Tuesday, October 14, 2014
ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas 2014; Fox Picks Up Gotham for Full Season
ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas," cable's biggest programming event of the year, returns with 25-continuous days of holiday-themed entertainment for the whole family. From December 1 – 25, viewers can ring in the holidays with new holiday episodes of original series, holiday specials and returning favorites. This year, "25 Days of Christmas" will feature original holiday episodes of comedy series Melissa and Joey, and Baby Daddy. And for the first time, holiday episodes of drama series Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, and Chasing Life will also make their debut during the week of December 8. The holiday cheer continues with the network-television premiere of the delightful holiday movie Arthur Christmas, featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie and Jim Broadbent as Santa, on Saturday, December 6 from 9:00-11:00 PM ET/PT and the ABC Family debut of the new Christmas special Toy Story That Time Forgot on Sunday, December 7 from 8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT.
On Sunday, December 21, the network will air a Rankin Bass holiday classics marathon, featuring such beloved programs as The Little Drummer Boy at 1:00PM ET/PT, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town at 3:00PM ET/PT, and The Year Without a Santa Claus at 4:00PM ET/PT. Other returning favorites include National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Monday, December 1 from 6:00–8:00 PM, holiday classic Elf on Monday, December 1 from 8:00–10:00 PM ET/PT, and a The Santa Clause & The Santa Clause 3 double feature begins Tuesday, December 2, at 8:00 PM ET/PT. Other highlights for the month include A Very Brady Christmas, The Polar Express, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Holiday in Handcuffs, Prep & Landing, Home Alone, Christmas Cupid and Santa Baby.
Fox has ordered six more episodes of this fall's breakout new drama series, Gotham. The announcement raises the series order to 22 episodes. According to Fox, Gotham is tied as Monday night's No. 1 drama among Adults 18-49 and is this season's No. 1 broadcast drama overall among Men 18-49 - a full rating point ahead of the No. 2 drama in that demographic. The debut episode, which exploded into Premiere Week with a 6.0/18 rating among Adults 18-49 (Live+7), outperformed Blacklist and Scorpion and delivered Fox's highest-rated fall drama debut in 14 years. This Live +7 rating reflects the largest post-three-day ratings gain (+0.9) of any broadcast drama, ever. In addition, Gotham's premiere drew 14.1 million viewers in the first seven days and has been streamed more than two million times to date on FOX NOW and Hulu. The show's second and third episodes continued this positive trend, each delivering a 4.0 rating or higher in just the first three days, making it one of the Top Three dramas overall on broadcast television this season. The series is an origin story of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist, Rome), Gotham follows one cop's rise through a dangerously corrupt city teetering between good and evil, and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time. The entirely new, untold chapter stars Ben McKenzie (Southland, The O.C.), Donal Logue (Vikings, Sons of Anarchy) and Jada Pinkett Smith (Hawthorne, Collateral).
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Wednesday, January 22
Shifting Gears - "Job" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Riley, desperate for work, reluctantly takes a job at Matt’s shop. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Stitch secretly stray from Matt’s vision on a high-stakes restomod project.
Abbott Elementary - "Strike" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
City buses have stopped running due to a strike, resulting in many students being absent from school. The teachers at Abbott try to find creative solutions and adapt to hybrid learning. Meanwhile, Gregory and O’Shon strike up a friendship.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 20)
Wednesday, January 22
- Lucy Liu (Joey/Pearl) - Watch Lucy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts/White Famous), Betsy Sodaro (Ghosts/Duncanville/Disjointed/Animal Practice) and Punam Patel (Ghosts/Return of the Mac/Kevin from Work) - Utkarsh, Betsy and Punam are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris talks about Watson on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am, on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour, and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Andrew Rannells (Girls/The New Normal) and Nick Kroll (Big Mouth/The League/Cavemen) - Andrew, Nick and Lin-Manuel Miranda are chatting with Drew about their Broadway show All In: Comedy About Love on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. They're also talking to Drew about parenting advice, how they were raised and how comedy brings people together.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts