SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Late last week CBS announced mid-season premiere dates for the new drama Golden Boy and the seventh season return of the comedy Rules of Engagement. The network also announced the premiere dates of the spring editions of Survivor and The Amazing Race and the season finale of CSI: NY. For mid-season, CBS will introduce the new drama Golden Boy, which debuts with two special previews on Tuesday, Feb. 26 and Tuesday, March 5 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on both nights before moving to its regular Friday at 9:00 PM ET/PT time period on March 8. Freshman drama Vegas will return to its Tuesday 10:00 PM ET/PT time period on March 12 after those two Golden Boy previews conclude. CSI: NY will have its season finale on Friday, Feb. 22 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, to make room for Golden Boy. The new drama is about the meteoric rise of an ambitious cop (Theo James) who becomes the youngest police commissioner in the history of New York City. The series explores the high personal and professional cost he pays to achieve it as he is mentored by his partner, an experienced veteran detective (Chi McBride).

Sitcom Rules of Engagement returns with its seventh season premiere on Monday, Feb. 4 at 8:30 PM ET/PT, replacing comedy encores. The season will have 13 episodes. New comedy Partners was airing in this time period for comedy encores took over. Comedy encores of How I Met Your Mother will air from Dec. 24-Jan. 7, while The Big Bang Theory will air Jan. 14-28 at 8:30pm before Rules of Engagement is ready on Feb. 4. The spring edition of Survivor premieres Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 8:00 PM ET/PT, while the spring edition of The Amazing Race, hosted by Phil Keoghan, premieres Sunday, Feb. 17 at 8:00 PM ET/PT. Specials wise, The People's Choice Awards air on Jan. 9, The 2nd Annual NFL Honors air on Feb. 2, and The Grammys air on Feb. 10. For one-time only airings, view our list.
CBS still has not mentioned if and when new comedy Friend Me will premiere. CBS also has two reality options in Bake Off and The Job, which they could use later in the season or in the summer with new summer drama Under the Dome from Stephen King. Stay with us for updates!

A new poll from 60 Minutes has been conducted and we have a winner for the greatest sitcom of all time! Seinfeld is chosen just slightly ahead of The Honeymooners as the greatest sitcom of all time. In addition, women agree with men that men are the funnier sex, while all agree that sexual assault is a topic that should be most off-limits to comedians. Who is Judd Apatow? Most Americans say they don't know. That's what Americans are saying in the latest VF Comedy-issue inspired 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll, the results of which can be found on 60Minutes.com and VF.com.

The survey also gauged Americans' thoughts on the funniest letter of the alphabet, if being funny is innate or can be developed over time, and which types of employees have the least sense of humor. Twenty-two percent of Americans say that Seinfeld is the greatest sitcom, just beating out The Honeymooners, with 20 percent of the vote. Friends and Cheers follow closely behind, with 16 and 14 percent of the vote respectively, while Arrested Development receives just seven percent, The Mary Tyler Moore six percent, and 30 Rock five percent.
Sixty percent of Americans - including most women - think men are the funnier sex, while just 22 percent think women are funnier and 15 percent say there is no difference. When asked which topics should be off-limits to comedians - September 11th, sexual assault, religious figures, or sick and disabled people - men (38 percent) and women (32 percent) agree that sexual assault is not fodder for jokes. Women (28 percent) are twice as likely as men (14 percent) to think that all of these topics should be off-limits. Only 14 percent of Americans know who Judd Apatow is, correctly identifying him as a director, writer, and producer. (He's also guest editor of the January comedy issue of Vanity Fair.) Of the vast majority who don't know who he is, 15 percent guessed that he was a former Clinton speechwriter, five percent said that he was a creator of South Park, three percent thought Apatow was a 70s country-music star, and the rest couldn't give an answer.

Elsewhere in the poll, 22 percent of those questioned say Q is the funniest letter of the alphabet, most Americans (56 percent) say being funny is something you can develop over time, and D.M.V. employees are selected as the least likely to crack a smile (over airport workers, toll collectors, and nightclub bouncers).