TBS and ABC Family Renew Original Sitcoms; Remembering Larry Gelbart

Monday, September 14, 2009

TBS and ABC Family Renew Original Sitcoms; Remembering Larry Gelbart

The beer will continue flowing at Crowley's Tavern as TBS orders up a fourth season of its critically acclaimed original sitcom from Sony Pictures Television, My Boys. The series stars Jordana Spiro as PJ Franklin, a 20-something sports columnist in Chicago. TBS has lined up nine episodes for the new season, which is slated to launch in 2010.
Co-starring in My Boys as PJ's mostly male group of close friends are Kyle Howard as boyfriend Bobby, Reid Scott as best friend Brendon, Michael Bunin as Kenny and Jamie Kaler as Mike. Kellee Stewart co-stars as Stephanie, a former schoolmate and the only female influence in PJ's life.
The single camera sitcom premiered to critical praise on TBS in November 2006. When the series returned in summer 2007, it scored 22% growth among adults 18-34. Earlier this year, the show's third season garnered 11% growth among adults 18-34. The comedy is particularly strong among DVR users, delivering 72% growth among adults 18-34 and 52% growth among viewers when comparing Live to Live + 7 viewing for the third season.

Meanwhile, ABC Family has ordered another season of ten episodes of original comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. The ensemble single camera sitcom based on the 1999 feature of the same name has performed well for ABC Family since its July 7 debut. The comedy is created and executive produced by Carter Covington and stars Lindsey Shaw, Meaghan Martin, Larry Miller and Ethan Peck. The series just finished its first season episode order (10 episodes) last Tuesday.
However, the news was not as good for another original ABC Family series that premiered this summer, Ruby and the Rockits. ABC Family will not renew the multicamera sitcom that revolved around a pair of aging pop stars and their families, which starred Patrick Cassidy, David Cassidy and Alexa Vega and was executive produced by Shaun Cassidy. The series still has two episodes left to air in its only season episode order, with the series finale airing next Tuesday at 8:30PM.

Larry Gelbart, the award-winning writer whose sly, sardonic wit helped create such hits as Broadway's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the film Tootsie, and of course television's M*A*S*H, died Friday. Gelbart died at his Beverly Hills home after a long battle with cancer. He is likely best remembered for the long-running TV show about Army doctors during the Korean War. Gelbart won an Emmy for M*A*S*H and was nominated for writing but quit during the show's fourth season, saying he was "totally worn out."
Gelbart's Broadway show, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, written with Burt Shevelove, was a runaway hit. It was based loosely on the Roman plays of Plautus with songs by Stephen Sondheim.
His films Oh, God! with George Burns as a philosophical deity, and Tootsie, with Dustin Hoffman as a cross-dressing actor, both brought him Academy Award nominations, and the HBO movie Barbarians at the Gate, about Wall Street chicanery, brought another Emmy.
Gelbart's other television work was creating the short-lived CBS sitcom Roll Out! in 1973. It starred Stu Gilliam and Hilly Hicks, and featuring Ed Begley, Jr. and Garrett Morris, the series was set in France during World War II and was loosely based on the 1952 film Red Ball Express. Instead of Army medics, Roll Out! highlighted the pratfalls of the supply drivers of the 5050th Quartermaster Trucking Company of the U.S. Third Army's Red Ball Express, whose staff was mainly African American.
Gelbart was also known for writing the first television pilot for Three's Company in 1976, which today is known as "The Larry Gelbart Pilot." The pilot never aired originally, but has been on DVD and aired on cable on TV Land. In 1980, Larry had another show that didn't last too long. The series was for NBC titled United States and starred Beau Bridges. It was a show about Richard and Libby Chapin and their two children Dylan and Nicky. The show differed from other sitcoms in that there might not be closure to problems after a frank discussion and the subjects discussed were not common to other sitcoms.
In 1983, Larry came back to M*A*S*H in the spin-off AfterMASH. It only lasted two seasons and had the Korean War ended with Colonel Potter, Sergeant Klinger, and Father Mulcahy finding themselves together once again, this time at a veteran's hospital.
In recent years Larry has been interviewed for TV Land Confidential, Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, Inside TV Land: The Dick Van Dyke Show, M*A*S*H: 30th Anniversary Reunion, and most recently Biography: Three's Company. He was also at the TV Land Awards earlier this year.
Larry will certainly be missed and his great writing will live on forever in M*A*S*H and his other work. He was 81.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Thursday, February 20

Young Sheldon - "Pasadena" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Sheldon visits CalTech for the very first time. Also, Georgie is furious when Mary listens in on a phone call with his girlfriend, and Meemaw tries to cheer up a jealous Missy.

The Unicorn - "The Client" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Wade lands a job for Denny (Donal Logue), a newly divorced, wealthy client, he realizes Denny is only interested in using Wade to meet women. Also, Meg (Nicole Byer) applies her expertise as an accountant to get Wade’s finances on track, and Forrest and Delia attempt to clear the tension between them by having an argument.

Mom - "Judy Garland and a Sexy Troll Doll" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Bonnie helps Christy gain perspective as she considers a life-changing decision. Also, Jill fears she’s running out of time to have a baby and consults a fertility doctor.

Carol's Second Act - "Carol's Crush" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After Carol’s patient’s transplant surgery is deemed a success, the interns tease her mercilessly about her obvious crush on the surgeon, Dr. Lewis (Patrick Fabian).

Last Man Standing - "Baked Sale" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Mike's offer to help Jen with her school's bake sale goes up in smoke; Kyle finds unlikely advice from Joe on where he should enroll in college.

Outmatched - "Dating" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Nicole invites a boy over who isn't ideal boyfriend material, Kay tries to make sure her daughter doesn't end up with a broken heart; Mike attempts to understand Marc's strange crush.

Superstore - "Employee App" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Cloud 9 employees experience unforeseen problems with the new Zephra app. Dina's texts lead to animosity, Glenn struggles to deal with a teen craze, and Jonah attempts to prank Garrett to teach him a lesson.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - "The Jimmy Jab Games II" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Competitive juices are flowing as Jake and the squad compete in the second Jimmy Jab Games.

Will & Grace - "Accidentally on Porpoise" (NBC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Despite her history of transgressions, Grace and her neighbor, James (guest star Matt Letscher), decide to give their relationship one more shot. But when James invites Grace to his job at the aquarium, she endangers his job and a species. In order to help Will deal with his anxiety about becoming a father, Jack takes him to an unexpected place to blow off steam – church. Karen finds herself in a confessional booth, and a visit from Smitty (guest star Charles C. Stevenson, Jr.) makes her reconsider their entire relationship.

Indebted - "Everybody's Talking About the Mental Load" (NBC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
After Rebecca tells Dave she carries the emotional labor, aka the “mental load” of the family, he tries to prove otherwise by having her take care of just Deb and Stew for a few days. They both realize they’ve bit off more than they can chew, especially when Dave enlists his mom to help with Rebecca’s mental load.

grown-ish - "Real Life S**t" (Freeform, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Aaron's student loan troubles come to a head when he looks for a job at the Cal U job fair, prompting him to ask Zoey for help; Sky struggles to come to terms with her recent discovery about Rodney; Jillian tries to bond with Zoey.

Everything's Gonna Be Okay - "Blue Death-Feigning Beetles" (Freeform, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Matilda's whole life forks between success and obscurity on the most important night of her life; Nicholas juggles a house full of people and Penny on screen from her hospital bed in Australia.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 17)

Thursday, February 20

Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Catch Will on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Are We There Yet?/Everybody Hates Chris) - Terry appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Scott Bakula (Murphy Brown/Eisenhower and Lutz/Gung Ho) - Scott stops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana is a guest on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Jenny Slate (Big Mouth/Married/Bob's Burgers) - Jenny appears on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Oliver Hudson (Splitting Up Together/Rules of Engagement) - Oliver and his sister Kate are guests on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine visits The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Nick Kroll (The League/Cavemen) - Nick appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Jane Levy (Suburgatory) - Jane talks about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) - Edie talks about Tommy on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Emeril Lagasse (Emeril) - Emeril gives a cooking lesson to a culinary student who fought back after having a stroke on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine talks about High Fidelity on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.