New York— With the curtain coming down on 2006, a number of networks unveiled their new original and acquired programming plans for 2007.
Last week, Bravo secured the rights to nine episodes of the Emmy Award-winning docudrama series Taxicab Confessions from HBO.
The one-hour reality series, which used hidden lipstick cameras to watch unsuspecting passengers talk about their loves, lives and losses, made its basic-cable premiere Dec. 29, with three back-to-back episodes, followed by a New Year’s Eve marathon.
On New Year’s Day itself, TV Land at 8 p.m. kicked off a week-long M*A*S*H marathon showcasing major episodes, including the series finale; its 20th- and 30th-anniversary reunion shows; special-guest installments; and the Robert Altman film of the same name that spawned the series. TV Land’s marathon began with nine installments at 8 p.m. Jan. 1.
All of this was a prelude to M*A*S*H assuming its regularly scheduled 10:30 p.m. time slots Mondays and Wednesdays, as well as Tuesdays-Sundays at 10 p.m., on the vintage network, beginning Jan. 8.
As part of a shared window deal, TV Land can air the show from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., while Hallmark Channel, which ran its own New Year’s Day series marathon hosted by Wayne Rogers, who played Trapper John McIntyre, retains the 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. rights to M*A*S*H.
Hallmark, which has been running the series since September 2003, typically airs it weekdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Come Jan. 4, The Biography Channel will share secrets and debunk the myths surrounding the notorious deaths of some of pop culture’s most celebrated icons with The Final 24.
Produced by Cineflix, the six-episode series, detailing the last 24 hours of the subject’s life, is scheduled to debut that night at 10 p.m. with a look at the final day of comic John Belushi.
For its part, Spike TV is gathering 16 up-and-coming mixed martial artists in Las Vegas in the middle of this month to begin filming the fifth season of its reality series The Ultimate Fighter, which is slated to premiere April 5 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).
And AMC announced last month that it would remake the 1960s cult science-fiction series The Prisoner. The network will co-produce at least six one-hour installments with the United Kingdom’s Granada and Sky One, with a worldwide premiere set in both countries for January 2008.
From staff reports.
