Sam Champion makes his Weather Channel debut on air today (Jan. 21) at 4 p.m. He was hired last month by the Weather Channel from "Good Morning America' to be the managing editor and morning host for the Atlanta-based network.

Champion won't start hosting his morning show on the network until March, the network said.

The Weather Channel has been off the air for 20 million DirecTV subscribers for a week since the two sides are in a retransmission fee dispute.

A survey commissioned by the Weather Channel found 8 percent of DirecTV subscribers (or up to 1.6 million subscribers) plan to switch providers if the two sides don't resolve their differences soon.

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TBS's "Conan" will get most of the primary cast of "The Walking Dead" all together Feb. 6 on the show in advance of the return of the series Feb. 9 for the second half of season 4. Among the cast members scheduled to be there: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Steven Yeun, Danai Gurira and Melissa McBride. The fact McBride is there tells us all that she will likely return in some way, shape or form after having been banished by Lincoln's character Rick Grimes earlier in the season. "Conan" airs at 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.

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BET's 'Being Mary Jane," shot in Atlanta, opened at 3.3 million January 7, then fell about 15 percent to 2.78 million this past Tuesday. That's a passable drop off week over week. The question is where is the show going to "settle" in future weeks?

TLC's "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" opened its third season with 2 million viewers, down from 3 million a year ago but typical of the numbers it was getting over the summer.

Former Blue Ridge Mountain boy Josh Holloway's CBS drama "Intelligence" has bombed out against "The Blacklist" and "Castle" on Monday nights. It drew a mere 6 million viewers this past Monday and a modest 1.1 18-49 share. TV By The Numbers said it's almost certain to be cancelled.

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Matthew Silva of Lilburn is on the sixth season of Syfy's "Face Off."

Credit: Rodney Ho

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Credit: Rodney Ho

Syfy's "Face Off" features a Lilburn FX artist Matthew Silva for its sixth season, which debuted last Tuesday night.  Just a few weeks ago, the fifth season finale featured Tucker's own Roy Wooley, who fell just short of victory.

Silva, 24, said many of his colleagues look down on the show but he realized that was just fear talking. He decided to overcome his own fear and sign on to the show.

In an interview, he implied strongly he did not win. "I didn't come on to win," he said. "I came on to learn to push myself. It was by far one of the toughest experiences of my life but one of the best, too.

In his early days, he got to work on the first season of "The Walking Dead." During the past year, he has been prepping to be on "Face Off." Silva, whose Black Tie Effects shop is based in Doraville, is now working on museum replicas and licensed items for "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings."

TV preview

"Face Off," 9 p.m. Tuesdays, Syfy

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