SitcomsOnline Digest: Shameless Renewed for Eighth Season; Quantum Leap DVDs to be Re-Released With Most of the Original Music Intact

Saturday, December 24, 2016

SitcomsOnline Digest: Shameless Renewed for Eighth Season; Quantum Leap DVDs to be Re-Released With Most of the Original Music Intact

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! It's Christmas Eve, and while we don't have a whole lot of "presents" this week, we do have news of a new season of a Showtime favorite, and news of a pair of re-releases from Mill Creek (including one that is worth replacing your previous release if you own it). Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

Fresh off of a season finale that gave Showtime their biggest audience of the year and a new salary deal for Emmy Rossum, Shameless has been renewed for an eighth season on Showtime. (Entertainment Weekly)
While Zsa Zsa Gabor was much more of a movie star than a TV star (the opposite of her sister Eva Gabor, who was better known as a TV star), she died this week at age 99. (LA Times)
Matt Lauer is set to be reunited with some of his former Today co-anchors next month with Savannah Guthrie on maternity leave, but it is probably no surprise that Ann Curry will likely not be among them. (USA Today)
Just an early heads up: Syfy will be airing their annual Twilight Zone marathon (which will be longer than usual this year, although it comes up about 30 episodes short of last years marathon of every episode) beginning December 31. (UPI)
You can find Christmas cheer almost everywhere today, and of course, that includes classic Christmas episodes of all of your favorite series. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01MSX5322/happydaysonline5-20

Mill Creek announced long ago that they would be re-releasing Quantum Leap on DVD, but perhaps the most pleasant surprise that may have gotten overlooked in that announcement is that they will also release it on Blu-ray, and best of all, the new release will include most of the original music in the episodes, which was lacking in the original Universal releases. The releases will arrive on February 7. TVShowsOnDVD.com has more on this.
Mill Creek has also announced that they'll be re-releasing 227 - The Complete First Season on February 7, though there do not seem to be any plans for releasing any of the remaining four seasons at the moment.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Jay Baruchel (Twitter), "Canadian. Lithe. Wan. Director of GOON: LAST OF THE ENFORCERS coming soon! IG:jonathanadamsaundersbaruchel"

Claim to Fame: Jay Baruchel is a Canadian actor who started out his career in TV series that were abruptly canceled. His first TV series was the Fox series Undeclared, which actually did get a chance to air every episode that was fully produced, but more storylines had been in the works for the series before it was abruptly cut short. The next series he appeared in was the CBS comedy The Stones, which starred Robert Klein and Judith Light, and managed to produce 10 episodes. But once again, it too was cut short after just three episodes and the remaining seven were never seen. His third attempt at a series was on The WB, in a legal drama called Just Legal, in which he starred alongside Don Johnson. Despite getting an actual fall premiere date and airing on a network that had lowered expectations, it too was canceled after just three episodes, though at least this time the remaining five did get a chance to be burned off later in the summer. That doesn't mean he has been a failure, though, because his latest endeavor has been successful, and is actually returning for a second season next month on FXX, the series Man Seeking Woman. Additionally, while his first three TV series didn't go so well, he has had a successful movie career

Pick of the Tweets: "I LIKE THIS SWEATER AND I THINK YOU WILL TOO." (November 29, 2016)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Sunday, December 22

Bob's Burgers - "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas" (Fox, 7:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When the power goes out two days before Christmas, The Belchers must spend the holiday at Mr. Fischoeder's family's old hunting lodge.

Krapopolis - "Krapocalypse" (Fox, 7:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Tyrannis is stuck in a time loop trying to save the city.

The Simpsons - "The Man Who Flew Too Much" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The new and improved Pin Pals travel to Capital City for their first ever state bowling championship.

Universal Basic Guys - "The Devil You Know" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Mark insists on teaching his son Darren how to throw a handmade boomerang that was gifted to Darren by his father; the two soon find themselves on a trek deep into the Jersey woods; David is the recipient of a sex doll that he swears he didn't order.

The Great North - "The Lies Aquatic Adventure" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
While Beef is away, the Tobin fishing boat goes missing; the Tobin siblings wildly speculate on what could have happened.

Krapopolis - "National Lampoon's The Odyssey!" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The family takes a vacation to Storgos for Shlub's mother's birthday.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Full-Frontal Dottie" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Excited by her physical therapy progress, Dottie insists she is ready to return to MaxDot, much to Bob, Douglas and Christina's dismay.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 16)

Friday, December 20

Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/George and Leo/Chicago Sons/Simon/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons) - Watch Jason on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters/HouseBroken/Catastrophe) - Sharon is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Dwayne Johnson (Young Rock) - Dwayne appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Colton Dunn (Superstore) and Diona Reasonover (Clipped) - Colton and Diona are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Zachary Quinto (Big Mouth/So Notorious) - NBC's Today catches up with Zachary in the 9am hour.
Billy Eichner (Friends from College/Difficult People/Parks and Recreation) - Billy talks about Mufasa: The Lion King on NBC's Today in the 10am hour. He can also be heard on The Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM.
Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about The Six Triple Eight on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am and on Sherri, so check your local listings.
James Marsden (30 Rock) and Ben Schwartz (The Afterparty/Space Force/Parks and Recreation) - James and Ben talk about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Jamie Lee Curtis (The Sticky/Anything But Love/Operation Petticoat) - Jamie Lee chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Whitney Cummings (Whitney) - Whitney talks about Max's Fast Friends on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Access Daily with Mario & Kit has the best of Henry and Kit Hoover, so check your local listings.
Howie Mandel (Good Grief) - The Talk celebrates 15 seasons with a special finale episode; friend of the show Howie Mandel makes his 21st appearance on the show when he stops by one last time with a surprise for the hosts on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.