SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

A couple of months ago we told you about CMT ordering their first original sitcom titled Working Class starring Melissa Peterman, now they have announced that TV legend Ed Asner is joining the cast!
CMT's first scripted sitcom, Working Class, is set to begin taping in Los Angeles today (October 19) starring TV veteran Melissa Peterman (Reba/Singing Bee). Peterman will be joined by Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Ed Asner, who is making his return to series television, his first since his role on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in 2006. The new 12 episode multi-camera series will premiere in January 2011 on CMT. We don't have a night and time yet, so stay with us for that.
Working Class focuses on Carli (Melissa Peterman), a single mom from a rough and tumble background, trying to give her kids a better life by moving them to an upscale suburb. She quickly finds that making the transition to "the good life" is harder than she thought. Not only do her three kids seem to want the same luxuries as their friends, her only career prospect is a glorified deli job at the local grocery store, and the man she falls for already has a girlfriend and is also her boss (Patrick Fabian) To make matters worse, Carli finds herself unwittingly befriended by her cranky, misanthropic neighbor, Hank, (Ed Asner) who is also the butcher at the grocery where she works. With her ladies-man brother, Nick, (Steve Kazee) to help her out, Carli faces the challenges of parenting, dating, and making friends in her new community by doing more with less, staying true to herself, and approaching each day with a touch of working class. The kids are Lachlan Buchahan as Scott, Courtney Merritt as Pam, and Cameron Castaneda as Will.
Working Class is executive produced by Jill Cargerman (Spin City/Gary Unmarried) and Bryan Johnson of The Film Syndicate.

ABC has announced a new spin-off of Dancing with the Stars, along the return of V and a premiere date for Winter Wipeout, which we told you about last week.
You've seen what happens when celebrities take on the ballroom, now see what happens when they hit the ice on blades of steel in Skating with the Stars. The new series from BBC Worldwide Productions pairs a celebrity with a world class ice skater as they prepare to compete in front of a live audience in a televised ice skating competition. The skating pairs will be critiqued by a panel of expert judges and will receive a set of scores based on artistry and technique and by viewers at home, with one couple being eliminated each week. Skating with the Stars will kick off its six-episode run with a live premiere episode on Monday, November 22 from 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET following the final performance show of season eleven of Dancing with the Stars. The Skating with the Stars all-star cast will be revealed on-air Tuesday, November 2 during the live Dancing with the Stars Results show. The series will air for two-hours on Monday, Nov. 22, then will air for 90-minutes on Mondays, Nov. 26 & Dec. 6 from 8pm-9:30pm, then for an hour each on Mondays, Dec. 13 and 20 in the 8pm hour (leading into classic Castle encores from 9-11) , with its season finale on Tuesday, Dec. 21 from 8-9pm.
V, the thrilling drama series about the world's first alien encounter that captivated viewers last season, will make its highly-anticipated season premiere on Tuesday, January 4 at 9:00 p.m., ET on ABC. The series will have a 10-episode order. Simultaneously appearing over every major city in the world, the Visitors (or V's) arrived offering us the wonders of their technology and promoting peace. While the world quickly embraced the V's as saviors, an FBI Counter Terrorist Agent, and others making up the resistance group called The Fifth Column, quickly discovered that the Visitors are not who they said they were. Will humanity stop being fooled and realize the Visitors true intentions before it becomes too late and they take over Earth? Season 2 will feature more character and lizard reveals, more details about the V's mythology, while along the way featuring even more action and more plot twists. Viewers can expect a roller coaster ride week-to-week.
In other ABC schedule updates, ABC's family superhero drama No Ordinary Family will move to the 9pm hour on Tuesdays starting Nov. 30 for three weeks following classic holiday specials. The Powell family will have even more strength in a later hour and airing after compatible holiday specials. As of now, the series will move back to the 8pm hour on Tuesday, Jan. 4 when V launches, but this could still change...so stay tuned. Also, I expect the move to 9pm to happen even before Nov. 30, so stay tuned if that happens also. And ABC has announced that Winter Wipeout will air Thursdays at 8pm starting Jan. 6 for all of January and February. Goodnight and big "snow" balls! Finally, ABC has announced a big holiday specials slate, which we will detail in our annual network holiday specials next month. But you can get a preview before hand, by viewing our list of ABC Holidays Specials/Winter Programming. Keep checking back with us, as we still have some timeslots to figure out for ABC (such as Wed at 10, if The Whole Truth is pulled soon).

NBC has given full-season pickups to three of its new Fall 2010-11 series, dramas The Event and Law & Order: Los Angeles and sitcom Outsourced, despite all three series struggling in the ratings. The Event and Law & Order: Los Angeles both had a good showing from their premiere episodes, but have gone down steadily since then. Sitcom Outsourced also started decently and has dropped from the premiere, but not as sharply.
The Event airs Mondays at 9, Law & Order: Los Angeles airs Wednesdays at 10, and Outsourced airs Thursdays at 9:30. NBC's two other scripted series whose fate have yet to be revealed are Undercovers and Chase, which both also have underperformed. Both could see some additional episodes though, as NBC doesn't have many options in mid-season in the drama department. NBC's Outlaw is already canceled and new reality series School of Pride premiered to low ratings last Friday.
EDIT: As of 3pm ET, NBC just picked-up Chase for a full season as well, despite low ratings. In addition, NBC picked-up 11 more episodes of low rated veteran, but consistent, Chuck. It will have 24 episodes this season. With these freshman series, NBC has ordered a full season of low rated shows (see Trauma and Mercy) in the past, so it might be one season and done for some of these shows, especially Chase and Outsourced. Still nothing official on Undercovers, but more scripts have been reportedly ordered.

And also we will have a tribute to the late Tom Bosley tomorrow on the blog...so please come back for that. He will be deeply missed. Visit our Happy Days website.