows. Sorry 'bout the tirade. I just wanted everyone to know, "I feel your pain."

Letters, We Get Letters...

[July 20, 2002] I received two emails regarding programming that I was unaware of. The first comes from Hunter, who writes: Starz Encore Western Channel has purchased 176 episodes of "Gunsmoke" -- B&W seasons 7-11. TV Land owns seasons 12-20, and MANY of these 176 shows have not been seen since their original broadcasts! Thirty of them were, up until now, considered "lost" by fans. The Encore Action Channel is also getting 152 episodes of "Combat" This information comes from Yahoo Finance News Full Details

And the second email comes from Sheila2boys and says: I thought you might want to let people know that "Dobie Gillis", "Love That Bob", "Ozzie & Harriet", and "You Bet Your Life" come on everyday on Dish Network's Vision Channel. This is channel 223. (In the shopping section.) The times begin at 4:00 p.m. central. This is a fairly new channel and it's part-time. It shows mostly infomercials but it has this WONDERFUL 2 hour time-slot and I don't think many people know about it. Thought I'd share!

Hmm, sounds like I need a satellite dish. Thanks to Hunter and Sheila2boys for the info!

Game Show Network Special Blocks

[July 16, 2002] I've been watching a lot of The Game Show Network lately, so I thought this announcement was pretty cool: On Mondays, starting August 5th, GSN will feature "Breakfast with the Stars" from 9:00 to 11:00AM ET. Now there's an extra, extra special episode on "Password" in this series. On August 19th the players are Lucille Ball and Kirstie Alley, but Kirstie is not the guest star, she's the contestant, playing with Lucy. This is Kirstie's first TV appearance, and what makes it special is that she claims she didn't win because Lucy was drunk! I've seen this before, and I can't tell. Watch it, tape it, and see for yourself!

Also, starting Monday August 5th, the primetime weeknight hours from 8-10 pm ET/PT will feature "Match Game" on Mondays, "Hollywood Squares" on Tuesdays, "The Newlywed Game" on Wednesdays, "Pyramid" on Thursdays and "Family Feud" on Fridays. These special two hour mini-marathons feature some celebrity editions which have been rarely seen since their original airdates. For instance, "Family Feud" will feature contests between the original casts of "Batman," "Roseanne," "Baywatch," "Gilligan's Island" and "Three's Company." "Pyramid" shows include David Letterman, Tony Danza and Billy Crystal's record-setting performance for the fastest winning-time in the final round.

New TBS lineup For Fall 2002

[July 15, 2002] [Update July 19, 2002]

Programming note: The schedule that was supposed to start September 14, has been pushed back to October 5. 5:30pm Friends, 6-7pm Seinfeld. So it's not a sneak peak anymore. Seinfeld debuts Oct 1 at 6:30 and 7:30p.

I made a couple goofs when I first posted this, I think I've got it right now:

6:00AM	The Parent'Hood (9/23)	1:00PM	Matlock (9/30)
6:30AM	Amen (9/30)	2:00PM	Movie
7:00AM	Saved By The Bell (9/30)	4:00PM	Full House (9/9) Roseanne (10/1)
7:30AM	Saved By The Bell (9/30)	4:30PM	Drew Carey (9/9)
8:00AM	Fresh Prince of Bel Air (9/30)	5:00PM	Home Improvement (9/9)
8:30AM	Family Matters (9/30)	5:30PM	Home Improvement (9/9)
9:00AM	A Different World (9/30)	6:00PM	Drew Carey (10/1)
9:30AM	The Cosby Show (9/30)	6:30PM	Roseanne (9/9) Seinfeld (10/1)
10:00AM	Mama's Family (9/30)	7:00PM	Friends (9/9)
10:30AM	Roseanne (9/30)	7:30PM	Roseanne (9/9) Seinfeld (10/1)
11:00AM	Little House on the Prairie (9/30)	8:00PM	Various
Noon	Matlock (9/30)

All times are Eastern Daylight Time. Note Saturdays effective Sept 14 5:30PM "Friends," 6-7PM "Seinfeld" "Seinfeld" teaser Saturday, the real thing comes Sept 30 "Coach" leaves TBS after Sept 20. "Full House" leaves after Sept 30.

Wizard of Oz to Air on WB

[July 15, 2002] [Variety] The WB will showcase the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" this upcoming holiday season -- the first time Dorothy and Toto have been seen on broadcast TV since May 1998.

"Wizard of Oz" has aired exclusively on the Turner cable networks since then. Now that the WB is a part of the Turner fold, executives hope to turn the 63-year-old picture into a family-oriented holiday perennial, much like NBC does in December with "It's a Wonderful Life." Full Details

Second Season of M*A*S*H on DVD

[July 10, 2002] The entire second season of "M*A*S*H" has been released and will begin shipping on July 23rd. This is "M*A*S*H" in it's prime with Henry Blake and 'Trapper John' McIntyre. You get all 24 episodes on three DVDs. I've got the first season (also available at the same price) and I've ordered this set too. It's great to watch a great series, the way it was meant to be seen. Our Price: $29.99 | You Save: $9.99 (25%)

Thunderbirds Are GO! August 5th

[July 10, 2002[ I heard in May that TechTV acquired the rights for the 32 episodes of the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation production, "Thunderbirds" from Carlton International, just no start date. The action-packed fantasy adventure series set in 2065 will start on Monday, August 5 at 6:30pm EDT (repeating at 1am and 3:30pm EDT the following day). The original series, first shot on 35mm film in 1965, has been digitally re-mastered This is the sort of cool Saturday morning programming I expected on TV Land, but TechTV to the rescue! Visit the Official 'Thunderbirds' Website

Actor Rod Steiger dies at 78

[July 9, 2002] LOS ANGELES (July 9, 2002 2:54 p.m. EDT) - Rod Steiger, the beefy, intense actor who won the Academy Award as best actor of 1967 for his role as the unrelenting police chief of a small Southern town in "In the Heat of the Night," died Tuesday. He was 78.

Steiger died at a Los Angeles-area hospital of pneumonia and kidney failure, said his publicist, Lori De Waal.

A devoted practitioner of method acting, Steiger prided himself in undertaking challenging roles, especially real-life persons. "My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people; that's what an actor is supposed to do," he explained. Full Details

AskMorty.com Will Not Return

[July 8, 2002] If you're new here, you may not know this site used to be AskMorty.com. Through an error the Ask Morty name was sold and in May it got changed to MortysTV.com. I tried to get the old name back, I couldn't and now I'm going to quit trying. That's really the whole story, but I get a lot of mail asking a lot of "Why didn't you?" questions. So I've explained it all in painful detail for anyone that wants to read it. It's really boring, so feel free to skip it. Full Details

Actress Katy Jurado dies at 78

[July 5, 2002] Katy Jurado, the Mexican actress who played a sultry wildcat in some of the top American films of the 1950s and gained an Academy Award nomination, died Friday at the age of 78. Most famous in the United States for her role as Gary Cooper's former mistress in 1952's "High Noon," she was nominated for a supporting-actress Oscar for her role opposite Spencer Tracy in the 1954 western "Broken Lance." She was divorced from actor Ernest Borgnine, who once called her "beautiful, but a tiger." She appeared as Rosa Maria Rivera in the 1984 series "a.k.a. Pablo" and had guest roles in "Baretta", "Alias Smith and Jones," and several westerns

Big Brother Ready to Roll

[July 5, 2002] Check out the "Big Brother" Page names and pictures of the houseguests have been posted! [July 4, 2002] Because this section is for classic TV, I didn't want to clutter it with "Big Brother" news, however, I've been getting the "Big Brother" Page ready for the new season. On June 19th I posted what could be a scoop, or maybe a scam, the names and stats of this year's houseguests. We won't know if the info is true until tomorrow, when CBS makes the official announcement. Although the first show will not air until Wednesday, the houseguests will move in Saturday. Here's the schedule:
Friday, July 5, 2000: CBS announced the names of the houseguests.
Saturday, July 6, 2002: The houseguests will enter the "Big Brother" house.
Wednesday, July 10, 2002: The first "Big Brother 3" show will air at 9:00PM and the live web feeds begin.
Thursday, July 11, 2002: The first live "Big Brother 3" show will air at 8:00PM
"Big Brother" will air Wednesdays at 9:00PM, Thursdays and Saturdays at 8:00PM on CBS.

Morty Miscellany

[July 1, 2002] For those of you wondering whatever happened to Woody Harrelson after he was charged with going crazy and causing $800 worth of damage to a London taxi... Woody paid the cabby, charges were dropped. Full Details

Fox is making a TV version of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" The tentatively titled "Rocky Horror Birthday Show" will be timed to the 30th anniversary of the property, which debuted as stage production "The Rocky Horror Show" in London in 1973. The 20th Century Fox feature "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" premiered in 1975. Yeah, don't mess with a classic... Full Details

Kind-of TV Obituary: Arthur "Spud" Melin, co-founder of the toy company that introduced the world to the Frisbee, Hula Hoop and other faddish gems of American pop culture, has died. He was 77. Full Details

M*A*S*H on Hallmark in 2003

[July 1, 2002] The Hallmark Channel has announced that they have acquired exclusive cable rights to all 255 episodes of the award winning series "M*A*S*H". Since "M*A*S*H" currently runs numerous times a day on FX, this might not sound like big news. If you're looking for the "big" angle to the story, try this on for size: Hallmark is reported to be paying $250,000 an episode, multiply that by 255 episodes and you're in the $64 million neighborhood. Of course you can own the first season on DVD for considerably less from Morty's Mall.