UPDATE: We’ve got the fall 2009-2010 TV show return schedule posted now. This is old stuff!
Back in the day — sometime before the turn of the century — the end of the first half of the fall season really didn’t mean too much in the land of television. Yes, some shows left the air or moved to other time slots. Okay, maybe one or two (maybe three) new programs would premiere to fill some openings. For the most part, things remained the same both before and after Christmas. I mean, all of the shows that the popular kids watched premiered in the fall.
Well, Bucky, that’s not the way it works anymore, is it?
Fact of the matter is, there is no such thing as a “mid-season” schedule anymore; there is a fall season and a winter season. The fall season gives us about 60% to 75% of our favorite shows until December. The winter schedule gives us American Idol, 24, Lost and everything else. At least that’s what it seems like. Because of these three shows, the networks rip apart their fall schedules and scientifically rearrange them (translation: throw them into the air and see where they fall). By the time you turn on your television after recovering from your New Year’s Eve hangover, the schedule is barely recognizable.
That’s why we here at CliqueClack are providing you with your 2009 Winter Schedule (mid-season) listings. It features a listing when shows will be returning, when some will be going away, and how many hours a week we’ll get to see Paula and Simon argue. There’s a lot of changes, so you’ll need to pay attention … there will be a quiz at the end of the schedule.
Before we get to the list, though, some of the boring rules:
Thursday, January 1st
9:00 PM
The First 48 (A&E) – Season eight premiere. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either.
Friday, January 2nd
9:00 PM
Stargate Atlantis (SCI FI)
10:00 PM
Countdown to the Crown (TLC) – Season 2 premiere. Though, who really cares.
Saturday, January 3rd
8:00 PM
Game Show in My Head (CBS) Another Ashton Kutcher take on the game show.
Cops (FOX) – More guys arrested without shirts.
9:00 PM
America’s Most Wanted (FOX)
Sunday, January 4th
7:00 PM
America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC) – Still chugging along. Probably will be here when we all die.
8:00 PM
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC)
Confessions of a Teen Idol (VH1) – Seven former teen idols try to make a comeback despite their beer bellys, loss of hair, and damaged livers.
9:00 PM
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Cold Case (CBS)
Rock of Love with Bret Michaels (VH1) – Season three premiere? Good Lord, man, find yourself some love already!
10:00 PM
Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
The Unit (CBS)
Monday, January 5th
8:00 PM
The Bachelor* (ABC) – Season 13. This time, the poor guy is a single father.
Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Family) – Season 1, part 2
Gossip Girl (CW)
Superstars of Dance (NBC) – Another product from the great American Idol factory.
9:00 PM
One Tree Hill (CW)
10:00 PM
True Beauty (ABC) – Reality series featuring about both inner and outer beauty. Most men will be looking at the outer beauty.
Tuesday, January 6th
8:00 PM
Homeland Security (ABC) – Reality series focusing on those that patrol America’s borders.
N.C.I.S. (CBS)
90210 (CW)
The Biggest Loser: Couples (NBC) – Season eight premiere. Already?
9:00 PM
Scrubs* (ABC) – Season eight premiere
The Mentalist (CBS)
Privileged (CW)
10:00 PM
Primetime (ABC) – Still checking on this one. Schedules say that Eli Stone ends on December 30th.
Without a Trace (CBS)
Nip/Tuck (FX) – Season five, part 2
Law & Order:SVU (NBC)
Wednesday, January 7th
8:00 PM
13:Fear is Real (CW)
Knight Rider (NBC)
9:00 PM
Ghost Hunters International (SCI FI)
Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS) – Season three premiere
10:00 PM
Damages (FX) – Season 2 premiere
The Real World (MTV) – Season…ready for it…21!
Law & Order (NBC) – Whether it returns for season 20 is now up in the air.
Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (TBS) – TBS is starting to stand for “Tyler’s Broadcasting Service”.
Thursday, January 8th
8:00 PM
Ugly Betty (ABC)
My Name is Earl (NBC)
8:30 PM
Kath & Kim (NBC) – Ugh.
9:00 PM
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
The Office (NBC)
9:30 PM
30 Rock (NBC)
10:00 PM
Private Practice* (ABC)
ER (NBC)
Friday, January 9th
8:00 PM
Wife Swap (ABC) – Why, oh, why is this still on?!
Ghost Whisperer (CBS)
Everybody Hates Chris (CW)
Howie Do It (NBC) – Network synergy … gotta love it!
8:30 PM
The Game (CW)
9:00 PM
Supernanny (ABC) – See above statement about Wife Swap.
Flashpoint* (CBS) – Season 2 premiere
Lipstick Jungle* (NBC) – Last episode of the season (so far).
Stargate Atlantis (SCI FI) – Series Finale.
Monk (USA) – Season seven, part 2
10:00 PM
Numb3rs (CBS)
Sanctuary (SCI FI) – Season finale
Psych (USA) – Season 3, Part 2
Saturday, January 10th
9:00 PM
My Big Redneck Wedding (CMT) – Season 3 premiere
Sunday, January 11th
8:00 PM
24 (FOX) – Part one of the season seven premiere
Dateline (NBC)
9:00 PM
The Apprentice (NBC) – Season eight premiere. Second season in Celebrity Apprentice mode.
Toolacademy (VH!) – Nine “tools” are taken to a relationship boot camp. Okay, I can get into this one.
Monday, January 12th
8:00 PM
Big Bang Theory (CBS)
24 (FOX) – Part two, and the time slot premiere
8:30 PM
How I Met Your Mother (CBS) – Suit up!
9:00 PM
Kyle XY* (ABC Family) – Season three premiere
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
9:30 PM
Samantha Who? (ABC)
Worst Week (CBS)
10:00 PM
CSI:Miami (CBS)
Tuesday, January 13th
8:00 PM
American Idol (FOX) – First part of the dreaded season eight premiere.
Wednesday, January 14th
8:00 PM
The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
American Idol (FOX) – Second part of the magic. Time slot premiere.
8:30 PM
Gary Unmarried (CBS)
9:00 PM
Criminal Minds (CBS)
9:30 PM
CSI: New York (CBS)
Thursday, January 15th
8:00 PM
Smallville (CW)
Bones* (FOX)
9:00 PM
CSI (CBS)
Supernatural (CW)
Kitchen Nightmares (FOX) – Ends January 22nd to make way for Hell’s Kitchen
10:00 PM
The Beast (A&E) – The new Patrick Swazye drama.
Eleventh Hour (CBS)
Friday, January 16th
8:00 PM
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader (FOX) – Ends February 6th to make way for Terminator.
9:00 PM
Don’t Forget the Lyrics! (FOX) – End February 6th to make way for Dollhouse.
10:00 PM
Friday Night Lights (NBC) – Season three premiere on the legacy networks.
Battlestar Galactica (SCI FI) – The final ten episodes
Saturday, January 17th
9:00 PM
Solitary (Fox Reality) – Season three premiere of the show where contestants spend time in solitary. How fun.
Sunday, January 18th
7:00 PM
Hole in the Wall (FOX)
8:00 PM
The Simpsons (FOX)
8:30 PM
King of the Hill (FOX)
9:00 PM
Family Guy (FOX)
Big Love (HBO) – Season three premiere
The L Word (Showtime) – Season six premiere
9:30 PM
American Dad (FOX)
10:00 PM
Flight of the Conchords (HBO) – Season two premiere
The United States of Tara (Showtime) – New comedy about a woman with multiple personalities.
10:30 PM
Secret Diary of a Call Girl (Showtime) – Season two premiere
Monday, January 19th
8:00 PM
House* (FOX)
10:00 PM
Paranormal State (A&E) – Season three premiere
Tuesday, January 20th
9:00 PM
Fringe (FOX)
Wednesday, January 21st
9:00 PM
Lost (ABC) – Season five premiere
Lie to Me (FOX) – Yet another procedural that sounds like Monk, Psych and The Mentalist combined.
10:00 PM
Life on Mars* (ABC)
RelicQuest (SCI FI) – The channel calls it a new investigative adventure series.
Thursday, January 22nd
10:00 PM
Burn Notice (USA)
Saturday, January 24th
8:00 PM
Gone Country* (CMT) – Season three premiere
Monday, January 26th
9:00 PM
The Closer (TNT) – Season 4, part two
I Love Money* (VH1) – Season two premiere
10:00 PM
Trust Me (TNT) – The new Eric McCormick-Tom Cavanagh drama.
Thursday, January 29th
9:00 PM
Hell’s Kitchen (FOX) – The f@#%in fifth season premiere
Saturday, January 31st
Crusoe (NBC) – Season (Series?) finale
Monday, February 2nd
8:00 PM
Chuck (NBC)
9:00 PM
Heroes (NBC)
10:00 PM
Medium (NBC) – Season five premiere
Wednesday, February 4th
9:00 PM
Life (NBC)
10:00 PM
Dog the Bounty Hunter* (A&E) – Season five, part 2
10:30 PM
The Exterminators (A&E)
Thursday, February 12th
8:00 PM
Survivor (CBS) – Season 18 premiere
10:00 PM
Millionaire Matchmaker* (Bravo) – Second season premiere
Friday, February 13th
8:00 PM
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles* (FOX)
9:00 PM
Dollhouse (FOX) – Place your bets on how quick this show will be canceled.
Sunday, February 15th
8:00 PM
The Amazing Race (CBS) – Season 14 premiere
East Bound and Down (HBO) – Failed major league pitcher returns to his home town as a phys. ed teacher. Don’t they always.
Wednesday, February 18th
10:00 PM
High School Reunion (TV Land) – Season five premiere (season two on TV Land). Crap, I thought this show disappeared.
Monday, March 9th
8:00 PM
Dancing With the Stars (ABC) – Season eight premiere
10:00 PM
Castle (ABC)
Thursday, March 12th
10:00 PM
ER (NBC) – Series finale
Tuesday, March 17th
9:00 PM
Reaper (CW) – Season 2 premiere
Tuesday, March 24th
10:00 PM
Cupid (ABC)
Wednesday, April 1st
10:00 PM
The Unusuals (ABC)
Thursday, April 9th
Harper’s Island (CBS) – It’s Lost at a wedding ceremony.
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Dec 17, 2008 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
What about Reaper? And will it be reviewed here?
And yes, we’ll be reviewing Reaper — love it! :-)
You left off Castle!!! March 9th! Only thing more exciting than Dollhouse is Nathan Fillion being all Captain Mal-esque as a mystery writer!
*POST AUTHOR*
I completely forgot about ‘Reaper’…even though I saw it. That, and ‘Castle’ were both added.
Definitely looking forward to Castle!
An UPDATE for your Wednesday, January 21st list of shows:
RelicQuest (SCI FI) – The channel calls it a new investigative adventure series.
This series had vanished from SciFi.com’s schedulebot.
It’s been replaced by Ghost Hunters International.
I don’t know if that’s considered an improvement or not.
I’m not sure what merits listing on this, but here are a couple of possibilities.
On Discovery, Dirty Jobs starts back with new episodes on Tuesday the 6th.
Following Dirty Jobs is a new show called Wreckreation Nation. It stars Dave Mordal (from Last Comic Standing) and profiles odd hobbies and diversions. The first episode is about the US Lawn Mower Championships and an alligator wrestling school.
Great job with the schedule, but maybe next time, could you make it into a table? I’m sure that could be easily done with Excel.
What about Eureka?
That’s a summer show, not mid season.
Thanks Rich for compiling this great list for us. I check back here every few days to make sure I’m not missing something thanks to all the different shows on cable that I have to keep track of now. I appreciate all your hard work putting this list together. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. I hope you do it again for next tv season. Thanks.
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When will Sanctuary return?
What about Rules of Engagement?