The Decades TV channel is switching to an all-comedy format, Catchy Comedy, in March

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
Penny Marshall (right) and Cindy Williams daydream on the bottling line at a fictional Milwaukee brewery in the opening credits of TV's "Laverne & Shirley."
Penny Marshall (right) and Cindy Williams daydream on the bottling line at a fictional Milwaukee brewery in the opening credits of TV's "Laverne & Shirley."

Decades, the over-the-air television channel that airs a mix of classic sitcoms and nostalgic informational programming, is going all in on laughs.

Starting March 27, the digital subchannel, owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, is being rebranded as Catchy Comedy, showing all comedy series all the time.

Catchy Comedy will air in Milwaukee the same spots Decades has been — over the air on Channel 49.4, and on Spectrum cable on Channel 984.

To be sure, Decades already has a lineup with loads of comedy programming, including "The Carol Burnett Show," "The Bob Newhart Show," "Cheers," "I Love Lucy," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Our Miss Brooks," "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" and more.

But the channel also has shown a steady stream of non-comedy fare, from Dick Cavett's talk shows to "Through the Decades," a daily rundown of events that happened on that day in history.

According to a statement from Weigel, daytime programming will focus on "female-driven series and the influential women of TV comedy," from "Carol Burnett" to "Laverne & Shirley," while weeknights will be anchored by a series of Norman Lear sitcoms including "Good Times," "Sanford and Son" and "All in the Family." Late-night programming, the broadcaster said, will include "smart" sitcoms like the original "Night Court," "Taxi" and "Newhart."

As with Decades, weekend programming will be dominated by a binge format of a particular show.

Weigel said it plans to post updates at CatchyComedy.com; as of Monday morning, the site wasn't operational.

Weigel owns and operates WDJT-TV (Channel 58) and WMLW (Channel 49) in Milwaukee, along with a slew of digital subchannel formats, including Heroes & Icons and MeTV.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Decades TV channel switching to all-comedy format called Catchy Comedy