ION Television Unveils Western Night

ION Television will air Western movies on Saturday nights in March and April, courtesy of RHI Entertainment.

The jamboree features a trio of world premieres starting March 15 with Aces N’ Eights, with Casper Van Dien; then Prairie Fever, with Kevin Sorbo and Dominique Swain, March 29; and Lone Rider, with Lou Diamond Phillips, April 12.

On the Saturdays between those dates, ION will show “classic encores” such as Return to Lonesome Dove.

“Western Night promises our audiences nonstop adventure with the dreamers and desperados who built the American West,” ION chairman and CEO Brandon Burgess said. “Westerns are an ultra-hot genre right now, and we expect our audience to keep coming back for more thrilling Wild West action, week after week.”

RHI president and CEO Robert Halmi Jr. called the films “timeless morality tales, where the good guys are always good and the bad guys are always bad.” He continued, “We are delighted to give this classic genre some well-deserved primetime exposure, courtesy of these exceptional films.”

ION has made moves of late to bolster its programming, adding the likes of The Drew Carey Show on New Year’s Eve, Baywatch for March andM*A*S*H and Boston Legal in the fall.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.