Thursday, April 11, 2013
Antenna TV Spring 2013 Schedule; Episodic Review: Go On "Urn-ed Run" - Season Finale - Airing Tonight on NBC
Yesterday we gave you MeTV Network's spring schedule, now we have Antenna TV's spring 2013 schedule. As we mentioned, Leave it to Beaver, Dragnet and Adam-12 are leaving Antenna TV, as their rights have expired and gone to MeTV. The Antenna TV Spring 2013 schedule will begin on Monday, April 29 (a full week before MeTV's spring schedule) and will have some returning series from hiatus to fill the void of those three major shows leaving. The Nanny and Married...with Children will both return to Antenna TV from hiatus and will air Mon-Thurs, with The Nanny airing 8-9pm ET and Married...with Children from 11pm-12am ET. The Nanny will replace All in the Family in the 8pm hour, as All in the Family is leaving the daily schedule but will move to the Wednesday primetime sitcom block from 9-11pm instead of a second night of Diff'rent Strokes. Not to worry fans of Diff'rent Strokes, the sitcom will still air Monday nights from 9-11pm (and also Sundays 10-11pm). Married will replace one of the many Leave it to Beaver hours. Returning to the weekday morning/afternoon line-up will be McHale's Navy, Bachelor Father and Hazel, as three hours were needed since Beaver, Dragnet and Adam-12 were heavily part of the daytime schedule. The late afternoon/evening line-up will remain unchanged from 4pm-8pm, which includes hours of Partridge Family, Good Times, Sanford & Son and Maude. Late nights will remain unchanged from 12am on, which includes Alfred Hitchcock Presents at 12 midnight.
Friday nights will have a return to the black & white sitcom block. From 8pm-12am, classic '50s/'60s sitcoms will air: Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best, McHale's Navy and the return of The Three Stooges to the line-up. Onto weekends, Circus Boy will be leaving the schedule, as a second morning of Rin Tin Tin will be added. McHale's Navy will also get some weekend action from 1-2pm, while more It Takes a Thief will be added to fill the void of Adam-12 and Dragnet. Also leaving weekends will be S.W.A.T. and Here Come the Brides, while Suspense Theatre gets more airtime. The Sunday night sitcom block of '70s/'80s series will remain unchanged from 8pm-12am with Barney Miller, Maude, Diff'rent Strokes and Benson. That about sums up the schedule, but be sure to view the full schedule below. There are no new shows in the line-up, but plenty of time changes and shows returning from hiatus. Some new additions will probably not be added until the fall, so stay with us for that.
View the Antenna TV Spring 2013 schedule, which begins April 29. Stay with us for continued updates as usual.
On the next...Go On:
By: Vincent
NBC's freshman comedy starring Matthew Perry airs again on a special night Thursday at 9:30pm and we have just watched the next episode that air tonight (April 11). It's the season finale! In the episode airing tonight, "Urn-ed Run," Ryan, (Matthew Perry) in the continuing effort to recover after the loss of his wife, Janie, (Christine Woods) is presented with a plan "masterminded" by Mr. K (Brett Gelman) and Anne (Julie White) to help force Ryan to lay his wife's ashes to rest, but the plan goes awry. Meanwhile, the group grumbles they're not getting anything out of their sessions and blame Lauren (Laura Benanti) to such an extent that Yolanda (Suzy Nakamura) and Sonia (Sarah Baker) make up a big problem for her to fix. After the failure of both plans, the group comes together with new perspectives.
Go On is a perfectly capable sitcom. Unlike its former timeslot partner The New Normal, it has comfortably slipped into a comic rhythmic that utilizes its talented cast in the best way possible. Each episode is good for a few laughs, and the show's ensemble has developed really nicely, reaching that magical point where sometimes it's just fun to watch these people bounce off of each other. The show's major problem, though - and the problem that keeps it from being a truly great sitcom on par with some of NBC's other flagship comedies - is that it has completely dropped the ball on its dark, interesting premise of a widower trying to move on and finding comfort in a support group. Occasionally, Go On will show us a glimpse of its serious side, but it's always covered in several layers of silly sitcom antics, which significantly takes away from the impact that the show wants it to have.
All of that is all too evident in tonight's finale, which has a potentially thoughtful storyline about Ryan finally spreading his wife's ashes but goes through several worn-out sitcom tropes to get to an ending that's somewhat emotional, but isn't bold enough to truly delve into the darkness that the material requires. It doesn't help that the silly sitcom scenarios aren't particularly funny and don't seem to have a lot of effort put into them - the show's humor works much better with one-liners and witty banter. It often feels like Go On wants to be both ambitious & dark and broad & accessible, and it just isn't able to strike that balance. Still, there's enough that works here to make Go On's finale a fairly entertaining half-hour, and maybe if the show gets a second season (it's squarely on the bubble right now), it'll learn to work with its various elements. But right now, it feels like an okay show that could be something more. C+
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, September 22
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 18)
Friday, September 22
- Kathryn Newton (Gary Unmarried) - Watch Kathryn on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Ralph Harris (On Our Own) and Jimmie "JJ" Walker (Good Times/At Ease/Bustin' Loose) - Ralph and Jimmie are guests on repeats of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
- Alfonso Ribeiro (In the House/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air/Silver Spoons) - Alfonso is a guest on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Sam Jay (Bust Down) - Sam appears on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 8:50am.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (June-October)
06/13 - Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series
06/13 - Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series
07/18 - South Park - Seasons 21-25 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
07/25 - The Neighborhood - Season Five
07/25 - Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin - Season One
07/25 - Superstore - The Complete Series
08/22 - Back to Life - Season 1 / Season 2
08/29 - Smiling Friends - Season 1 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
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