Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Reelz Channel Acquires Larry Sanders Show; Episodic Reviews: New Girl - "Table 34" and The Mindy Project - "Harry and Mindy" Airing Tonight on Fox

ReelzChannel, TV About Movies, announced that all six seasons of the three-time Emmy Award® winning satirical sitcom The Larry Sanders Show will air on REELZ, premiering Monday, March 4 at 1pm ET/10am PT. New episodes will air back-to-back Monday-Thursday in one hour comedy blocks at 1pm ET/10am PT and again at 2am ET/11pm PT. It will replace an hour of Spin City at 1pm ET/10am PT. What will the rest of the schedule look like? We will let you know very soon, but right now among the comedies that air on Reelz are Wings, Becker and Spin City, as Cheers, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Coach have recently been dropped. Meanwhile, Larry Sanders is also seen weeknights on VH-1 Classic.
The show takes viewers behind the scenes of Sanders' late-night talk show revealing the comedic misadventures among the show's creators, crew and celebrity guests. The Larry Sanders Show stars Garry Shandling as host Larry Sanders and Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) as his sidekick Hank. The show also stars Rip Torn as the show's executive producer, Artie, Penny Johnson as Sanders' assistant Beverly, Wallace Langham as the show's head writer Phil and Janeane Garofalo as talent booker Paula.

The Larry Sanders Show rivaled its real life late-night counterparts in many respects with guest lineups featuring the biggest names in entertainment including Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Sally Field, Alec Baldwin, Billy Crystal, Jerry Seinfeld, William Shatner, Greg Kinnear, Jeff Goldblum, David Duchovny, Burt Reynolds, Bob Costas, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sharon Stone, Robin Williams, Rob Lowe, Courtney Cox, Julianna Margulies, Mandy Patinkin, Rosie O'Donnell, Nicollette Sheridan, Vince Vaughn, Suzanne Somers, Jim Belushi, Sting, Heidi Klum, Jerry Stiller, Drew Barrymore, Terry Bradshaw, John Ritter and many others. In addition to actors and athletes, viewers will recognize a number of their favorite TV luminaries who portrayed themselves on the show including David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Ellen DeGeneres, Regis Philbin, Carol Burnett, Larry King, Sarah Silverman, Howard Stern, Alex Trebek and REELZ' own Sam Rubin. Stay with us for further updates on REELZ!


On the next...New Girl:
By: Todd

Fox's Tuesday adorkable sitcom starring Zooey Deschanel airs Tuesday nights at 9:00pm and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (Feb. 5). And we continue where we left off last week in "Cooler!" In the episode airing tonight, "Table 34," Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Nick (Jake Johnson) both are reeling from their passionate late-night kiss. Unsure of her feelings and what the kiss meant, Jess spends the day with Cece (Hannah Simone) at an East Indian marriage convention. Seeking to escape his own conflicted feelings, Nick offers to help Schmidt (Max Greenfield) at another attempt to win back Cece, unknowingly putting himself directly in Jess' sightlines.

Tonight's episode is a continuation of last week's "Cooler" episode. Jess tells Cece about her first kiss with Nick. Cece has plans on attending an East Indian marriage convention to look for a husband. Schmidt also plans on going to the convention and tries to win back Cece by wearing proper attire. Winston describes him as looking like the fortune teller in Big. Nick talks to Winston about his kiss with Jess. Nick and Jess argue about if their kiss meant anything. Cece and Nick are assigned to Table 34 for those with no advance degrees and part time employment. Winston gets his mojo back and draws the attention of one of the staff members. Jess and Schmidt are placed at Table 7. A series of games, including trying to build a table out of newspapers, are then played to show their compatibility. Jess tells Sam what happened between her and Nick. Sam doesn't exactly take the news well. The convention ends with a big speech by one of the characters. Jess wants to listen to a Taylor Swift song alone, but Nick is there dancing. B-

This episode is on par with last week. There are some serious moments, but there are also many funny lines and scenes at the convention. There is a nice mix of pop culture references from movies and physical comedy, including Nick's panic moonwalking. Like last week's episode, it ends with a big story development. Will sparks fly again? Tune in tonight to find out.



On the next...The Mindy Project:
By: Skees

Fox's Tuesday night comedy starring Mindy Kaling airs Tuesday nights at 9:30pm immediately following New Girl and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (Feb. 5). Can men and women really be just friends? Dr. Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling) attempts to find the answer to this age-old question. In the episode airing tonight, "Harry & Mindy," Mindy tries to solve Jaime's (guest star BJ Novak) best friend problem by pairing up Lucy (guest star Eva Amurri Martino) with Danny (Chris Messina) on a Valentine's Day double date. Meanwhile, Jeremy (Ed Weeks) helps Morgan (Ike Barinholtz) with his pickup skills.

Relationship drama is what this entire episode comes down to, and it is made even more interesting considering that the drama comes from Novak and Kaling, both of whom of course were always in relationship drama when they were in the cast of The Office. In this continuation of last week's episode, "Harry & Sally," we once again meet up with Jaime who can't seem to separate himself from his female friend Lucy, despite the fact that Mindy would like to have him for herself. The solution to the problem seems pretty simple: just find somebody to fix Lucy up with, and she manages to hook her up with Danny. But when the two couples double date, Danny and Lucy hit it off very quickly, making Mindy and Jaime's date a choking hazard (literally). Jaime tries to make it up to Mindy afterwards by going all the way (to the top of the Empire State Building), but this big event may turn into a disaster before it can even happen. All in all, it is great to see Kaling and Novak back together again as a couple on screen, and that makes this one of the more "special" episodes of the series thus far, but the plot of the episode leaves a lot more to be desired. The ending of the episode is a bit predictable, but it isn't done in a way that seems to leave a lot of opportunities for Novak to make any further appearances. The B-story in the episode, of Jeremy helping Morgan in his pick up skills, leaves even more to be desired. It really felt like more filler than anything substantial, and it was greatly overshadowed by the main story. B

The Mindy Project continues to march through the first season, and seems to be working on trying to figure out exactly what it is... much like Mindy's own character. The series continues to have high points and low points, but each time I watch it, I feel that it is slowly getting to a point where it is consistently good. It would be nice if we do see more of Novak after this episode, but only time will tell if and how much of his character we'll see (right now, it doesn't appear that there are any future plans). Fans of The Office should be watching this show, especially this particular episode.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Friday, May 23

Happy's Place - "Sisters Ink" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Isabella gifts Bobbie matching sister mugs, Bobbie is forced to quickly think of an equally thoughtful gift, resulting in Isabella expecting the sisters to get matching tattoos; Steve and Takoda investigate where Emmett has been sneaking off.

Happy's Place - "Whiskey Business" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Steve drops his favorite pen down a crack in the bar, Bobbie decides to pry the bar open to find it, discovering a very valuable bottle of whiskey in the process; Steve is thrown by Emmett's reaction to breaking a knife that Steve gifted him.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 19)

Friday, May 23

  • Milly Alcock (Sirens) - Watch Milly on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners), Jessica Williams (Shrinking/Love Life/Just for Kicks) and Luke Tennie (Shrinking) - Michael, Jessica and Luke are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That.../Divorce/Sex and the City/Square Pegs) - Sarah talks all things And Just Like That... on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Method Man (Method & Red) - Method Man talks about his new film Bad Shabbos on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) - Hannah talks about Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Joe Jonas (Jonas) - NBC's Today catches up with Joe sometime between 7-9am.
  • Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about Shadow Force on a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
  • Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - 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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