Tuesday, February 26, 2013

TV Guide Asks for Favorite Comedy; Episodic Review: Raising Hope - "The Old Girl" and Mindy Project - "The One That Got Away" Airing Tonight on Fox

What's your favorite TV comedy right now? The polls are open! TV Guide Magazine is turning the power over to the readers, inviting them to cast their vote for which shows they would like to see featured on the cover. The competition is heating up, and by logging onto TV Guide Magazine's Facebook page, fans can vote as many times as they would like help their favorite show come out ahead. Vote now for your favorite comedy, and come back every day this week to check for new categories (2 new ones revealed each day). The winners of the 4th annual Fan Favorite Poll will be revealed on the cover of TV Guide Magazine's April 22-29 double issue, available on newsstands April 25. The polls close on Monday, March 11 at noon ET. Fans can help their favorite show land on the cover of TV's #1 publication by logging onto Facebook, "Liking" TV Guide Magazine, and voting for their favorite show!

Selected by TV Guide Magazine's Editors, the 2012 Fan Favorite nominees in the "Favorite Comedy" category are 2 Broke Girls, Community, Cougar Town, Girls, Glee, Happy Endings, Modern Family, New Girl, The Big Bang Theory, and The Middle. Who will you choose? You can make a difference. The SitcomsOnline pick for Favorite Comedy goes to Modern Family (though 2-3 others are tempting, too). Go and vote and your favorite comedy could make the cover!



On the next...Raising Hope:
By: Todd

Fox's Tuesday sitcom starring Martha Plimpton airs Tuesday nights at 8:00pm & 8:30pm and we have just watched the episode that airs tonight (Feb. 26) at 8:30pm. Hilary Duff guest stars! In the episode airing tonight, "The Old Girl," Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) is excited to introduce her new friend, Rachel (guest star Hilary Duff), to the family, but Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and Burt (Garret Dillahunt) are shocked when she turns out to be Jimmy's (Lucas Neff) ex-girlfriend who broke his heart as a teenager.

After Hope is bitten by a cow at the Natesville petting zoo, they receive 500 pounds of beef in order to avoid a messy lawsuit. The family has nothing but meat for the next week. Sabrina shows them a photo of her new friend, Rachel. Everybody is shocked to see that she is Jimmy's ex-girlfriend. Jimmy had met her at college when he was 18. They meet every single weekend, but the relationship is eventually ended by Rachel. Jimmy, Virginia and Burt later sing Ain't No Sunshine in a breakup video montage. Sabrina invites Rachel over for dinner. Jimmy reads a letter that he had written to Rachel seven years ago. Rachel tells him that Virginia and Burt are the whole reason they broke up. In flashback scenes, a young Jimmy is shown by rejected by a girl at a grocery store. Young Jimmy also sings Ain't No Sunshine. Many years later and in more flashback scenes, Virginia and Burt go to the college to meet Rachel. They don't want to see Jimmy get his heart broken again, so they try to get Richard interested in Rachel. Richard, however, has his sights set on somebody else. Will Rachel stay for the dinner or will she go? Tune in to find out.

It's an all-new hour of Raising Hope tonight. Only the second episode was available for review. Hilary Duff hasn't appeared in any episodic series in the last few years, so it's nice to see her return to television with this funny guest appearance. This episode is Virginia and Burt centric and offers plenty of flashback scenes. It's always fun to see the scenes when Virginia and Burt were younger and even more insane. Trace Garcia, creator Greg Garcia's son, does a fine job as the five-year-old Jimmy and even sings like the adult Jimmy. I liked how they set up the present day and flashback breakup montages the same way. Their flashback scenes are always very creative. It's a pretty enjoyable episode overall. The highlights are the Virginia and Burt flashback scenes at the college and the Ain't No Sunshine renditions. I'm looking forward to the My Name Is Earl reunion with Jason Lee, Jaime Pressly, Ethan Suplee, Nadine Velazquez and Eddie Steeples tonight in the first episode ("Making the Band") airing at 8:00pm. That would be my pick of the night. B



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. 26). Seth Rogen guest stars!. In the episode airing tonight, "The One That Got Away," Mindy (Mindy Kaling) reunites with her "first kiss," Sam (guest star Seth Rogen) and the two reminisce about their time at Jewish summer camp, and soon rekindle the sparks of their teen romance.

Mindy has reunited with an old flame once again (surprise?) when she meets up with Sam (played by guest star Seth Rogen). Unlike many of her old flames, though, Sam goes pretty far back... all the way back to when Mindy was at Jewish summer camp (don't ask). It was at this summer camp where Mindy first met Sam and had her first kiss. Of course, once summer was over, she was headed back home and Sam was out of her life. That is, until Sam returns home from his duty in the Army (wearing an Army t-shirt that Mindy is convinced that he picked up at hipster-chic Urban Outfitters) and meets up with Mindy. Once she finds out that Sam is about to be deployed again, she becomes a bit reluctant to attempt to rekindle the relationship, but as she begins to fall for him once again, she considers doing whatever it takes to keep him from leaving her life... literally anything.


Once again, this is yet another predictable episode about Mindy falling in love... again. These episodes are good once in a while, but the whole theme just continues to wear a bit thin in my opinion. I enjoyed seeing Rogen make an appearance in the episode, but much like other guest stars who've appeared in previous episodes, it seems like a generic script was already written for anybody without actually using Rogen's talents and creating a character around him. I have been growing to like this series, but too many of these "old boyfriend back in Mindy's life" stories can wear thin very quickly. Regardless, though, this wasn't a bad story, and I loved the ploy that Mindy tried to undertake to keep this boyfriend around... I'd just rather these episodes less often, and also to see big-name male guest stars be somebody other than a love-interest for Mindy. B-


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Wednesday, December 10

Shifting Gears - "Nutcracker" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
This holiday season, the Parkers discover that romance isn’t always a smooth ride as Matt and Eve are on thin ice, Gabe enlists Riley to help Amelie impress his mom, and Carter seeks help with his “promposal.” Pamela Adlon guest stars.

Abbott Elementary - "Birthday" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Jacob takes the lead on organizing Abbott’s annual Winter Show. Janine celebrates her 30th birthday.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 8)

Wednesday, December 10

  • Kate Hudson (Running Point) - Watch Kate on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • John Stamos (Palm Royale/UnPrisoned/Fuller House/Grandfathered/Jake in Progress/Full House/You, Again?) - John appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Lily Collins (Emily in Paris) - Lily talks about Emily in Paris on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Toni Collette (United States of Tara) - Toni chats about Goodbye June with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Laura Dern (F Is for Family/Enlightened) - Laura talks about Searchlight Pictures' Is This Thing On? on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Jim Belushi (According to Jim/Working Stiffs/Who's Watching the Kids?) - NBC's Today catches up with Jim in the 9am hour.
  • Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Robby Hoffman (Hacks) - NBC's Today catches up with Robby in the 10am hour.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray) Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season (DVD) St. Denis Medical - Season One (Blu-ray) Happy's Place - Season One (Blu-ray) Two and a Half Men - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series (DVD)
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two (DVD)
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season (DVD)
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 (DVD)
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
10/07 - Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season (DVD)
10/14 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (DVD)
10/28 - St. Denis Medical - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/04 - Happy's Place - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/11 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/11 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD)
11/11 - Two and a Half Men - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/02 - Tom and Jerry - The Golden Era Anthology (1940-1958) (Blu-ray) (DVD)

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

12/10 - HBO's Rooster Premieres in March; Fox's Updated Winter 2026 Schedule
12/09 - 83rd Golden Globe Nominations; Paradise Returns on Hulu in February
12/08 - First Look at Bert Kreischer Netflix Comedy Free Bert; School Spirits Season 3
12/07 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of December 8, 2025)
12/06 - SitcomsOnline Digest: First Look at Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair; Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery
12/05 - FETV Acquires The Carol Burnett Show Uncut; Hey A.J.! Coming to Disney Jr.
12/04 - COZI TV Acquires The Jeff Foxworthy Show; Hulu Renews Chad Powers for Season 2
12/03 - MeTV January 2026 Schedule; Netflix's My Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman Season 6 Guests
12/02 - MeTV Acquires Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart & Hawaii Five-O; Apple TV's The First Snow of Fraggle Rock Trailer
12/01 - MeTV to Announce Four New Shows; Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Draws 25 Million Viewers on NBC
11/30 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of December 1, 2025)
11/29 - SitcomsOnline Digest: First Look at Scrubs Reboot; Mad Men Coming to HBO Max
11/28 - Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion Encores Tonight (11/28); Hulu's Smash Hit Renewed for Quick 4th Season
11/27 - 2025 Thanksgiving TV Marathons
11/26 - ABC's Scrubs First Teaser During Dancing with the Stars Finale; Eva Green Joins Wednesday Season 3
11/25 - COZI TV Acquires Malcolm & Eddie and The Steve Harvey Show; 53rd International Emmy® Awards Winners
11/24 - Antenna TV's All-You-Can Eat Wings for Thanksgiving Marathon; Rewind TV's Serving Up the Seavers with a Thanksgiving Day Growing Pains Marathon
11/23 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 24, 2025)
11/22 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Disney+ Offers New Simpsons Streaming Channel; Final Eight Unaired Episodes of Joey on YouTube
11/21 - HBO Renews Comedies The Chair Company and I Love LA; Kelly and Mark to Host International Emmy® Awards
11/20 - The CW Midseason 2026 Schedule; Sarah Sherman HBO Max Special
11/19 - Tubi's Comedy Mo' Waffles Premieres December 19; 78th Emmy® Awards Set for September 14, 2026
11/18 - CBS Midseason 2026 Schedule; SNL Closes Out 2025 with 3 Episodes in December
11/17 - NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center Lineup; Prime Video Gets Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson for Sports Talk Show
11/16 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 17, 2025)
11/15 - SitcomsOnline Digest: NBC Orders Pilot From Brooklyn Nine-Nine Team; FX Cancels English Teacher
11/14 - Disney's Hulu's Family Guy's Hallmark Channel's Lifetime's Familiar Holiday Movie; Mad Men Coming to HBO Max in 4K
11/13 - Antenna TV Re-Acquires One Day at a Time and Sanford and Son; Season 2 of the Wild Series It's Florida, Man
11/12 - Fox Midseason 2026 Schedule; Hulu's Tell Me Lies Season 3 Premiere Date
11/11 - Cast Announced for Netflix's A Different World Sequel; Hulu's Sebastian Maniscalco Special Trailer
11/10 - ABC's New Game Show The Greatest Average American; Prime Video Christmas Movie