Tichina Arnold is synonymous with strong comedy roles, most notably on WBNX sitcoms Martin, One on One, and now Everybody Hates Chris, where she plays feisty mom “Rochelle.”  But that could easily change after her compelling drama, The Lena Baker Story, sold out its world premiere Thursday night at the Atlanta Film Festival.  Those who’ve screened the true story have left in tears, Tichina said recently, and fans are already stirring the buzz for a potential Academy Award nomination.  The biopic recounts the life of the first and only woman to die in the Georgia electric chair.  During the mid-1940s segregated South, Lena Baker was held captive by an abusive Caucasian employer—whom she shot and killed in her struggle to escape.  The jury of 12 white men quickly found her guilty of murder, a conviction posthumously overturned some 60 years later.  It’s fitting that the film debuted in the same week we observe the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination.  Tichina’s powerful performance puts a face on the type of civil rights injustice that many Americans endured for decades and that King fought so hard to correct.

The folks who syndicate Everybody Loves Raymond surprised us this week with a rare TV comedy-fest. They’ve selected 22 of the show’s very best episodes to air between March 17-29, gems that I always love seeing again, like Raybert, The Cannister, Baggage, Marie’s Vision and She’s The One. Mirroring other classic series, Raymond hit its comic stride in Season 2 and produced consistently funny stories for nine years. Here’s an early blooper reel that highlights the close chemistry of the cast, not to mention their ability to ad-lib. Two other sitcoms that deserve attention are Everybody Hates Chris and Aliens in America, both of which are riding a lengthy wave of new episodes. Young Chris Rock (Tyler James Williams) “trains” for his first kiss Sunday night; while on Aliens, nerdy Justin is mortified to be starring opposite his mother in a stage production of Rent. Click here for one of their hilarious scenes. Both programs expertly recreate the fish-outta-water tone of The Wonder Years and, seriously, are as good as any network comedy on the air. Beginning next week, The Game will follow them with nine new episodes, trading timeslots with Girlfriends to anchor a fresh lineup thru May.

CW devotees are breathing much easier with this week’s early announcement that six series will definitely return for the fall season: Smallville, Supernatural, One Tree Hill, America’s Next Top Model, Everybody Hates Chris, and rookie sensation Gossip Girl. That leaves 7½-hours yet to fill, and it’s very possible that one or more current shows will also make the cut—such as The Game, Reaper or Aliens in America. One slot could be taken if the network likes the pilot it just ordered for How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls, about a young ex-tabloid reporter hired to be the live-in tutor/life coach for a cosmetic mogul’s granddaughters. Will reality fare Beauty & The Geek, Pussycat Dolls or Crowned get another life? The still-untitled fashion magazine competition is a firm “go,” but which of the network’s other look-see projects will dazzle the programmers? Answers come within ten weeks, as the 2008-09 Upfront Presentation is set for May 15. Tracking potential development slates, The Futon Critic lists four dramas and two comedies on the CW radar:

• The Collection: a dramedy based on the life of famed designer Isaac Mizrahi
• How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: romantic misadventures of a female advice columnist
• Undercover: an updated version of 21 Jump Street
• Maria Sharapova project: drama set inside the world of women’s pro tennis
• Sherri Shepherd project: comedy about a married woman—and her husband’s “other family”
• Nanny Dallas: dramedy about four nannies and the rich families they service

Though 13 episodes were previously ordered for star-laden midseason comedy Eight Days a Week, the writer’s strike seems to have thrown the series in limbo. Hopefully it’s a candidate for this fall. Remember, new ideas for shows are pitched almost daily, so the above choices can quickly expand. What are your thoughts or predictions for The CW’s third season schedule?

The conclusion of a nearly four-month-long Hollywood writers strike has TV fans asking one question:  What does this mean for my favorite shows?  In most cases, the news couldn’t be better, according to trade sources Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, TV Guide, Mediaweek and E! Online.  Let’s start with the dramas: Smallville has four new episodes finished (including tonight’s), and will now produce five more this season.  Supernatural will air its remaining two new eps this month, and add another five or six for spring.  One Tree Hill will stockpile six more hours to the six already completed.  Reaper still has three new shows ready, with five or six more ordered—and you can expect the rookie dramedy to delve much deeper into the “deal” mythology when it returns.  Breakout freshman hit Gossip Girl has aired everything produced, but will quickly resume work on up to a half-dozen more stories.  Variety reports that the Upper East Siders may even get an early Season Two launch this summer, following the successful pattern of The O.C.  Life is Wild has ceased production at this time.  On the comedy front: The Game received a solid vote of confidence, with a pickup of eight or nine more episodes—to go with its four remaining new shows.  Everybody Hates Chris (12) and Aliens in America (eight) have enough new laughs in the can, so they won’t produce any more for this season; and Girlfriends, currently the longest-running network comedy, will bid adieu after eight years with a likely one-hour retrospective now in discussion.

January is the month when we’re bombarded with entertainment awards too numerous to mention. Often, they go to the same cast of characters—whichever show Hollywood deems hot and trendy at the moment. For a more accurate reflection of what viewers are passionate about, however, the recent E!Online poll is worth noting. It asked website visitors which series they’d like to see more coverage on, and two CW dramas swept up nearly 60% of the votes. Supernatural (29%) and One Tree Hill (28%) dominated to such an extent, they were eventually removed from the ballot to give other shows a fighting chance. Not just here in Cleveland, but across the nation, those serials have a loyal, vocal fanbase. Nominations were also announced for the 39th annual NAACP Image Awards, and, as usual, The CW leads the pack with 18 nods, more than all four of the other networks combined. Girlfriends and Everybody Hates Chris picked up seven apiece in comedy categories, and America’s Next Top Model is also vying for the Outstanding Reality Series title. Finally, TV Guide polled its readers to find the “Most Heartwarming Series” of all-time, and Gilmore Girls topped the list. It was “can’t miss” viewing for me, for sure, but was it more heartwarming than, say, Little House on the Prairie, which nearly always left an embarrassing lump in the throat? Your thoughts?

So Everybody Hates Chris, huh?  Don’t tell that to the prestigious American Film Institute, which just included the CW comedy on its list of the top five broadcast TV programs for 2007.  Chris Rock’s bio-series is in the good company of 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies and Friday Night Lights.  Described by some as “the urban Wonder Years,” the witty slice-of-life explores Rock’s teenage years growing up poor in Brooklyn, getting bussed to a mostly white school, dealing with sometimes-unknowing discrimination, and all the usual angst that accompanies puberty.  In its first three years, Everybody Hates Chris has been nominated for over 30 awards—Emmys, Golden Globes, People’s Choice, TV Critics, Teen Choice, Writer’s Guild and more.  Tyler James Williams was just a 12-year-old novice when Rock chose him for the starring role, and his subtle delivery and expressions are priceless.  He’s surrounded by a great cast (Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews), recurring neighbors like Jackee and Whoopi; and benefits from some very smart writing.  Only 10 of the 22 episodes produced for this season have aired thus far, with new stories returning later this month.  Critics have labeled Chris “the best family sitcom on television,” and who’s gonna argue?  Certainly not the AFI.

Only 17 more shopping days left, and if you’re one of those lucky few who’ve completed the task before the mad rush, WBNX has some relaxing holiday TV rewards for you! More than two dozen Christmas-themed episodes and specials are coming your way between now and December 25, starting with The CW’s “Merry Monday” comedy lineup of Everybody Hates Chris, Aliens in America, Girlfriends and The Game! The boys on Supernatural encounter the anti-Santa, while the Gossip Girl socialites unwrap…well, who knows what? Many of our daily comedies also have some memorable yuletide scripts, including Raymond, Frasier, George Lopez and According to Jim. And, of course, kids love the animated specials about Grandma and her hit-skip reindeer and The Story of Santa Claus. You can find a complete schedule of the holiday fare here on our new Christmas webpage, along with exclusive festive screensavers and other extras featuring your CW faves. Spread the word…and enjoy! P.S. Have you seen our new “Cleveland snowglobe” logo on air? Watch for it!

Among all networks, The CW may be the most equipped to endure the current work-stoppage by film and TV writers. Everybody Hates Chris began taping early this year due to its young star’s growth spurt, and they’ve completed all 22 episodes. The other Monday comedies are also far ahead in production, says Variety, and new sitcom Eight Days a Week—with Justin Hartley, Mario Lopez and Christina Milian—has 13 episodes ready for midseason. On the drama side, One Tree Hill has a good portion of its 22 episodes (or scripts) ready to roll in January; Smallville will have seven new stories to air after tomorrow night; and Supernatural has four more in the can—with another five scripts ready to shoot, according to the LA Times. Gossip Girl producer Josh Schwartz says the hit soap has five fresh hours completed, following tonight’s jaw-dropper, while Friday Night SmackDown is new every week and not affected by the writers strike. Where The CW is especially strong, however, is in popular reality series…five, to be exact. New cycles of Top Model and Beauty & The Geek are in the works, along with season two of Pussycat Dolls, in which they’ll be assembling a brand new group. The mother-daughter beauty pageant show, Crowned, looks hilarious (click here for a preview); and you can scroll down a bit to read about Farmer Wants a Wife—a must-see for NE Ohio cowpokes. Nobody likes a strike, especially the talented folks carrying picket signs in freezing temperatures, but we’ll get thru it on-air…hopefully without missing a beat.

I don’t know why it’s funnier when a school teacher says something stupid. It just is. So when they naively utter politically-incorrect nonsense, it’s enough to make you roar “That’s so wrong!” as you fall off the couch laughing. You’ll see what I mean tonight in the season premiere of Everybody Hates Chris and the series premiere of Aliens in America. “Ms. Morello” (aka Jacqueline Mazarella) was not intended to be a series regular, but her totally innocent putdowns of young-and-bussed Chris Rock have made her a fan fave in nearly every episode. No doubt you’ve also seen the Aliens promos in which an equally clueless educator refers to exchange student Raja’s religion as “Muslimism,” then asks him how it feels to be “so different.” They are some of the most amusing moments of tonight’s pilot, and we hope the Aliens teacher will be a weekly presence. These two CW Monday sitcoms are among the critics’ favorites, and the anti-politically-correct humor is a big reason why.