Good News If Your Name Is Earl; Dick Van Dyke Returns To The Small Screen; I Love Lucy's Final Season Coming To DVD

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Good News If Your Name Is Earl; Dick Van Dyke Returns To The Small Screen; I Love Lucy's Final Season Coming To DVD

Some good news if your name happens to be Earl. Universal Studios Hollywood is offering free admission, starting January 5th and running through the end of January, to anyone named Earl. All Earls will also receive free t-shirts. My Name Is Earl is being shifted from Tuesdays to Thursdays on NBC at 9PM ET/PT starting January 5th. Read their press release here. Discuss this freshman sitcom on our message board.

Dunkin' Donuts commercial star Michael Vale has died. He passed away on Saturday, December 24 in New York City at age 83 due to complications from diabetes. He did the ads from 1982 until he retired in 1997. He said "Time to make the donuts." His sitcom roles included 3 appearances on Car 54, Where Are You? and a 1987 episode of The Cosby Show.

Television icon Dick Van Dyke returns to the small screen in “Murder 101” premiering on Hallmark Channel on Saturday, January 7 (9/8c). Van Dyke is joined by his real life son, Barry Van Dyke, and grandson, Wes Van Dyke, in the new murder mystery that also reunites the Van Dykes with Dean Hargrove, the Emmy® Award-winning executive producer of “Murder 101,” “Diagnosis Murder,” and “Columbo.”

Dick Van Dyke stars as Dr. Jonathan Maxwell, a bumbling professor of criminology who happens to be one of the sharpest crime-solving minds in the world. Although sometimes forgetful in his ordinary life, when it comes to solving a whodunit, Dr. Maxwell is talented in using psychology and evidence to uncover the truth with a little help from his protégé private investigator Mike Palmer played by real life son, Barry Van Dyke. Grandson Wes Van Dyke makes a cameo appearance as one of Dr. Maxwell’s criminology students.

I Love Lucy's sixth and final season will be released on May 2nd. Click here to read the info and see the artwork at TVShowsonDVD.com . Will we see the start of The Lucy Show season sets after I Love Lucy wraps up? Or maybe The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour? Click here to read one rumor thread that was posted on our Lucy Show message board. There is still lots of Lucy material that could be released in the future.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, December 15

St. Denis Medical - "A Waste of Time and Marble" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
With the threat of a nurse walkout, Alex is caught between her colleagues and Joyce; Ron and Bruce go above and beyond to help an unexpected patient.

The Paper - "Churnalism" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Ned takes over Esmeralda's advertorials and assigns the staff to test products themselves, but Esmeralda retaliates and covers one of Ned's stories and finds a scandal; Ken turns Adam into a lab rat; Oscar and Adelola compare pain tolerances.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 15)

Monday, December 15

Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience) - Watch Simu on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. He also talks about The Copenhagen Test on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am and in the 10am hour.
Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Paul appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) - Maria is a guest on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Andy Cohen interviews Kerry on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11pm on Bravo.
Odessa A'zion (I Love LA/Fam) - Odessa talks about Marty Supreme on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Patti LaBelle (Out All Night) - Patti treats us to an EXCLUSIVE festive performance of It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Kate Hudson (Running Point) - Kate talks about Song Sung Blue on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
Rosie Perez (Human Resources/Search Party) - Rosie co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Hank Azaria (The Simpsons/Brockmire/Free Agents/Herman's Head) - Hank and The EZ Street Band stop by for a chat and performance on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Ana Gasteyer (American Auto/People of Earth/Lady Dynamite/Suburgatory) - NBC's Today catches up with Ana in the 10am hour.
Connie Britton (SMILF/Lost at Home/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Spin City) - Connie tells Sherri about starring in The Family McMullen, the sequel to The Brothers McMullen, on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
Ashley Park (Emily in Paris/Only Murders in the Building/Girls5eva/Nightcap) - Ashley talks about the highly-anticipated fifth season of Emily in Paris on Netflix on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
Glen Powell (Chad Powers/Scream Queens) - Glen talks about The Running Man on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
William H. Macy (Sports Night) - William talks about Netflix's Train Dreams on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Andy Richter (Andy Barker, P.I./Quintuplets/Andy Richter Controls the Universe) - Andy talks about ABC's Dancing with the Stars on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.