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'Ugly Betty' Takes A Break For 'Motherhood'

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By WALT BELCHER wbelcher

@tampatrib.com

Published: March 26, 2009

"Ugly Betty" fans don't need to panic yet.

The romantic comedy will resume May 7 after a six-week break.

Beginning tonight, "Betty" will be temporarily replaced by two sitcoms: the new "In the Motherhood" and the returning "Samantha Who?"

"Samantha Who?" at 8:30 tonight on ABC marks the return of Christina Applegate who underwent successful treatment last year for breast cancer.

Her character Samantha was a self-centered woman who was injured and came out of a coma with memory loss and new sweeter personality. A modest success in its first season, its future on ABC remains uncertain.
Billy Zane joins the cast as someone who is romantically interested in Samantha. But her former fiance Todd (Barry Watson) is still in the picture. The Sam and Todd relationship will be the comedy's leading storyline.

MOTHERS UNITE: Debuting at 8 tonight is a sitcom based on a sassy, snarky and often hilarious Web series.

But the ABC version of "In the Motherhood" doesn't have as much satirical bite as the five minute "In the Motherhood" Webisodes that were on msn.com. But it's still funny and fits ABC's traditional family sitcom mold.

The darker Web version was based on real stories submitted by mothers and the misadventures were re-created by Jenny McCarthy, Leah Remini ("King of Queens") and Chelsea Handler, a stand-up comic who now has a sharp late-night talk show, "Chelsea Lately" on E!.

In converting the irreverent "Motherhood" to TV, ABC has expanded it to a half-hour, recast it and toned down the dark side of motherhood.
Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Megan Mullally ("Will & Grace") and Jessica St. Clair ("Worst Week") play three different kinds of mothers.

Jane (Hines) is a divorced working mom with a preteen daughter and a baby; Jane's younger sister, Emily (St. Clair), is a stay-at-home mom with two kids who strives for book-perfect parenting; and Rosemary (Mullally), married numerous times, breaks every mothering rule and yet she has a near-perfect teenage son.

JONES CONNECTS WITH WTSP: Anchor/Reporter Keith Jones will join the WTSP, Channel 10, "10 Connects" news team as a morning co-anchor with Ginger Gadsden on the station's morning newscast, "10 Connects News This Morning."

Jones comes to 10 Connects from KDKA in Pittsburgh, where he has been the morning co-anchor since 2005.

A Floridian and a graduate of Barry University, where he played NCAA baseball, Jones has also worked at stations in West Palm Beach, Toledo, Ohio, and Charleston, W. Va.

"We are excited to have Keith join our team," WTSP General Manager Ken Tonning said. "He has a terrific background in journalism and a warm, friendly style that just fits so well into morning news."

Jones joins WTSP in mid-April.

FROM WALT TV BLOG: What does President Barack Obama's choice of former Harvard classmate Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission mean for broadcasters? Read more at Walt TV on TBO.com.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

"The Office," 9 p.m., NBC

On the last episode, Michael (Steve Carell) quit after a new regional boss cracked down on his stupidity. But wait, is he really gone?

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