McSTREAMY.COM (03/18/2015) – The first-ever, over-the-air broadcast television network devoted to comedy, LAFF, has announced three individual film licensing agreements that will bring the network some of the biggest comedic stars and performances of recent times. LAFF has lined up stations in several major markets and is seeking out tv stations in other areas for their scheduled April 15 launch.
The agreements are with Sony Pictures Television, The Walt Disney Studios and Miramax.
Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in a scene from Sleepless In Seattle.
Stars and titles headed to LAFF from the Sony Pictures Television library include: Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise; Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle, Punchline and Nothing in Common, which co-stars Jackie Gleason; Gleason’s classic pairing with Richard Pryor in The Toy; Pryor and Gene Wilder teaming for Stir Crazy.
Other movies coming to LAFF include Steel Magnolias starring Julia Roberts; Robin Williams in The Fisher King and Moscow on the Hudson; Steve Martin in Roxanne and Mixed Nuts; John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Neighbors and also This is Spinal Tap, About Last Night and St. Elmo’s Fire.
Library movies from The Walt Disney Studios include: Splash, starring Tom Hanks; Robin Williams and John Travolta in Old Dogs; Ellen DeGeneres chasing Mr. Wrong; Jungle 2 Jungle, starring Tim Allen and Martin Short.
Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck in Jersey Girl (The Movie).
Other Walt Disney Studios titles availabe through LAFF in the deal: Eddie Murphy as The Distinguished Gentleman; John Cusack in High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank as well as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, Cool Runnings, Mr. 3000 and The Ref.
Films and stars from the iconic Miramax library include: Kevin Smith’s breakthrough comedy Clerks; Flirting With Disaster, starring Ben Stiller; Keeping Up With The Steins with Jeremy Piven and Cheryl Hines; Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader in Adventureland.
Starring in Old Dogs are, clockwise from top left, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, John Travolta and Ella Bleu Travolta
More Miramax films going to LAFF are Robert Altman’s Pret-A-Porter, with Julia Roberts and Tim Robbins; an all-star cast in Beautiful Girls; Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler and Jason Biggs in Jersey Girl; Matthew Broderick in The Night We Never Met and William H. Macy and Steve Zahn in Happy, Texas.
LAFF will feature a mix of contemporary off-network sitcoms and popular theatrical motion pictures, with a target audience of adults 18-49. LAFF joins GRIT, the first broadcast network targeting men, and ESCAPE, the first over-the-air network designed for women, in the Katz Broadcasting portfolio.
In addition to funny movies the LAFF Network will present stand up comedy, situation comedies and other humorous, entertainment programs for viewers to laugh at when it launches April 15, 2015. They say they will be beaming out of stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Dayton when the big day comes and they are looking for stations in other markets to join the LAFF Network soon.
