Sneak Peek: Sky Comedy Schedule

It’s scarcely carving a bold new direction in humour but Sky’s revamped comedy channel at last will offer Cheers fans the chance to see their favourite bar in HD for the first time on NZ TV.

Despite endless re-runs across different channels, the vintage comedy has never been on an HD service until now, with the December 2 relaunch of Comedy Central as Sky Comedy.

The old channel will bow out on December 1 with the likes of Frasier, King of Queens, Rules of Engagement, Becker and Hot in Cleveland ending their series runs prematurely (although some may continue on other Sky channels or on-demand).

South Park will remain but otherwise the weekday line-up will be eight-hour rotational blocks of:

3.30-4.30 Cheers 

4.30-5.30 Scrubs

5.30-6.30 Reno 911!

6.30-7.00 Drunk History

7.00-8.00 The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (except Tuesdays, when it will be South Park S28)

8.00-8.30 Nathan For You

8.30-9.30 See below

9.30-10.30 South Park (from S12, E1)

10.30-11.30 Key & Peele

Weekend programming will be back-to-back marathons of South Park, Cheers and the like.

Drunk History will be replaced later in the month by S6 of The Neighbourhood.

The 8.30 hour will be filled by Schitt’s Creek (Tuesdays), Arrested Development (Wednesdays), Letterkenny (Thursdays) and Beavis & Butthead: The Mike Judge Collection (Fridays). The Monday hour has still to be confirmed.

Letterkenny is a Canadian series set in a rural town that ran for eight years.

S5 of What We Do in the Shadows will replace Beavis & Butthead: The Mike Judge Collection from December 19.

Colbert will go on hiatus from December 22.