SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

The Ellen Show Sitcom on WealthTV; Remembering Caroline McWilliams of Benson

WealthTV, the premier luxury lifestyle and entertainment network in digital and high definition, has announced that it will be airing several never been seen before episodes of Ellen DeGeneres' short-lived comedy series The Ellen Show. WealthTV concluded an agreement with Sony Pictures Television to air all eighteen episodes of The Ellen Show throughout 2010, including five final episodes that have never been aired on television. Beginning Tuesday, February 23, WealthTV will air the first unseen episode. WealthTV airs The Ellen Show on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 9:00 pm ET, in brilliantly clear high definition. Among the unaired episodes has a guest appearance by the late John Ritter in the episode "Gathering Moss."
The final episode, entitled "One for the Roadshow," has Ellen pondering her riches as she takes an old, unopened and mint condition Monopoly game to the Collectibles Roadshow. Ellen is offered $10,000 for the unopened game. Yet later that evening, Ellen is stunned when she finds that her mom has a Monopoly board all set up for them to play! The episode will be making its television premiere on WealthTV Wednesday, March 3.
Don't remember this show? Don't be confused with Ellen's hit sitcom Ellen which aired on ABC and her current daytime talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. This show aired on CBS in 2001-2002 before getting canceled to low ratings. Before her daytime talk show made her the darling of critics and the public alike, Emmy Award winner Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen) starred in The Ellen Show, as Ellen Richmond, a dot-com exec who trades the stresses of big-city life for the slower pace of her old hometown. Yet it remains to be seen whether returning to the fishbowl of Clark is really such a good idea, especially for someone who's grown accustomed to the pace of big-city life. Warmly welcomed by her eccentric mother, Dot (Oscar winner Cloris Leachman, The Last Picture Show), and her scatterbrained sister, Catherine (Emily Rutherfurd), Ellen is persuaded by her high school teacher (Martin Mull) to take a job as the school's guidance counselor. In trading her dreams of being a successful entrepreneur for a return to her roots, she faces starting over at home in a quintessential American small town.
Check out the WealthTV website to see if your area has this network.

Caroline McWilliams, accomplished actress and director best known for her role on the ABC '80s sitcom Benson, passed away peacefully at her home in LA last Thursday (February 11, 2010).
Her career included numerous feature television roles, starting with her breakthrough role as Janet Mason on Guiding Light and followed by regular roles on Benson, Nearly Departed, and Beverly Hills 90210. On Benson she played Marcy Hill, the Governor's sectary, during the series' first few seasons (1979-81). She also recurred on Benson's parent show SOAP but as a different character - as Sally - the secretary for Richard Mulligan's character Burt. Her other TV credits include guest stints on Another World, Barney Miller, Kojak, Quincy ME, The Incredible Hulk, Hill Street Blues, Night Court, St. Elsewhere, Cagney & Lacey, The Cavanaughs, Sisters, Home Improvement, Suddenly Susan, Lois & Clark, Murphy Brown, and Judging Amy (her last role). During her time on Benson, she appeared on the primetime version of Family Feud with the cast of Benson going up against the cast of One Day at a Time and she also appeared on The Battle of the Network Stars in 1980 on the ABC Team.
She will be deeply missed, especially by fans of Guiding Light in the '70s, Benson and SOAP. Caroline was only 64 years old.