SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

We usually cover Cloo for their Cloo Classics stunts and they will be continuing those this fall! But first, Cloo really doesn't have a set strip schedule, as they air block marathons, so we will do our best to cover everything. From Tuesday, September 4 through Sunday, September 9 from 6am-6am ET, Cloo will present an all-week JAG Farewell marathon, as the long-running drama exits the schedule. JAG was airing Wednesdays and will be replaced by more Monk. On Mondays, there will be All-Day "Cloo Classics" MacGyver Marathons, which started actually on Aug. 13 and will continue in September and October. The rest of the schedule will feature the dramas we are used to like The Dead Zone, Monk, NCIS, House, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, Burn Notice and The Unit. The sitcom 'Til Death will still air on Sunday mornings from 6-7am. And the biggest highlight for us on the Cloo Fall 2012 schedule is the 30th Anniversary of the classic sitcom Cheers, which Cloo will be airing an all-day marathon on Sunday, September 30 from 6a-6a ET. Cheers (1982-1993, NBC) of course follows the lives of the staff and patrons of the titular Boston bar, where everybody knows your name and drinking buddies are more like family. Starring Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, John Ratzenberger, George Wendt, Shelley Long, Nicholas Colasanto, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson, Bebe Neuwirth, and Kirstie Alley. Cheers airs on sister network USA Network in filler airings in late nights and early mornings.
View the FULL Cloo Fall 2012 schedule and discuss the farewell marathon of JAG and the 30th anniversary marathon for Cheers! Stay with us for further updates, as hopefully there will be more Cloo Classics stunts with sitcoms!

Actor William Windom, who starred in The Farmer's Daughter and won an Emmy for his role in My World and Welcome to It, has died. He died on August 16 at his home in Woodacre, California, from congestive heart failure. Mr. Windom was 88.

Windom's early television work included episodes of Robert Montgomery Presents, Guestward Ho!, Surfside 6, The Gertrude Berg Show, The Donna Reed Show, The Lucy Show, The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke and 77 Sunset Strip. His first starring role was in The Farmer's Daughter. The 1963-1966 ABC sitcom, which co-starred Inger Stevens, was about a young Minnesota woman who becomes the housekeeper for a widowed Congressman. In 1967, he appeared as Commodore Matt Decker in the Star Trek episode The Doomsday Machine. He would later reprise the role in a 2004 episode of Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II.

Windom's next starring role was in My World and Welcome to It, which aired on NBC for a single season in 1969-1970. He played John Monroe, a James Thurber-like writer and cartoonist who works for a magazine that closely resembles The New Yorker, called The Manhattanite. Windom won an Emmy Award in 1970 for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series. He continued to make appearances on many television series, including The Name of the Game, The Virginian, Night Gallery, The F.B.I., Mission: Impossible, Mannix and The Streets of San Francisco. In 1979, he starred in the short-lived Brothers and Sisters, a frat-house comedy series that aired on NBC. He had a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote for more than a decade and over 50 episodes as Dr. Seth Hazlitt. His film roles included To Kill a Mockingbird, The Detective and Brewster McCloud. View his extensive list of credits at the IMDB.

Survivors include his wife of 37 years, Patricia Tunder Windom; four children - Rachel, Heather, Hope and Rebel; and four grandchildren. He was a talented and versatile actor. It would be great to his see his two major sitcom starring roles on TV or DVD. The Farmer's Daughter was supposed to be part of Antenna TV's launch in January 2011, but apparently the episode prints were in such poor shape that Sony was unable to remaster them. Hopefully somebody will go to the expense of making them available soon. My World and Welcome to It is another lost gem that would be ideal for DVD. Mr. Windom will be greatly missed.

Me-TV remembers William Windom with an episode of Star Trek on Saturday at 9pm ET/8pm CT. In the classic episode The Doomsday Machine, he played tortured Commodore Matt Decker who tries to thwart a doomsday machine that threatens the Enterprise. The episode was originally broadcast on October 20, 1967.

Actress and comedienne Phyllis Diller, who appeared on television for more than 50 years and starred in the sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton, has died. She died on August 20 at her home in Los Angeles, California. No cause of death has been released. Ms. Diller was 95.

Diller first starred in the 1966-1967 ABC sitcom The Pruitts of Southampton (later retitled The Phyllis Diller Show). She played Phyllis Pruitt in the show about a supposedly incredibly wealthy family living on Long Island in the Hamptons. Gypsy Rose Lee, Richard Deacon, John Astin, Marty Ingels and Paul Lynde were featured in supporting roles. In 1968, she starred in the short-lived NBC variety show The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show. Diller's other sitcom guest appearances included Get Smart, The Good Guys, Love, American Style, The Love Boat, 227, Dream On, Boy Meets World, Blossom, Full House, Cybill, Titus, The Drew Carey Show, Even Stevens, Life with Bonnie and Quintuplets. She made regular appearances on many variety series and game shows, including Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, The Dean Martin Comedy Hour, The Gong Show, The Hollywood Squares and Super Password. She appeared in 23 Bob Hope TV specials. Her voice credits include Mad Monster Party, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, A Bug's Life, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Robot Chicken and Family Guy. Some of her other television drama guest appearances included CHiPs, 7th Heaven, Boston Legal and The Bold and the Beautiful. View her extensive list of credits at the IMDB.

The Archive of American Television conducted an extensive interview with her on March 8, 2000. Survivors include three children from her first marriage. Ms. Diller was a comedy legend and pioneer. She was the queen of one-liners and a true original. We thank her for all the laughs she brought us over the years. She will be deeply missed.