SitcomsOnline Digest: NBC Sets Summer Plans; Saturday Night Live to Live Up to Its Name From Coast to Coast

Saturday, March 18, 2017

SitcomsOnline Digest: NBC Sets Summer Plans; Saturday Night Live to Live Up to Its Name From Coast to Coast

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! We've got a busy news week this week as everybody is preparing for pilot season (including Amazon), we're hearing about summer plans from NBC, and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

NBC has their summer plans set, which includes the debut of a new sitcom starring Marlon Wayans and the third season of The Carmichael Show. (Deadline)
Saturday Night Live is seeing ratings soar to levels it hasn't seen in decades this season, and to milk those ratings for all that they're worth, NBC is doing two big things in the next few months, including airing all of the remaining episodes for the season live in all continental US time zones beginning in April and airing a Weekend Update primetime spinoff (which has been done before) in the summer. (Vanity Fair)
Amazon's pilot season, where Prime members can see pilots of potential new series to be added to the Prime streaming service and decide which ones get picked up as a full series, kicked off yesterday. (Entertainment Weekly)
Yvette Nicole Brown has been cast in a new ABC pilot, which leaves a few questions unanswered about the fate of the yet-to-be-renewed Odd Couple. (Deadline)
John Larroquette is looking to make a comeback in a comedy for CBS, which would also star Bobby Moynihan (who would almost certainly need to leave Saturday Night Live if the series is picked up) playing the same character that Larroquette is playing at a younger age. (TV Guide)
Logo, which used to be a channel devoted to LGBT viewers and has somehow evolved into a station that airs reruns of RuPaul's Drag Race one week after they debut on VH-1 (after previously being the home for original episodes of the series) and airing more classic sitcoms than TV Land, continues to become a classic sitcom destination with the addition of One Day at a Time. (SitcomsOnline)

TUESDAY (MARCH 21) HOME MEDIA RELEASES

Master of None - Season One (DVD, $22.98): The Netflix comedy staring Aziz Ansari arrives on DVD in this release.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: John Larroquette (Twitter), "An actor by trade. A clown by vocation."

Claim to Fame: John Larroquette has had an extensive sitcom career, and this week, it was announced that he is part of a CBS pilot that may be airing in the fall if the network chooses to pick it up. His first role was on the series Black Sheep Squadron, but he really shined in his second series, Night Court, where he played district attorney Dan Fielding. Following that series, he starred in the somewhat less remembered (though it did air for four seasons) sitcom The John Larroquette Show. His next role came on the not-so-successful sitcom Happy Family. In the late 2000s, he moved away from sitcoms to appear in several episodes of Boston Legal, and currently he can be seen on The Librarians.

Pick of the Tweets: "Good to have my library card renewed. #TheLibrarians rides again. Voodoo donuts for all my friends." (February 12, 2015)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Thursday, October 18

The Big Bang Theory - "The Planetarium Collision" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
When Amy doesn’t have time to work on super-asymmetry, Sheldon goes to great lengths to ensure she’s available to work with him even it if means accidentally sabotaging her career in the process. Also, Koothrappali doesn’t want Wolowitz to join him in hosting a show at the planetarium. Emmy Award winner Bob Newhart returns as Arthur Jeffries.

Young Sheldon - "A Research Study and Czechoslovakian Wedding Pastries" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Dr. Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) recommends Sheldon and Missy for a university research study on twins, and Mary is unhappy when the test results go to Sheldon’s head.

Mom - "Big Sauce and Coconut Water" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Christy is certain that Bonnie is in over her head when she invites a freshly paroled Tammy (Kristen Johnston) to stay with them.

Murphy Brown - "Three Shirts to the Wind" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Murphy and the team weigh the pros and cons of accepting the offer to have the first interview with a headline-grabbing former White House senior advisor (David Costabile) who wants to promote his divisive book and agenda on “Murphy in the Morning.” Also, Avery moderates a lively political discussion on his show with locals in Buffalo, N.Y.. Original series cast member Charles Kimbrough returns as Jim Dial in his first of three episodes, and Merle Dandridge guest stars as the team’s arrogant network boss, Diana Macomber.

Superstore - "Toxic Workplace" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Amy (America Ferrera) and Jonah (Ben Feldman) get combative to keep their new relationship hidden from their co-workers. Meanwhile, Glenn (Mark McKinney) spirals when he learns Kelly (Kelly Stables) wants to transfer to a new store, and Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom) struggles to organize a Cloud 9 carpool.

The Good Place - "Jeremy Bearimy" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
The group explores the three main branches of ethical thought.

Will & Grace - "Tex and the City" (NBC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Will (Eric McCormack) and Jack (Sean Hayes) visit Jack’s grandson, Skip (guest star Samuel Faraci), in Texas to watch him perform at his church’s talent show. But when Jack learns Skip plans on singing “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” he becomes afraid for his grandson’s safety. Karen (Megan Mullally) tags along to check out the portion of the border wall she sponsored, only to discover that Beverley Leslie (guest star Leslie Jordan) has claimed it as his own. Back home, Grace (Debra Messing) and Noah (guest star David Schwimmer) try to figure out if something is wrong in their relationship because their numerous attempts to have sex have failed.

I Feel Bad - "I'm Vain A.F." (NBC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
An upcoming launch party at GamePunch throws Emet’s vanity into overdrive. Intent on scrubbing a bad picture off the company website, Emet is dead set on redeeming herself and getting the perfect photo at this year’s party – that means getting her hair done, professional make-up and toning up a problem area: her husband.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 15)

Thursday, October 18

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep/The New Adventures of Old Christine/Seinfeld) - Catch Julia on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Laura Benanti (The Detour/Go On/Starved) - Laura stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
John Mulaney (Mulaney) - John appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Meredith Hagner (Search Party/Men at Work) - Meredith is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Maya Rudolph (Forever/Up All Night) - Maya drops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Nick Kroll (The League/Cavemen) - Nick visits The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Sanaa Lathan (Family Guy/The Cleveland Show/LateLine) - Sanaa appears on a repeat of Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35am on NBC.
Busy Philipps (Vice Principals/Cougar Town) - Busy is a guest on Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo.
Stockard Channing (Out of Practice/The Stockard Channing Show/Stockard Channing in Just Friends) - Stockard visits Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo.
Jenna Fischer (Splitting Up Together/The Office) - Jenna appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
John Stamos (Grandfathered/Jake in Progress/Full House) - John talks about You on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea stops by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Michael Fishman and Maya Lynne Robinson (The Conners/Roseanne) - Michael and Maya Lynne are guests on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET. Michael and Lecy Goranson can be heard on The Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM.
John Goodman (The Conners/Roseanne/The Trouble in Normal, Ohio) - John talks about The Big Lebowski reunion on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Bailee Madison (Trophy Wife) - Bailey talks about Hallmark Channel's Good Witch: Tale of Two Hearts on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.