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115-398: The Hogan Family (originally titled Valerie and later Valerie's Family: The Hogans ) is an American sitcom television series that began airing on NBC on March 1, 1986, and finished its run on CBS on July 20, 1991, for a total of six seasons. It was produced in association with Lorimar Productions (1986), Lorimar-Telepictures (1986–88), and Lorimar Television (1988–91). Under

230-473: A MyNetworkTV affiliate) since 1996; Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC-TV produced evening newscasts for WVPX-TV that focused primarily on that O&O's city of license, nearby Akron ). In some cities, a major network affiliate also provided some engineering and other back office services for the PAX station. In an effort to increase revenue due to low viewership and other financial issues, PAX gradually increased

345-483: A live studio audience using a multiple-camera setup , the latter of which continues in some modern productions such as The Big Bang Theory and Fuller House . Other formats make use of a laugh track or "canned laughter". Since the 1990s, sitcoms have since expanded to animated sitcoms , with successful shows of the genre including The Simpsons , King of the Hill , and Family Guy . Critics have debated

460-540: A 30-minute time slot. Throughout their history, American sitcoms have often drawn inspiration from British counterparts. Popular shows like All in the Family , Three's Company , and Sanford and Son were adapted from successful British series. More recently, The Office achieved significant popularity in the United States , following the success of its British counterpart. Numerous television networks in

575-582: A children's program block called "Cloud Nine" on Saturdays from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and Sundays from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 am. Central. In addition, the network aired religious programming through time-lease agreements with The Worship Network (which aired its overnight programming on PAX seven nights a week) and Praise TV (featuring Contemporary Christian music and other faith-based programs aimed at teenagers and young adults, which aired on Friday and Saturday late-nights from 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 am. Central until 2000). The remainder of

690-418: A children's programming block, as part of a partnership with NBCUniversal and Scholastic Entertainment. On January 29, 2007, the network changed its name again to Ion Television (as a result of its parent company's renaming to Ion Media Networks ). Days after the rebrand, California-based entertainment group Positive Ions, Inc. filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Ion Media Networks, claiming that

805-496: A comparably small fraction of the paid programming schedule it aired in the past. Ion owned-and-operated stations and affiliates formerly also provide limited local programming on weekday mornings to fulfill public affairs guidelines, which ranged from entirely local productions to Ion Life-sourced programs within which commercial slots are instead devoted to local physicians or experts giving locality-specific health advice or advertising their services. This programming has ended as

920-403: A considerably more conservative programming content policy than the major commercial television networks, restricting profanity , violence and sexual content; accordingly, many of the network's acquired programs were edited to remove sexual and overt violent content, while profane language was muted . Most of the network's initial affiliates were Paxson Communications-owned affiliate stations of

1035-538: A controlling stake in Ion to Citadel, in exchange for Citadel investing $ 100 million into Ion's growth and digital plans. Ion Television's programming, for the most part, remained unchanged upon the rebrand; the network continued to feature programming from the content deals it signed while under the i brand (such as Who's the Boss? , Mama's Family , Growing Pains , and The Wonder Years ). The network also aired

1150-544: A core group of characters who interact in a recurring setting, such as a family, workplace, or institution. However, British sitcoms typically consist of shorter series, often six episodes, and are frequently developed by a smaller writing team. The majority of British sitcoms are half-hour comedies recorded in studio settings using a multiple-camera setup. While many adhere to traditional sitcom conventions, some have ventured into more unconventional territory. For example, Blackadder and Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister shifted

1265-456: A dual reference to its founder and corporate parent, and the Latin word for " peace " – shortly before its launch. Paxson, who felt that television programs aired by other broadcast networks were too raunchy and not family-friendly enough, had decided to create a network that he perceived as an alternative. Since the new network would focus on programming tailored to family audiences, PAX maintained

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1380-454: A forced divestiture of either i or Spanish network Telemundo , which NBC had acquired in April 2002 (prior to its merger with Vivendi Universal ), along with the divested network's O&Os due to FCC rules that prohibit broadcasters from owning more than two television stations in the same market unless there are either a minimum of 20 full-power stations in the market or one of the stations

1495-724: A fourth digital subchannel of local i owned-and-operated stations and affiliates until the network was dropped in January 2010; in addition, Tomorrow's Weather Tonight and rebroadcasts of network affiliate newscasts were discontinued the day prior to the rebrand on June 30, 2005 (though a few stations not owned by the network's parent company retained news share agreements with major network stations after that date, such as WBNA in Louisville, Kentucky , which continued to air newscasts from NBC affiliate WAVE ). The network shifted its format almost entirely to reruns of television series from

1610-404: A general entertainment network featuring recent and older acquired programs. The network adopted its identity as Ion Television on January 29, 2007. For many years, Ion has focused primarily on off-network reruns of existing series, with most of its current schedule devoted to marathon blocks of procedural dramas , along with occasional broadcasts of films (including television films during

1725-433: A late afternoon sitcom block called "Laugh Attack", which featured reruns of comedy series targeted at African American audiences (originally consisting of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper and The Wayans Bros. , the latter of which was later replaced by The Steve Harvey Show ). In January 2008, Ion Media and Comcast reached a carriage agreement to continue carrying Ion Television, while also adding Qubo and Ion Life to

1840-552: A major commercial broadcast network until 2010). On January 4, 2015, the Qubo block on Ion was relaunched as the "Qubo Kids Corner", concurrent with the block's move to Sunday mornings. As mentioned above, Scripps now purchases syndicated programming to meet Ion Television's E/I requirements with its wind-down of Qubo. The network has previously broadcast certain sporting events, including Conference USA college football games (produced by College Sports Television ), soccer matches from

1955-527: A news share agreement with another local station – to produce Tomorrow's Weather Tonight , a five-minute national forecast segment that aired Monday through Friday nights at the conclusion of PAX's entertainment schedule. Starting in 2000, many PAX stations also entered into news share agreements with a local major network affiliate (mostly involving NBC-affiliated stations, though some involved an affiliate of ABC , CBS, or Fox ) to air tape-delayed broadcasts of evening, and in some markets, morning newscasts from

2070-609: A one-year delay from their original syndication broadcast) and, due to its alliance with NBC, The Weakest Link (both from the Anne Robinson -hosted network run and the George Gray -hosted syndicated version) as well as the 2000 revival of Twenty-One . In September 1999, NBC purchased a 32% share of Paxson Communications for $ 415 million in convertible stock, with an option to expand its interest to 49% by February 2002, pending changes in ownership regulations set by

2185-481: A partnership between Ion Media Networks , NBC Universal , the Nelvana unit of Corus Entertainment , Scholastic Media , Classic Media , and its subsidiary Big Idea Productions . The Qubo block originally debuted on NBC and Telemundo on September 9, 2006, with NBC's Qubo block initially being rebroadcast on Ion Television on Friday afternoons (making it the last weekday afternoon children's block to be carried by

2300-406: A pay increase. The couple continued to negotiate with Miller-Boyett Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures and NBC during the next few months as the behind-the-scenes struggle became well publicized. NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff , who was unhappy with the feud, publicly stated that he would replace Harper with another actress if the fighting did not cease. Tartikoff suggested Sandy Duncan as

2415-566: A regular gay character (Terry Bader as journalist Leslie). In 1987, Mother and Son won the Television Drama Award for portraying a woman suffering from senile dementia and her interaction with her family, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission . In 2007, Kath & Kim ' s first episode of series 4 attracted an Australian audience of 2.521 million nationally. This

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2530-534: A replacement to Miller and Boyett, who both sided with the network chief in this possible casting decision. Duncan had recently signed a contract with NBC for a starring vehicle, and Tartikoff felt that this would be the best opportunity for her to make use of it. Though the NBC case was dismissed, Harper and Cacciotti won their trial against Lorimar on September 16, 1988, and were awarded $ 1.82 million in damages; which they both later donated to various charities . Harper left

2645-557: A staple of the government broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In the 1970s and 1980s many British sitcoms also screened on the Seven Network . By 1986, UK comedies Bless This House and Are You Being Served? had been re-screened several times by ABC Television ; they were then acquired and screened by the Seven Network. In 1981, Daily at Dawn was the first Australian comedy series to feature

2760-515: A statement on its website, DirecTV (which ironically had, and still has, multiple networks made up of full-time paid programming) planned to terminate its carriage agreement with i on February 28, 2006. The satellite provider cited that "most of [ i Network's] programming consists of infomercials and other promotional shows", despite an earlier promise by network executives that it "would consist of general, family-oriented entertainment". At its peak, infomercial time stretched across eighteen hours of

2875-691: A tentpole of the network with Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) games occupying weekly slots in the programming lineup and to launch a refresh of their brand identity and new year-long brand campaign based on the new tagline from the new branding being "Ion. It's On", replacing "Positively Entertaining" after 16 years. Sister channels Ion Mystery and Ion Plus would also be rebranded with similar graphics based on Ion's branding. As of April 2024, Ion provides general entertainment programming to owned-and-operated and affiliated stations every day from 6:00 am. to 2:00 am. Eastern Time (except Fridays outside of

2990-513: A trio of winged teenage angels that hosted the wraparound segments that bridged breaks during the block's shows, which were mostly sourced from the DIC library. "Cloud Nine" was discontinued in the spring of 1999, and was replaced by a new block under the title "Pax Kids." Pax TV discontinued the "Pax Kids" block in September 2001, as a result, it became the first major commercial broadcast network in

3105-402: A week of each other, and another that among other things would bring original programming to Ion Television's lineup. On June 27, 2006, Ion Media announced a comprehensive programming deal with Warner Bros. Television Distribution , which gave it the broadcast rights to movies and television series owned by the company. One week later on July 5, 2006, Ion announced a similar deal that resulted in

3220-644: A year later when seven series made it to PAX's 2004–05 schedule. On June 28, 2005, Paxson Communications announced that it would rebrand PAX as i: Independent Television , to reflect a new strategy of "providing an independent broadcast platform for producers and syndicators who desire to reach a national audience." The network used a lowercase letter "i" for its branding and other items such as its electronic program guide listings. The rebranding also resulted in several changes to its programming lineup: paid programming replaced overnight programming from The Worship Network, which began to carry its full 24-hour schedule on

3335-451: Is a satellite ). As part of the agreement, Lowell Paxson stepped down from his position as chairman of Paxson Communications. In April 2006, published reports surfaced that i owed more than US$ 250 million to creditors. Standard & Poor's reported a much higher debt in March 2008, owing $ 867 million to creditors and having a bond rating of CCC+/Outlook Negative. According to

3450-552: Is able to circumvent the legal limit of covering 39% of the population because all of its stations operate on the UHF television band, which is subject to a discount in regard to that limit. In the digital age, the restoration of the UHF discount has proven controversial with other broadcast groups and FCC rulings between presidential administrations, though as the network's parent company mainly acquired low-performing stations and stations on

3565-496: Is available throughout most of the United States through its group of 44 owned-and-operated stations and 20 network affiliates , as well as through distribution on pay-TV providers and streaming services; since 2014, the network has also increased affiliate distribution in several markets through the digital subchannels of local television stations owned by companies such as Gray Television and Nexstar Media Group where

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3680-564: Is one of the leading channels in India, dedicated entirely to Sitcoms. Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is the longest-running sitcom of Indian television and is also known as the flagship show of SAB TV . On Tiptoes and Shabhaye Barareh were among the first and most important sitcoms that led to the growth of this type of comedy in Iran, both receiving wide critical and audience acclaim. El Chavo del Ocho , which ran from 1971 to 1980,

3795-537: The 720p format, announcing they would do so on January 28, 2009, with an original launch date of February 16, 2009, but delayed to March 16, 2009, after the passage of the DTV Delay Act , which pushed the national digital television transition to June 12, 2009. Most Ion stations began to switch their main signals from 480i standard definition to 720p HD in late February; an early decision to pillarbox 4:3 programming with blue rather than black pillarboxing

3910-725: The Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series . In 2020, the sixth and final season of Schitt's Creek was nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy Awards . This broke the record for the most Emmy nominations given to a comedy series in its final season. During the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards , the show became the first ever comedy or drama series to sweep the four acting categories ( Outstanding Lead Actor , Outstanding Lead Actress , Outstanding Supporting Actor , Outstanding Supporting Actress for Eugene Levy , Catherine O'Hara , Dan Levy , and Annie Murphy respectively) and one of only four live action shows, along with All in

4025-471: The Christmas season). In the past, Ion had acquired first-run airings of Canadian series not picked up by other U.S. networks, and had also been infamous for devoting much of its schedule to infomercials . Under Scripps ownership, Ion has increasingly added national sports programming from the newly-established Scripps Sports division, beginning with packages of WNBA basketball and NWSL soccer. Ion

4140-654: The Dallas Cowboys . The series was not renewed for the fall 2008 season. Ion also obtained rights to televise games from the American Indoor Football Association , which were slated to begin airing in March 2008. However, the game's producers did not provide a live broadcast and the agreement was terminated. On December 28, 2010, Ion Television signed a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to air

4255-618: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that would allow it to acquire additional television stations. NBC later sold its share in the network back to Paxson in November 2003. In lieu of a national news program, in 2000, Paxson Communications signed an agreement with Jackson, Mississippi -based WeatherVision – which mainly produces weather forecast inserts for television stations in certain markets that do not operate an in-house news department or maintain

4370-483: The Infomall TV Network (inTV), a network launched by Paxson in 1995 that relied mainly on infomercials and other brokered programming . During the late spring and summer of 1998, a half-hour preview special hosted by former Waltons star Richard Thomas , featuring interviews with Lowell Paxson about PAX's development and initial programming, aired on inTV stations slated to become charter outlets of

4485-598: The National Women's Soccer League announced Scripps Sports as a rightsholder beginning in the 2024 season, with Ion to air Saturday night doubleheaders. Ion will also air the 2024 NWSL Draft . As of October 2020 , Ion has 64 owned-and-operated stations, and current and pending affiliation agreements with nine additional television stations encompassing 36 states and the District of Columbia . The network has an estimated national reach of 60.63% of all households in

4600-753: The RTR channel. The "boom" of Russian sitcoms began only in the 2000s, when in 2004, the STS started the highly successful sitcom " My Fair Nanny " (an adaptation of the American sitcom " The Nanny "). Since that time, sitcoms in Russia have been produced by the two largest entertainment channels in the country — STS and TNT . In 2007, the STS released the first original domestic sitcom — " Daddy's Daughters " (there were only adaptations before), and in 2010, TNT released " Interns " —

4715-703: The United States feature sitcoms in their programming. CBS , TBS, Nickelodeon , and Disney Channel are just a few examples of networks that air sitcoms. Ion Television Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion ) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company . The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV , focusing primarily on family-oriented entertainment programming. It rebranded as i: Independent Television (commonly referred to as "i") on July 1, 2005, converting into

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4830-689: The Women's United Soccer Association , Real Pro Wrestling (which more resembles the amateur form than the theatrically-based ring sport), the Champions Tour of golf, the Paralympic Games and a weekly mixed martial arts program from BodogFight . In its home state of Florida, the network's stations had served as a statewide chain to carry play-by-play coverage of a number of games for Major League Baseball 's Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins (demarcated by each team's territories) until

4945-423: The daytime and late fringe/early graveyard periods over a five-year span (however, this resulted in the network increasing its reliance on regularly scheduled marathon -style blocks of a relatively small inventory of programs in lieu of acquiring a much larger lineup of series to fill out the schedule). More recent theatrically released feature films were also added to the lineup, alongside older movie releases from

5060-415: The "Ion Lounge", a lifestyle segment used mainly to advertise a company's product within the featured program's commercial breaks. In the recent past, Ion Television has aired a limited number of comedy or comedy-drama series that were cycled on-and-off the schedule such as Monk , Psych and Married... with Children , with half-hour sitcoms used on certain occasions to fill scheduling gaps prior to

5175-887: The "Ion Television at the Movies" block. Ion's method of running predominantly syndicated programming is very similar to the international model of broadcasting used in Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia, which mixes imported and syndicated shows with original programming – a model used only in United States broadcast television by digital multicast services (particularly those that specialize in acquired programs such as MeTV and Antenna TV ), smaller English language entertainment-based networks (such as America One ), PBS member stations, and networks broadcasting in languages other than English (such as Univision , UniMás , and Telemundo ). The major commercial broadcast networks in

5290-422: The 1960s to the 1990s (such as Green Acres , Amen , and Pax holdover Diagnosis: Murder ) and feature films, reruns of former Pax TV series (such as Doc ) and first-run episodes (and later reruns) of Pax holdover series America's Most Talented Kids were also included as part of the schedule. In turn, the network adapted its programming content standards to those similar to other broadcast networks. During

5405-464: The 1980s and 1990s. In April 2009, it was announced that Ion Media Networks was once again facing balance sheet problems. The company disclosed that it was in discussions with lenders on "a comprehensive recapitalization" of its balance sheet , translating to an effort to restructure its considerable debt, which, according to The Wall Street Journal , stood at $ 2.7 billion as of April 2009. The network launched high definition operations in

5520-431: The 1990s these included: Dekh Bhai Dekh (1993), Zabaan Sambhalke (1993), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Office Office (2001), Ramani Vs Ramani (Tamil 2001), Amrutham (Telugu 2001–2007), Khichdi (2002), Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (2005) F.I.R. (2006–2015), Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (2008–present), Uppum Mulakum (Malayalam 2015–present), and Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain (2015–present). SAB TV

5635-453: The 2005–06 season, the network launched only one new series that met the network's new mission of being an 'independent broadcast platform', the teen drama Palmetto Pointe , which only lasted five episodes and was criticized as a poor imitation of Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill ; the network went entirely to a lineup of reruns with limited original programming for the 2006–07 season (except for Health Report and specials branded under

5750-482: The 2010s, resulting in a decline in sitcom popularity. Nevertheless, there have been recent efforts to revive the sitcom genre. For instance, Netflix released So Not Worth It in 2021, featuring many creators from popular South Korean sitcoms. Popular South Korean sitcoms include the High Kick series, which has spawned several spin-offs. British sitcoms , like their American counterparts, often revolve around

5865-472: The Canadian drama The Listener for broadcast in 2012, with an option for future seasons through an agreement with Shaw Media (parent of the show's originating broadcaster, Global ); the series would not join Ion's schedule until March 2014, by which time Ion Television had entered into a co-production arrangement for the program. A similar deal reached in September 2014 with Entertainment One gave Ion

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5980-443: The Canadian drama series Flashpoint , which gave it first-run rights to the fourth season's final 11 episodes, after CBS aired that season's first eight episodes, as well as rights to air reruns of all episodes produced to date and thereafter; Ion (along with the show's originating Canadian broadcaster, CTV) also renewed the series for a fifth and final season that aired during the fall of 2012. In July 2011, Ion Television acquired

6095-508: The Cover , Balderdash , Dirty Rotten Cheater , a 2002 revival of Beat the Clock , Hollywood Showdown (in conjunction with Game Show Network , which also aired the show) and reruns of Born Lucky . The network would later carry reruns of the syndicated revival of Family Feud (consisting of episodes from Louie Anderson , Richard Karn and John O'Hurley 's tenures as host, airing on

6210-417: The Family , The Golden Girls , and Will & Grace where all the principal actors have won at least one Emmy Award. Sitcoms started appearing on Indian television in the 1980s, with serials like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Nukkad (1986), and Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) on the state-run Doordarshan channel. Gradually, as private channels were permitted to operate, many more sitcoms followed. In

6325-679: The Holiday season which start at 7:00 am. ET; awhile the entertainment programming schedule starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 1:00 a.m. from Christmas to New Year's Day), with paid programming filling the remaining vacated hours. A children's programming block of Science Max (one past Qubo series), and Xploration Station from Steve Rotfeld Productions – which features programs compliant with FCC educational programming requirements – airs for three hours each Friday at 7:00 am. Eastern Time. Four hours overnight are programmed with compensated religious or commercial paid programming ,

6440-596: The Main Studio Rule repeal by the FCC in 2019 freed Ion stations from this requirement. Ion also served as the over-the-air broadcast distribution point for TiVo 's Teleworld Paid Program , a weekly 30-minute compilation program – usually carried during the overnight on Wednesdays or Thursdays within the network's designated paid programming time – it was specifically coded to distribute program previews and device tutorials for TiVo's digital video recorders ; in 2011,

6555-546: The U.S. rights to the medical drama Saving Hope (which made its U.S. debut on NBC in the summer of 2012); Ion began airing first-run episodes and repeats of the series in October 2015. In December 2011, Ion Television acquired the syndication rights to Cold Case , which debuted in 2012. On June 25, 2012, Ion Television entered into a deal with WWE to air a new hour-long series titled WWE Main Event on Wednesday nights;

6670-496: The U.S. that did not supply children's programming, and later one of only two until it restored a children's block in 2006 ( UPN eventually joined it in this distinction after it dropped its Disney's One Too block in August 2003, following the termination of a programming agreement with Buena Vista Television ). On September 15, 2006, Ion Television debuted a weekly children's program block called " Qubo on Ion Television", through

6785-486: The U.S. – ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox – carry first-run programs produced for the network, while leaving the responsibility of acquiring shows from the syndication market to their owned-and-operated stations and affiliates to fill time not allotted to network and, where applicable, locally produced programs ( The CW and MyNetworkTV , which are somewhat similar to Ion Television in their formats, mixes elements of both models as acquired programs are supplied both during prime time by

6900-558: The United States (or 189,453,097 Americans with at least one television set). Ion Television has the most owned-and-operated stations of any commercial broadcast network in the United States, reaching 65.1% of the United States (well above the Federal Communications Commission's coverage-based national ownership limit of 39% ); it is also the only American commercial broadcast network whose stations almost exclusively consist of network-owned stations, similar to

7015-525: The United States in 1926 with the radio show Sam 'n' Henry . The subsequent success of Amos 'n' Andy , also created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll , solidified the sitcom's place in American radio programming. The transition to television brought about significant changes in the sitcom format. Mary Kay and Johnny , which premiered in 1947, became the first American television sitcom. Today, American sitcoms typically run for 22 minutes, allowing for approximately eight minutes of advertising within

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7130-455: The acquisition of broadcast rights to films and series distributed by Sony Pictures Television (now Sony Pictures Television Studios ). Starting in September of that year, series and feature films from both libraries were incorporated onto the network's prime time schedule (including Who's the Boss? , Designing Women , Mama's Family , Growing Pains , Green Acres , and The Wonder Years ). However, these older series were later dropped when

7245-534: The amount of paid programming content on its schedule throughout the early 2000s, at the expense of its general entertainment programming. Infomercials and other types of brokered programs ultimately became the dominant form of programming during the network's broadcast day; by January 2005, the time that PAX had allocated to entertainment programs had been reduced to six hours on weekdays (from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 pm) and five hours on weekends (from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 pm. Central Time). Original programming

7360-429: The boys' aunt. The series was retitled Valerie's Family: The Hogans , and for the rest of the series, it was retitled The Hogan Family . Like most American sitcoms in the 1980s, the series sometimes dealt with moral conflicts , but not in a heavy-handed fashion. In the very special episode "Bad Timing", which first aired February 7, 1987, David and a former girlfriend debate whether to have sex . The episode featured

7475-510: The broadcast television rights to six films produced by Starz Media (now Lionsgate ) as part of its weekend film block (then branded as the "Big Movie Weekend"); the films started airing on the network in November of that year. Ion also acquired the syndication rights to the USA Network series Psych and Monk from NBCUniversal; the two series respectively began airing in late 2011 and early 2012. House , also from NBCUniversal, joined

7590-543: The cable provider's channel lineups. On May 1, 2008, Ion Television held an upfront presentation announcing its programming for the 2008–09 season at the New York Public Library in Manhattan . In addition to the announcement of its programming acquisitions, the network unveiled a new logo (a wordmark that incorporated a positive ion symbol as a pseudo-period next to the "ion" typeface) and slogan for

7705-446: The entirety of its $ 2.7 billion legacy debt and preferred stock, and recapitalize the company with a $ 150 million new funding commitment. On July 15, 2009, RHI Entertainment entered into a settlement agreement to resolve a dispute with Ion Media Networks, which resulted in the termination of a programming distribution agreement between RHI and Ion. In November 2010, Ion Television began airing its first made-for-TV movies, in

7820-510: The exact definition of a sitcom, mostly regarding productions created at the turn of the 21st century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use a single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, instead more resembling documentaries or the comedy-dramas of the 1980s and 1990s. Although there have been few long-running Australian-made sitcoms, many American and British sitcoms have been successful in Australia, since sitcoms are considered

7935-442: The films are produced by independent film and television studios such as Reel One Entertainment, Hybrid, LLC, The Cartel, and Vancouver -based MarVista Entertainment without the network's financial involvement (Ion does not maintain exclusivity to most of the films, which are also distributed via syndicated film packages or carried by other networks); the network extended these themed made-for-TV movies to other holidays in 2015, with

8050-552: The first national sports broadcast carried by Ion since 2011, and marks the first ever television contract for Scripps Sports, which was founded by the E. W. Scripps Company in December 2022 to acquire sports events for Ion and the group's local television stations. The agreement also grants local rights to selected Ion O&Os for games involving regional WNBA teams, which stations may carry in early- or late-evening broadcast windows depending on tip-off time. On November 9, 2023,

8165-647: The first sitcom, filmed as a comedy (unlike dominated "conveyor" sitcoms). Sitcoms, or "시트콤" in Korean, gained significant popularity in South Korea during the 1990s. This popularity was fueled by the success of shows like Dr. Oh's People , LA Arirang , and Men and Women . The use of computer graphics (CG) in sitcoms began to increase in the late 1990s as more broadcasters adopted CG technology. This led to more visually dynamic and creative sitcoms. However, viewer preferences shifted towards dramas and thrillers in

8280-524: The first use of the word condom on a prime time television program. After a modest start in the ratings that was countered by critical success, Valerie had begun to show growth in the Nielsens by the end of the 1986–87 season. Its most significant ratings jump occurred after its moving to Mondays at 8:30/7:30c in March 1987, following ALF . NBC renewed the series for a third season in May. In light of

8395-496: The focus from domestic or workplace settings to the world of politics. A more recent development in British comedy is the mockumentary , a style that blends documentary and comedic elements. Shows like The Office , Come Fly with Me , W1A , People Just Do Nothing , and This Country have successfully employed this format to explore a variety of topics and characters. Sitcoms, or situation comedies, made their debut in

8510-428: The form of Christmas-themed films that air between the weekend after Thanksgiving (airing the weekend before that holiday in 2013) and Christmas Day, with up to five films premiering each year on the network, although they are advertised as "original movies" in on-air promotions (the 2012 film Anything But Christmas is the only movie aired to date in which Ion Television had actually held a production interest), most of

8625-495: The fringes of markets which targeted lower-profile cities in the analog age, it has not been an issue with Ion Media itself. The network was launched by Bud Paxson , co-founder of the Home Shopping Network and chairman of parent company Paxson Communications (the forerunner to Ion Media). It was originally to be called Pax Net , but was renamed Pax TV (often referred to as simply "Pax"; stylized as "PAX") –

8740-637: The late 2000s, when cable's Fox Sports Florida and Sun (now Bally Sports Florida and Sun ) acquired the exclusive rights to both teams. Ion Television aired NFL Films ' weekly highlight program, the NFL Films Game of the Week on Saturday evenings from September 16, 2007, to January 5, 2008, with its initial broadcast focusing on the September 9, 2007 game between the New York Giants and

8855-575: The latter of which moved to the network following the revival series' cancellation by CBS earlier in 1998). The network also produced some original drama series such as Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye , Doc , Mysterious Ways (which originated on NBC ), Hope Island and Twice in a Lifetime through its programming division, Paxson Entertainment. PAX also aired many game shows including first-run revivals of established games that originated on cable networks such as Supermarket Sweep and Shop 'til You Drop , along with some original game shows such as On

8970-595: The name iHealth). At one point in this era, the network programmed eighteen hours of paid programming per day, ⅔ of the network's broadcast day, with the network only programming the early fringe and prime time periods with traditional programming. In November 2005, NBCUniversal was granted a transferable option to purchase a controlling stake in Paxson Communications. Had this option been exercised, NBC would have acquired approximately 63 i owned-and-operated stations (though this could have resulted in

9085-466: The network in September 2012. In September 2011, Ion Television acquired the syndication rights to George Lopez and Leverage . George Lopez began airing on September 29, while Leverage debuted in July 2012, the former has since been dropped from the network, while the latter has been cycled on-and-off the schedule. On October 4, 2011, Ion Television acquired the rights to the first two seasons of

9200-435: The network is unable to maintain a main channel affiliation with or own a standalone station, for the same purpose as the distribution of Ion's main network feed via pay-TV providers and streaming services. The network's stations cover all of the top 20 U.S. markets and 37 of the top 50 markets. Ion's owned-and-operated stations cover 64.8% of the United States population, by far the most of any U.S. station ownership group; it

9315-463: The network shifted its programming to feature extended blocks of its acquired series (which consist mostly of drama series, with sitcoms becoming an increasingly less integral part of the schedule); it also began a gradual expansion of the number of hours devoted to entertainment shows, starting with the addition of a two-hour block of programming in the late afternoon (from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 pm. Central) in January 2008, and expanding further into

9430-461: The network shifted towards more recent series. Ion also struck a library content deal with NBCUniversal , which gave it access to shows such as Law & Order . In September 2008, Ion Television reached a multi-year film rights agreement with Warner Bros. Television Distribution to broadcast more recent movies from Warner Bros. and its related studios. Meanwhile, three series from CBS Television Distribution (now CBS Media Ventures ) were added to

9545-418: The network stole the "Ion" branding. Positive Ions had registered trademarks on the word "Ion" and had used the mark commercially since 1999. On May 14, 2007, Positive Ions filed for an injunction that, if granted, would have required Ion Media Networks to change its name once again. On May 4, 2007, Ion, Citadel Investment Group , and NBC Universal announced a deal to transfer NBC Universal's rights to purchase

9660-466: The network's Sunday afternoon and evening schedule ( holiday -themed made-for-TV films are also broadcast under the banner throughout the entertainment programming day on weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day regardless of where either holiday falls during the calendar week). Ion Television occasionally airs short hosted segments during its prime time lineup – particularly during film presentations – known as

9775-434: The network's broadcast day, or 126 hours of a 168-hour broadcast week. To appease DirecTV management, the network launched a secondary feed of the network for providers adverse to its over-the-air programming direction, replacing paid programming time with older public domain programs and cancelled Pax TV original series. DirecTV and Paxson then reached a new carriage agreement in May 2006. In September 2006, i launched Qubo,

9890-413: The network's format is predominantly devoted to marathon blocks of hour-long drama series, with consecutive episodes of a given series airing between two and 16 hours a day (depending on the day's schedule, with fewer hours in the morning and late fringe). The network broadcasts feature films released between the 1980s and the 2000s under the banner "Ion Television at the Movies", which fill the majority of

10005-437: The network, "Positively Entertaining" (a form of wordplay, as ions are atoms or molecules that have a positive or negative electrical charge). With the September 8, 2008, rebrand, the network also retooled its focus, emphasizing the key demographic of adults between ages of 18 and 49, and airing more recent acquired programming aimed at young adults (such as Boston Legal , NCIS , and Criminal Minds ). By this point,

10120-435: The new network. PAX launched on August 31, 1998, with the network's initial schedule being much larger in scope than it would be in later years. At launch, Pax aired general entertainment programming on weekdays from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and weekends from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 pm. Central Time. Through an agreement with then- Disney owned animation studio DIC Productions L.P. , its schedule also included

10235-572: The park-walking scene. Initially the only episode to retain the Valerie title in syndication was "Bad Timing" (February 8, 1987), which also kept the original parental advisory disclaimer from NBC. But by 2016 the first two seasons went back to their Valerie title. Season three however stayed as The Hogan Family but did not include the Jason Bateman Hockey sequence of season four. In 2016, Antenna TV announced that they would air

10350-468: The partner station; in a few cases, the agreement partner produced live newscasts for the PAX station (as examples of the latter, NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis produced a prime time newscast for PAX O&O WIPX-TV from February to June 2005, after CBS affiliate WISH-TV (now a CW affiliate) took over production of the newscast that WTHR had been producing for UPN affiliate WNDY-TV (now

10465-548: The preliminary fights to the January 1 pay-per-view event UFC 125 . Ion also aired the preliminary fights for UFC 127 and UFC 140 later in 2011, before the organization signed an exclusive programming agreement with Fox . On April 20, 2023, Ion Television, through Scripps Sports , signed a multi-year deal with the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) to air a 15-week slate of doubleheader games on Friday nights (branded as WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION ), beginning with that year's regular season . It will be

10580-641: The premieres of the romance films Meet My Valentine (which aired as part of the network's Valentine's Day programming slate) and You Cast a Spell on Me (which aired as part of its "Wicked Week" Halloween block). On September 24, 2020, E. W. Scripps Company agreed to buy Ion Media for $ 2.65 billion. The transaction, which closed on January 7, 2021, saw Ion Television and its sister networks absorbed into Scripps' Katz Broadcasting subsidiary, which already operates five specialty networks , most notably Bounce TV and Court TV . In regards to Ion Television's programming, Scripps indicated it would maintain

10695-472: The schedule was filled by paid programming. Initial programming on PAX consisted of first-run shows (such as the true story profile series It's a Miracle , game show The Reel to Reel Picture Show , and talk shows Woman's Day and Great Day America ), along with reruns of older programming (including Highway to Heaven , Here's Lucy , The Hogan Family , Dave's World , Touched by an Angel , and new episodes and older reruns of Candid Camera ,

10810-547: The schedule: NCIS joined the lineup in September 2008, while Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer were added to the Ion Television lineup in 2009. In January 2009, the network announced that it had acquired the broadcast rights to the Canadian television drama series Durham County ; that show aired on the network for less than a year. On January 21, 2011, Ion Television acquired the U.S. television rights to

10925-414: The series debuted on October 3, 2012 and ran until April 2, 2014. Prior to Ion Television's original launch as Pax TV in 1998, the network had reached an agreement with DIC Entertainment to produce a five-hour children's programming block called Freddy's Firehouse , to air on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The block of animated series was instead launched on September 5, 1998, as "Cloud Nine", featuring

11040-496: The series in 2017. The Christmas episode was the first to air on the network on December 16, during a marathon of holiday-themed episodes from Antenna TV programs throughout the month, before the show officially joined the lineup on January 2, 2018. The series began airing on Rewind TV on September 1, 2021, after leaving Antenna TV. In the United Kingdom, the series was shown on BBC1 from 1987 to 1992. In New Zealand,

11155-430: The series was shown on TVNZ . Sitcom The structure and concept of a sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners . These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term "sitcom" emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filmed in front of

11270-485: The series weekdays at 4/3c. ABC Family previously held the U.S. syndication rights to the program and had aired episodes twice daily for five weeks from September 25 (2005?) until October 27, 2006. It had discontinued running the show since then. In Canada, the Crossroads Television System held the Canadian syndication rights and began airing the show Wednesday nights. It discontinued airing

11385-449: The services and by their stations at all other times). A limited number of non-Ion-owned stations that are merely affiliated with the network (such as former Louisville outlet WBNA ) do carry additional local or syndicated programming that, in some instances, pre-empts certain programs within the Ion master schedule. In 2006, Ion Media Networks reached several programming deals, two with major programming suppliers that were announced within

11500-447: The show and was replaced by Duncan as the female lead. In 1990, after spending three of the last four years on Monday nights at 8:30/7:30 (having been on Sundays before that), NBC opted not to respond to an agreement made with Lorimar insisting that the network had to exercise renewal options on the series before April 1. Despite the series still sporting decent ratings , NBC stated that it chose not to renew The Hogan Family "because of

11615-532: The show has earned an estimated $ 1 billion in syndication fees alone for Televisa . Gliding On , a popular sitcom in New Zealand in the early 1980s, won multiple awards during its run including Best Comedy, Best Drama and Best Direction at the Feltex Awards . The first Russian sitcom series was "Strawberry", which resembled "Duty Pharmacy" in a Spanish format. It was aired from 1996 to 1997 on

11730-408: The show in 2011. The Hogan Family title was used for syndicated showings of almost all episodes, including those broadcast as Valerie or Valerie's Family . Also, the theme was shortened in the opening credits when the show was in syndication. During the Valerie seasons, the title sequence becomes slow motion at the scene where Mike and the boys begin to tackle Valerie in their football game. For

11845-488: The show's success, Harper and her husband, Tony Cacciotti, approached their producers and NBC about per-episode salary increases and a larger cut of future syndication revenue. When all of the couple's requests were refused, Harper and Cacciotti walked out on Valerie . Harper had prior history in this situation, as she staged a walkout in 1975 following the first season of her hit series Rhoda (and its parent series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show ) which successfully resulted in

11960-401: The status quo, with no plans at the time to invest in original content or deviate from the channel's off-network programming approach. To get FCC approval for the transaction, 23 Ion Television stations were sold by Scripps to Inyo Broadcast Holdings . On April 8, 2024, Scripps announced that they would reposition Ion into a general entertainment channel, turning live sports broadcasting as

12075-523: The strength of our current development." The show was then picked up by CBS for the sixth and final season. The theme song, "Together Through the Years", was performed by Roberta Flack and composed by Charles Fox . The lyrics were written by Stephen Geyer . The Hogan Family aired in U.S. syndication on local television stations, from September 1990 until Summer 1998. From August 1998 until August 1999, startup broadcast network PAX TV aired reruns of

12190-419: The telecast of its late-morning film presentations (usually in the 10:00 am. Central Time half-hour, if the succeeding film ran for at least 2 1 ⁄ 2 hours) because of their erratic scheduling; the network shifted to a more exclusive focus on dramas as part of its series content in January 2015, although the network continued to carry comedic programming in the form of select feature films aired within

12305-453: The third-season episodes, the title shot from seasons four and five is used for reruns, where The Hogan Family is displayed over the Hogans carrying their picnic items through the park. This deleted the scene where Sandy runs out to the baseball diamond to try and get the bases unloaded. The latter was where the Valerie's Family title was shown on NBC airings, with The Hogans appearing over

12420-884: The time was used in early September to preview the pilot of Fox 's new sitcom New Girl , before its actual Fox premiere on September 20. TiVo discontinued the program in 2016 as broadband had become commonplace enough to end it. Most programs broadcast by Ion Television are distributed by either NBCUniversal Syndication Studios , Disney–ABC Domestic Television , CBS Media Ventures , or Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution . Ion Television also maintains film distribution deals with Universal Pictures , Paramount Pictures , 20th Century Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures . Series broadcast by Ion Television (as of October 2015 ) are mostly dramas such as Criminal Minds , Law & Order , Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , Law & Order: Criminal Intent , Numb3rs , Bones , Blue Bloods , and The Listener . As of 2014,

12535-412: The title Valerie , the show centered around Valerie Harper in the title role as a mother trying to juggle her career as a buyer for an auction house and raising three teenage sons with an absent airline pilot husband ( Josh Taylor ). After the first two seasons, Harper was fired. Her character was killed off at the start of season three and Sandy Duncan joined the cast as Valerie's sister-in-law and

12650-430: Was also affected by the network's programming changes; PAX was originally offering five or six new series each season. However, in 2003, the number of new series that aired on PAX dwindled to just two: Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye , which was cancelled in 2005, and Doc , which was cancelled in 2004 after PAX's international backer, Canadian broadcast network CTV , pulled out of producing the shows. The network seemingly recovered

12765-927: Was criticized by several social commentators as inappropriately disrespectful to the office of the Prime Minister. The show nevertheless proved very popular with both television audiences and critics, becoming the most-watched Australian scripted comedy series of 2011. It was nominated at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Television Comedy Series. Although there have been several notable exceptions, relatively few Canadian sitcoms attained notable success in Canada or internationally. Canadian television has had much greater success with sketch comedy and dramedy series. The popular show King of Kensington aired from 1975 to 1980, at its peak garnering an average of 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly. The 1999 movie Trailer Park Boys

12880-481: Was eventually abandoned as black coloring became the industry norm. Some Ion-owned and affiliate stations which carry the network as a multicast offering continue to carry the network in 480i widescreen over-the-air. On May 19, 2009, Ion Media Networks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection , putting the Ion network under bankruptcy for the second time in its history; it had reached an agreement with holders of 60% of its first lien secured debt that would extinguish

12995-530: Was followed up by a television series of the same name that ran from 2001 to 2018, airing in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Corner Gas , which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009, became an instant hit, averaging one million viewers per episode. It has been the recipient of six Gemini Awards and has been nominated almost 70 times for various awards. Other noteworthy recent sitcoms have included: Call Me Fitz , Schitt's Creek , Letterkenny , and Kim's Convenience , all of which have been winners of

13110-559: Was the highest rating for a first episode in the history of Australian television, until the series premiere of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities in 2009, which garnered 2.58 million viewers. In 2013, Please Like Me received an invitation to screen at the Series Mania Television Festival in Paris, was praised by critics, and earned numerous awards and nominations. Also in 2013, At Home with Julia

13225-546: Was the most-watched show on Mexican television and had a Latin-American audience of 350 million viewers per episode at its popularity peak during the mid-1970s. The show continues to be popular in Central America as well as in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, the United States, and other countries. Syndicated episodes average 91 million daily viewers in all its American markets. Since it ceased production in 1992,

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