The network also revealed that it’s ordered three drama pilots in contention for next year. With disappointing ratings performances from the likes of Twisted, The Lying Game, and Ravenswood, ABC Family has veered away from the teen mystery genre, as this latest development cycle features three shows removed from the Pretty Little Liars vein.

Based on the novel of the same name by Blake Nelson, Recovery Road tells the story of party girl Maddie, who spends her nights living with other addicts in a rehab facility and her days pretending everything is okay while at school. The pilot was written by Bert V. Royal (Easy A) and Karen DiConcetto (Ruby & The Rockits). Exploring the world of professional tennis is Unstrung, which focuses on siblings Luke and Ellie Holt as they fight to move up the rankings and stave off the pressure from fans, reporters, opponents, and themselves. Emily Whitesell (Life Unexpected) will executive produce. Finally, Alice in Arabia, from former US Army Cryptologic Linguist Brooke Eikmeier, details a kidnapping of an American girl by her Saudi Arabian extended family and how she handles being held captive in her grandfather’s royal compound.

Melissa & Joey airs Wednesdays at 8:00 on ABC Family, with Baby Daddy following at 8:30. You can check out spoilers from the latter here.

What have you thought about this season of Melissa & Joey? How long do you think Baby Daddy should continue? Which new project has the most potential for ABC Family?

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Listed below are the episode descriptions for the winter premieres of Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy.

Melissa & Joey – 8:00
In picking up where the summer cliff-hanger left off, Joe rushes home to tell Mel that he has feelings for her after their romantic night together in New Jersey. When he arrives, he’s shocked to find Austin (guest star Trevor Donovan) has shown up and wants to give his relationship with Mel another try. Deciding he can’t stay and watch them fall in love all over again, Joe quits. Meanwhile, Lennox plots to get Joe and Mel together and Ryder gets sick from his own cooking.

Baby Daddy – 8:30 (“The Naked Truth”)
Ben and Riley try to transition from friendship to being a couple, which results in a hugely embarrassing moment for Riley. Ben is still angry with Bonnie for bringing Emma’s mom Angela (guest star Mimi Gianopulos) back into their lives. Angela tries to show Bonnie she’s a capable mother while hoping for a fresh start with Ben. Meanwhile, Tucker tries to help Danny get over Riley and Amy with his five-step “T.U.C.K.E.R.” break-up recovery system.

In addition to Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy, the likes of Pretty Little Liars (January 7th), Ravenswood (January 7th), Switched at Birth (January 13th), and The Fosters (January 13th) will be having their winter premieres in the first month of 2014. The following month, Twisted returns for the second half of its first season. You can check out a recap of the Baby Daddy summer finale here.

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-DirecTV’s first original scripted series Rogue, starring Thandie Newton (Crash), has been renewed for a second season of 10 episodes. The show follows undercover police officer Grace Travis as she works to bring down a criminal enterprise.

-Alfonso Ribiero will be the host of ABC Family’s upcoming game show Spell-Mageddon, the network announced Tuesday. The series uses distractions to try and break its contestants concentration as they are faced with spelling increasingly difficult words. Spell-Mageddon debuts Wednesday, June 26th at 9:00.

-WE tv has renewed Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? for an eight-episode fourth season and Braxton Family Values spin-off Tamar & Vince for a ten-episode second season. The former will debut in early 2014, while the latter is set to bow Thursday, September 5th at 9:00.

-Among those slated to perform on the June 18th season finale of The Voice are Bruno Mars, Christina Aguilera (who returns as judge for season five), Pitbull, Florida-Georgia Line, Nelly, and Cher. Mars will perform his next single “Treasure” and there will be two duets (Aguilera/Pitbull on “Feel This Moment” and Nelly/Florida-Georgia Line on the remix to “Cruise”) before the fourth winner of the NBC ratings juggernaut is announced.

-Cartoon Network has renewed Teen Titans Go! for a second season after it has continued to build on its lead-in and become the #1 program (excluding movies) on Tuesday on all TV among kids 2-11, 6-11 &  9-14 and boys 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14. The show currently airs Tuesdays at 7:30.

-OWN has ordered six new episodes of Iyanla: Fix My Life, which will debut Saturday, July 20th at 9:00, as well as 10 new installments of Kym Whitley’s Raising Whitley and 12 of La Toya Jackson’s Life with La Toya. The latter two will have their finales on June 15th and June 22nd, respectively.

-Due to disappointing ratings, ABC Family has shifted Dancing Fools to Fridays at 7:00 beginning this week, making room for two episodes of Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy tonight. The former will air at 8:00 and 9:30, while the latter has back-to-back new episodes at 8:30 and 9:00. Here are the official episode descriptions:

Melissa & Joey – “Inside Job” (8:00)
Joe paints Mel into a corner, forcing her to get him a job at City Hall with fellow City Council member Paul (guest star Alimi Ballard). Once there, Joe gets wrapped up in another potential financial scandal, leading to all sorts of headaches for Mel. Meanwhile, Lennox is torn between her boyfriend Zander (guest star Sterling Knight) and her hot co-star in the school play, Archer (guest star Blake Michael).

Baby Daddy – “The Wheeler and the Dealer” (8:30)
Ben brokers an endorsement opportunity for Danny with a new brand of Japanese  energy drinks. Against Bonnie’s advice, Ben convinces Danny to sign the deal, but he must pick up the pieces when things go haywire at Danny’s commercial shoot. Meanwhile, Riley takes an interest in volunteering and accepts a job as a  candy striper at the hospital. She doesn’t feel like she’s really making a  difference, until a friend shows up in need of a little mouth-to-mouth.

Baby Daddy – “New Bonnie vs. Old Ben” (9:00)
Bonnie sets up her new bachelorette pad across the hall, and Ben and Tucker will do whatever it takes to force her out. They throw a huge party that threatens to  damage more than Bonnie’s new apartment. Meanwhile, Danny seeks Riley’s advice on how to break up with Milena. Instead he ends up in a compromising position, which Milena mistakes as a marriage proposal.

Melissa & Joey – “Can’t Hardly Wait” (9:30)
After a back injury lands Joe at the hospital, he asks out his cute chiropractor (guest star Marla Sokoloff). Joey thinks this could be really special and wants to take things slow, but even he doesn’t anticipate her revelation that she’s always taken things very slow. Meanwhile, Zander (guest star Sterling Knight) and Ryder decide to collaborate on a graphic novel together, but their fun is ruined when Lennox takes over as editor.

-Reelz announced that they’re getting into pop culture coverage, as The Big Picture, a weekly look at the world of entertainment hosted by Lauren Sanchez and Alex Cambert, will debut Thursday, June 20th at 11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT and repeat Fridays at 1 a.m. ET/ 10 p.m. PT, Saturdays at 10 a.m. ET/ 7 a.m. PT, and Sundays at 2 p.m. ET/  11 a.m. PT.

-HBO has released teasers for the next seasons of Boardwalk Empire and Eastbound & Down, as well as the series premiere of Hello Ladies. You can find out when they all premiere here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvEBh-kcsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oh3tWKJ_uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYTzzCA8UM

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-ABC Family has given Melissa & Joey a season three backorder of 10 additional episodes set to air 2014, bringing the season episode total to 20, while renewing the show for a fourth season of 20 episodes. The show, which returns on May 29th, will be the first ABC Family original comedy to pass the 100 episode threshold.

-Mariah Carey and Tim McGraw are scheduled to perform on NBC’s annual Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, airing 8-10 p.m. on Independence Day. The special will be hosted by Nick Cannon, host of America’s Got Talent and Carey’s husband.

-Comedian Jim Norton and blogger Lindy West will be guests on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell Thursday, May 30th at 11:00 p.m. on FX. The topic: the on-going debate between censorship and artistic freedom.

–CSI producer Anthony Zuiker, ABC, and Hyperion Books have collaborated on a series of books based on upcoming reality show Whodunnit?. The first book in the series, titled “Whodunnit?: Murder in Mystery Manor,” introduces a figure that will be important in the television show and centers on ten people gathered at a luxurious mansion before finding out that one of them is a killer. Whodunnit? premieres Sunday, June 23rd at 9:00.

-The third season finale of CBS’ Mike & Molly, delayed by the tornado in Oklahoma, is set to air Thursday, May 30th at 8:30. The Chuck Lorre comedy was left off the network’s fall schedule and will return sometime midseason.

-Comedy Central has renewed sketch series Inside Amy Schumer for a second season, which will premiere sometime in 2014. The April 30th series premiere was the network’s highest-rated series launch of 2013.

-Rob Lowe has agreed to play President John F. Kennedy in upcoming National Geographic telemovie Killing Kennedy. Based on the book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, the two-hour film will follow two men on a collision course and one event that changed a nation forever. Co-starring are Ginnifer Goodwin as Jacqueline Kennedy and Michelle Trachtenberg as Marina Oswald.

–Being Mary Jane, a BET movie starring Gabrielle Union as a single newscaster looking to find love, will premiere Tuesday, July 2nd at 10:30 following the midseason finale of The Game. The movie will then morph into a weekly one-hour series, which will debut in January 2014. Here’s the first sneak peek.

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-John Oliver is set to assume his guest hosting duties on The Daily Show Monday June 10th, as Jon Stewart takes time off to direct his first feature film. Stewart is set to return on Tuesday, September 3rd.

-Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the first openly gay active NBA player, Jason Collins, will air Sunday, May 5th at 8:00 on OWN. The interview will also feature Collins’ parents and twin brother Jarron.

-KSL, NBC”s Salt Lake City affiliate, has decided it will no longer air Hannibal, citing viewer complaints about the serial killer drama. The affiliate, owned by the Church of Latter-Day Saints, has already pulled The New Normal this season, long been opposed to Saturday Night Live, and yanked The Playboy Club in the fall of 2011. Hannibal will now air on Salt Lake City’s CW station, KUCW.

–Pretty Little Liars star Tyler Blackburn has agreed to star in Ravenswood, the Pretty Little Liars spin-off debuting this October. Blackburn’s character, Caleb Rivers, will travel to Ravenswood during the annual Pretty Little Liars special Halloween episode; he’s still set to appear in the summer run of Pretty Little Liars episodes, though, which begin Tuesday, June 11th.

-ABC Family has released descriptions for the season premieres of Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy.

Melissa & Joey – “Works for Me” (May 29th – 8:00)
Joe pursues a new job opportunity, sending Mel into a panic when she realizes he may actually leave. But the job isn’t quite what Joe expected, causing him to reevaluate his place in the house and Mel’s scheming to prove how much everyone needs him. Meanwhile Lennox thinks her artist boyfriend, Zander, may have found another muse, and Ryder’s class trip has an unexpected outcome.

Baby Daddy – “I’m Not That Guy” (Wednesday, May 29th – 8:30)
Ben thinks he might like Riley and tries to convince her he’s changed his playboy ways. Riley invites Ben to be her date at a work party, but Ben’s efforts to prove he’s dependable fall short. Danny hopes to come to Riley’s rescue, but arrives only to find Riley getting friendly with another man (guest star Matt Dallas). Meanwhile, Tucker schemes to go out with a model, and Bonnie attempts to get to know a handsome stranger…with a little help from Emma.

–Dallas has officially been renewed for a third season by TNT. Season three is set to have 15 episodes and launch in early 2014, though there’s no word on if they’ll run consecutively or if some will be held for a summer run.

-Months before their debuts, Showtime’s summer and fall scripted programming have new teasers.
Dexter (June 30th – 9:00)
DEXTER stars Michael C. Hall in his Golden Globe and SAG Award-winning role as Dexter Morgan, a complicated and conflicted blood-spatter expert for the Miami police department. Season eight begins six months after LaGuerta’s murder – and Dexter is still managing life as a dad, brother, and serial killer. As Deb (series star Jennifer Carpenter) struggles to deal with the consequences of her actions, a mysterious woman comes to work with Miami Metro, offering first-hand information on Dexter’s past. The series also stars Desmond Harrington, C.S. Lee, Aimee Garcia, David Zayas, Geoff Pierson and James Remar.

Ray Donovan (June 30th – 10:00)
Set in the sprawling mecca of the rich and famous, RAY DONOVAN stars Emmy(R) and Golden Globe(R) Award nominee Liev Schreiber in his first lead television role as LA’s best professional fixer. Ray is the man called in to make the city’s celebrities,’ superstar athletes,’ and business moguls’ most complicated and combustible situations go away. This powerful drama unfolds when his father, Mickey Donovan, played by Oscar(R) winner Jon Voight, is unexpectedly released from prison, setting off a chain of events that shakes the Donovan family to its core.

Web Therapy (July 22nd – 11:00)
Season three finds Fiona (Lisa Kudrow) coming to terms with the new landscape of her life – her politically disgraced husband, Kip (Victor Garber), has run off with his male campaign manager; Fiona’s mother (Lily Tomlin) has started up a rival business called “Net Therapy” and has poached Fiona’s assistant Jerome (Dan Bucatinsky) to run it; her romantic friendship with media-mogul Austen (Alan Cumming) is on the rocks, now that he has fathered a child with hyper-sexualized Gina (Jennifer Elise Cox); she’s being investigated for campaign finance improprieties; and her unpublished manuscript is being adapted into a Broadway musical without her consent! All this, while she continues to offer “therapy” to the hapless clients who have wandered into her web…

Homeland (September 29th – 9:00)
HOMELAND Season 3 opens during the aftermath of the horrific terror attack that decimated the U.S. intelligence apparatus, and prompted a global manhunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist – Nick Brody (Damian Lewis). As Carrie (Claire Danes) and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) begin to pick up the pieces of their shattered professional and personal lives, they are swept up in the political and media firestorm surrounding the terror attack and the subsequent search for Brody’s whereabouts. The series also stars Morena Baccarin, Rupert Friend, Jackson Pace and Morgan Saylor.

Masters of Sex (September 29th – 10:00)
MASTERS OF SEX stars Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, who will portray the real-life pioneers of the science of human sexuality, William Masters and Virginia Johnson. The series chronicles the unusual lives, romance and pop culture trajectory of Masters and Johnson. Their research touched off the sexual revolution and took them from a mid-western teaching hospital in St. Louis to the cover of Time magazine. The series is an adaptation of Thomas Maier’s book Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, The Couple Who Taught America How To Love.

-HBO has announced their documentary schedule for the summer. Included are Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (June 10th), about the arrests of feminist art collective Pussy Riot; Love, Marilyn (June 17th), coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death; Miss You Can Do It (June 24th), spotlighting the first woman with a disability who competed in the Miss USA pageant; Gideon’s Army (July 1st), following public defenders from the south and the challenges they face; Gasland Part II (July 8th), the follow-up to the Oscar nominated original film; The Crash Reel (July 15th), a look at the life of Kevin Pearce, the American snowboarding champion who suffered a traumatic brain injury while preparing for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics; The Cheshire Murders (July 22nd), exploring the triple rape-arson-homicide that rocked the quiet town of Cheshire, Ct. in July 2007; First Comes Love (July 29th), following director Nina Davenport’s quest to have a baby on her own; Casting By (August 5th), spotlighting Hollywood casting directors; and Americans in Bed (August 12th), features candid interviews with ten American couples – captured in the comfort of their own beds – as they openly discuss sex, infidelity and love.

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