Thursday, June 28, 2012
TBS Renews Men at Work for Season 2; Remembering Don Grady and Doris Singleton
TBS has renewed its popular new sitcom Men at Work for a second season. Currently airing Thursdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), the comedy ranks as one of basic cable's Top 5 new series with adults 18-49 for the quarter. TBS has ordered 10 episodes for the second season, which is slated to launch in 2013. Created by Breckin Meyer (Road Trip, TNT's Franklin & Bash), Men at Work centers on four buddies who work together at a magazine. Danny Masterson (That '70s Show) plays the recently dumped Milo, whose friends are determined to help him get back in the dating game. James Lesure (Las Vegas) is Gibbs, a photographer and successful ladies man. Michael Cassidy (The O.C.) plays Tyler, a features writer who brings a dose of style and sophistication to the group. And Adam Busch (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is Neal, a somewhat nerdy ad salesman and the only one in the group with a steady girlfriend (Meredith Hagner - Royal Pains).
Men at Work comes to TBS from Sony Pictures Television and Fanfare. The multi-camera comedy is executive-produced by Breckin Meyer, along with Fanfare's Jamie Tarses and Julia Franz. In its first season thus far, Men at Work has averaged more than 2.7 million viewers in Live + 7, with 1 million adults 18-34 and 1.8 million adults 18-49. The comedy ranks as one of basic cable's Top 5 new series among adults 18-49 in Q2 2012. The season finale for Men at Work is set to air July 12. The following Thursday, TBS will launch its newest original sitcom, Sullivan & Son, starring comedian Steve Byrne and executive produced by Vince Vaughn, Peter Billingsley and showrunner Rob Long.
Actor, musician and composer Don Grady, best known as Robbie Douglas on My Three Sons, has died. Grady died after a long battle with cancer on June 27 in Thousand Oaks, California. Mr. Grady was 68.
Grady was born Don Louis Agrati in San Francisco, California on June 8, 1944. He was one of the original Mousketeers on The Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 13. Some of his early television appearances included The Ann Sothern Show, The Restless Gun, The Rifleman, Wagon Train, Have Gun -- Will Travel, The Eleventh Hour, The Lucy Show, Mr. Novak, To Rome with Love, and The F.B.I.. In 1960, he landed the role of the middle brother Robbie Douglas on My Three Sons. His character married his longtime classmate/girlfriend, Katie Miller (played by Tina Cole), near the end of the 1967-68 season. The next season she gave birth to triplets named Robert, Steven, and Charles. Grady was written out of the show after the eleventh season. He appeared in approximately 356 of the 380 episodes of the long-running sitcom. In 1970-1971, he appeared in two episodes of Love, American Style. His final credited acting appearances were in two episodes of Simon & Simon in 1983-1984.
Following My Three Sons, he pursued a career in music as a composer. He worked on the film Switch, wrote the theme music for The Phil Donahue Show, and did the music for EFX, a multimedia stage show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, which starred Michael Crawford, David Cassidy, Tommy Tune, and Rick Springfield. Grady also composed for productions on Lifetime and the Discovery Channel. In 2008, he released an album called Boomer: JazRokPop, a collection of songs written for and about the baby boomer generation.
Grady's survivors include his mother, Mary B.; wife, Virginia "Ginny" Lewsader; two children, Joey and Tessa; and a sister, Marilou Reichel. His sister, actress Lani O'Grady, died in 2001. He was great on My Three Sons. It was good, clean entertainment. He seemed to be very fan friendly and will be greatly missed.
My Three Sons can be seen on Me-TV weekdays at 7:30AM ET/PT. Share your memories of Don Grady on our My Three Sons message board.
Actress Doris Singleton, who appeared as Lucy Ricardo's near-sighted neighbor and frenemy Carolyn Appleby on I Love Lucy, has died. Singleton died on June 26 in her Los Angeles, California home from unknown causes. Ms. Singleton was 92.
Singleton first met and worked with Lucille Ball when she appeared on the radio show My Favorite Husband in 1948. Her early television guest appearances included The Adventures of Superman, The Loretta Young Show, The Bob Cummings Show, The Great Gildersleeve, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1953, she first appeared on I Love Lucy as a character named Lillian Appleby. Her name was changed to Carolyn in later episodes. She appeared in a total of 10 episodes of the series. Some of her many other sitcom guest apperances included The People's Choice, Blondie, The Danny Thomas Show, Peck's Bad Girl, The Ann Sothern Show, Pete and Gladys, McKeever & the Colonel, Hazel, The Munsters, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lucy Show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Family Affair, Hogan's Heroes, All in the Family, and Here's Lucy. In 1960-61, she had a regular role as Susie on the CBS sitcom Angel. She had two recurring roles on My Three Sons. She first played Helen Morrison, the mother of Meredith MacRae's Sally character who married Mike Douglas in the 1964-65 season. In 1970-71, she played Margaret Williams, the mother of Polly (played by Ronne Troup) who married Chip Douglas.
The Archive of American Television conducted an interview with her on April 21, 2005. Singleton was widowed and childless. Her husband of over 60 years, comedy writer Charles Isaacs, died in 2002. She was such a talented and funny actress and will be deeply missed. Share your memories of Doris Singleton on our I Love Lucy message board.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Saturday, October 5
Johnson - "Inside Job" (Bounce TV, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Naomi gets marriage advice from Lynette Sampson that doesn't sit well with Omar; Jarvis finds out who's responsible for the fraud on his credit report; Omar's fight with Stephen comes back to haunt him.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 30)
Friday, October 4
- Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Watch Halle on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Will Ferrell (The Office) - Will and Harper Steele (Will & Harper) are guests on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Kristen Bell (Nobody Wants This/Central Park/The Good Place) - Kristen appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Tien Tran (How I Met Your Father) - Tien is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Sarah Paulson (Leap of Faith) - Sarah can be heard on The Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM.
- George Lopez (Lopez vs Lopez/Lopez/Saint George/George Lopez) and Mayan Lopez (Lopez vs Lopez) - NBC's Today catches up with George and Mayan in the 10am hour.
- Paul Scheer (Black Monday/Fresh Off the Boat/The League) - Paul is telling Drew all about his new memoir and answering questions from his wife June Diane Raphael on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Niecy Nash-Betts (Reno 911!/Getting On/The Soul Man/Do Not Disturb) - Niecy talks about the highly-anticipated premiere of Grotesquerie on FX on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Deon Cole (grown-ish/Angie Tribeca/black-ish) - Deon sits down to chat about his new comedy special and touring with Martin Lawrence on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
- Nathan Lane (Only Murders in the Building/Modern Family/Charlie Lawrence/Encore! Encore!/One of the Boys) - Nathan chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Yvette Nicole Brown (Act Your Age/The Odd Couple/Community/The Big House) - Yvette guest co-hosts The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- John Stamos (UnPrisoned/Fuller House/Grandfathered/Jake in Progress/Full House/You, Again?) - John talks about his memoir If You Would Have Told Me on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Victoria Justice (Victorious/Zoey 101/) - Victoria discusses her film Depravity on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT and on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Paul Reiser (Mad About You/Red Oaks/Married/My Two Dads) - Paul is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:15am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
09/10 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-7
09/10 - The Ropers - The Complete Series (VEI)
09/10 - Ted - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/17 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - Video Scrapbook
09/17 - Top Cat - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
09/24 - Friends - The Complete Series (4K Ultra HD)
09/24 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Seventh Season (DVD) / The Complete Series (DVD) (Blu-ray)
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
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