Pull out the spandex and get ready to get on your WWE SmackDown. The show will be returning to the ring on Friday, Oct. 3. As previously reported, SmackDown is moving homes from the CW (formerly UPN), where it was known as Friday Night SmackDown!Not only does SmackDown have a new home, but MyNetworkTV will give it a special kick-off with a big extravaganza: For the first time ever, the annual WrestleMania will be televised, on Oct. 2. — Anna Dimond Ready to throw a few punches to prep for the fall lineup? Try out some SmackDown clips instead, using our Online Video Guide.Related:• MyNetworkTV Plans to Lay the SmackDown• WWE Lays a Smackdown on the CW
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Hold on to your spandex! World Wrestling Entertainment will be bringing their wrestlers to MyNetworkTV in fall 2008. The general entertainment network will become the exclusive prime-time broadcasting home for WWE SmackDown, a weekly, two-hour program featuring the blood, sweat and cleavage of all the WWE's top superstars. SmackDown has become one of the most highly watched programs on broadcast television among men during its nine-year existence, previously airing on UPN and the CW as Friday Night SmackDown! The WWE reaches 16 million viewers weekly with Smackdown and two other cable shows, Monday Night Raw on USA Network and ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling on the SciFi Channel. — Adam Bryant
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The ION Television network has inked a deal to air Boston Legal repeats on weeknights this fall.... WWE has narrowed the list of contenders to host its SmackDown series to MyNetworkTV and Tribune Broadcasting (as in Superstation WGN), says TV Week.... People and OK! are reportedly coughing up $6 million to share dibs on the first pics of Jennifer Lopez's forthcoming twins, says PageSix.com.... ReelzChannel has acquired second-run rights to At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, starting next week.
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World Wrestling Entertainment has announced that it will no longer air Friday Night Smackdown! on the CW after it failed to reach a new deal with the netlet this week. While analysts have suspected that the WWE will eventually land at NBC's USA Network, there was no official confirmation from the wrestling organization about a new home. Smackdown had been a solid performer for the CW and its predecessor the UPN since 1999, but with a new focus on female-centric programming (America's Next Top Model, Gossip Girl), wrestling didn't seem the best fit for the fledgling network. — Mickey O'Connor
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Aside from that egregious Everwood snub, CW's fall schedule is close to perfect. Monday: 7th Heaven, RunawayTuesday: Gilmore Girls, Veronica MarsWednesday: Top Model/Beauty and Geek, One Tree HillThursday: Smallville, SupernaturalFriday: WrestlingSunday: Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends, The GameAlso, Reba received a last-minute 13-episode reprieve, which pretty much means Everwood is the only bubble show that didn't make the cut. Dawn Ostroff's got some explainin' to do.Speaking of Everwood, I've been trading e-mails with exec producer Rina Mimoun and she wanted to offer a "final thank you to all our fans for all their hard work and effort. I'd love to give a giant cyberhug to everyone who has been so amazing to us."The one silver lining here is that, as you know, Mimoun and her team prepared for the worst and shot an alternate series-finale ending. So at the very least, our beloved Everwood will get a fitting send-off. Little consolation, I know.Off to Madison Square ...
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