Thursday, June 01, 2006

TV Land's 'My First Time' Episode Info Released; SitcomsOnline.com Exclusive: Comparing U.S. & Canadian 'Kate & Allie', 'Gimme a Break' DVDs!

TV Land will revisit the first major career milestones of some of America's favorite TV stars with the premiere of My First Time. The six-part series, produced for TV Land by Scott Sternberg Productions, will debut on Wednesday, June 28 in its regularly scheduled timeslot of 10 p.m. ET/PT and will air through August 2. Renown actor, producer and director Henry Winkler (Happy Days, Hollywood Squares) and actress Katey Sagal (Married...with Children, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter) are featured in the first episode.
Bolstered by original interviews with each star profiled, every 30-minute episode will trace the first "big break" of some of the biggest and brightest talents in Hollywood. Fellow cast members, producers, agents, directors and others who were part of making that first moment happen will also be interviewed for the series. Additionally, each show will contain rare footage from performances that many fans -- and maybe the stars themselves - forgot existed... and some clips that these performers would probably rather forget. My First Time also gives an intimate look at the stars' lives as they were then, their hopes for that first part and how they feel looking back at that moment in time.

The series rollout is as follows (Wednesdays at 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. ET/PT):
Wednesday, June 28: Henry Winkler and Katey Sagal
Wednesday, July 5: Ted Danson and John O'Hurley
Wednesday, July 12: Jim Belushi and Sarah Gilbert
Wednesday, July 19: John Schneider and Dean Cain
Wednesday, July 26: Cheryl Ladd and Glenn Campbell
Wednesday, August 2: Mr. T and Cybil Shepherd

For more details click here.

We have yet another exclusive for you. We recently obtained the Canadian DVDs for Gimme a Break! and Kate & Allie from VEI. I'm sure most of you saw the Canadian Gimme a Break! review last week. It is very similar to the U.S. one from Universal Home Video, content wise. So, it is up to you which one you want to buy. I'd buy both if I were a huge fan. Some might like the packaging better on the VEI set over the Universal set, or vice versa.
Last night we put our review up of the VEI Kate & Allie release. The Universal version only contains season one, and that has 3 of the 6 episodes edited. The VEI version has the first two seasons in a similar price. So, most fans were waiting to buy this version, rather than Universal's. I do have some disappointing news to report. It seems there are syndicated versions of episodes on this set, too. I don't think it is VEI's fault at all. Looks like distributor FremantleMedia gave them the episodes that way. In fact the same season one episodes on the Universal set that are edited, are edited on VEI's. There are a few more from season two that are edited, too. What I don't understand is how Universal would get edited episodes, because they distribute the show in the U.S., while FremantleMedia does it internationally. I'm sure many fans are bummed out, but I would still buy VEI's version of this set because it is nearly the same price and it contains two seasons, rather than just one. You can read our review of the Canadian version of the Kate & Allie DVD here.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, December 8

Norman Lear: A Life on Television

CBS announced the new entertainment special Norman Lear: A Life on Television, to air tonight - Friday, Dec. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs). Presented by Entertainment Tonight, this one-hour special features new interviews with stars of the long-running comedies Lear created, including Jimmie Walker from Good Times and Mackenzie Phillips from One Day at a Time, in addition to never-before-seen interviews from the ET vault. Also included with this new footage and interviews is an in-depth sit-down interview with Lear that ET host Kevin Frazier conducted when Lear celebrated his 100th birthday, in which he reflected on his lengthy, groundbreaking career.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 4)

Friday, December 8

  • Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Watch Eddie on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • John Caponera (The Good Life) - John is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
  • Robert Smigel (Let's Be Real) - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog aka Robert Smigel chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Noah Galvin (The Real O'Neals) and Molly Gordon (Ramy) - Noah and Molly talk about Theater Camp on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
  • Eric Stonestreet (The Santa Clauses/Modern Family) - Eric talks about The Santa Clauses on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan sits down with Sherri to talk about his new book, When I Was Your Age, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)

Family Matters - The Complete Series Step by Step - The Complete Series ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

That Girl - The Complete Series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest


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