Thursday, May 02, 2013

Antenna TV's Hazel Mother's Day Marathon; Episodic Reviews: Community - "Heroic Origins" and Parks and Recreation Season Finale - "Are You Better Off? - Both Airing Tonight on NBC

Antenna TV will air a marathon of the classic sitcom Hazel this Mother's Day! The marathon titled "Maid-For-A-Day Marathon with Hazel" airs Sunday, May 12, 2013 on Mother's Day from 9am-3am ET. That is 16 hours of non-stop sitcom fun with 32 glorious episodes. The marathon will begin with the very first episode and will continue with episodes centering on Hazel herself. Episodes are airing in the following order: "Hazel and the Playground," "A Matter of Principle," "What'll We Watch Tonight?," "Winter Wonderland," "Hazel's Secret Wish," "Heat Wave," "Hazel's Day," "Hazel's Cousin," "The Natural Athlete," "New Man in Town," "Hazel and the Lovebirds," "The Sunshine Girls Quartette," "Hazel and the Stockholders Meeting," "Hazel's Day Off," "Hazel's Navy Blue Tug-Boats," "Hazel's Luck," "Maid of the Month," "Cheerin' Up Mr. B," "The Vanishing Hero," "Call Me Harve," "The Retiring Milkman," "Hazel and the Halfback," "Hazel and the Model T," "The Fashion Show," "George's Ordeal," "Democracy at Work," "Never Trouble Trouble," "The Flagpole," "Mind Your Own Business," "Mixup on Marshall Road," "To Build or Not to Build," "Stop Rocking Our Reception," "Hazel's Day in Court," "George's Man Friday," "Who's in Charge Here?" and "My Son, the Sheepdog."

You can watch Hazel regularly on Antenna TV every weekday at 3:00pm & 3:30pm ET. The sitcom, based upon the Saturday Evening Post comic strip by Ted Key, follows Hazel (Shirley Booth) and her everyday dealings with the Baxter family, George (Don DeFore), Dorothy (Whitney Blake), and Harold (Bobby Buntrock). The series aired from 1961-66 and lasted five seasons and 154 total episodes. Stay with us for continued updates on all things Antenna TV and Hazel!




On the next...Community:
By: Vincent

NBC's Thursday night comedy that stars Joel McHale airs Thursdays at 8|7c and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (May 2). In the episode airing tonight, "Heroic Origins," Abed (Danny Pudi), becomes convinced that the study group was destined to meet at Greendale and pieces together everyone’s past – revealing that their lives have been intertwined for years. Meanwhile, Chang (Ken Jeong) plots to destroy Greendale once and for all.

This episode of Community may very well be one of the craziest they've ever done. Sure, it doesn't stage a zombie attack or a paintball war, but it actually suggests that the study group was "meant" to meet each other and that their paths crossed before they met at Greendale. Community may have no problem turning its characters into video game characters or stop-motion figures for a week, but it always found a way to somehow make all of this seem believable within its universe. Having the group's fate be connected in the way that this episode suggests it is, though, stretches credibility even for this show. It doesn't feel organic or carefully planned out- it feels like the show forcing its characters into a back-story that hadn't even been touched upon previously just because they thought it'd make an entertaining episode.



They weren't necessary wrong - "Heroic Origins" is a fun time, to be sure. Seeing where everyone was 5 years ago is pretty cool, and there's a handful of good jokes sprinkled through-out the episode. It also has a genuinely sweet ending - a lot of the show's happy endings have felt forced this season, but this felt really natural. There's a lot of stuff to appreciate in this episode, but I ultimately just couldn't get past the fact that the actual story the show was trying to tell rang false to me. I could accept an origins story like this one if it seemed like the show had actually built up to it and thought it out meticulously. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and instead this episode felt like the show doing an origins story just to do an origins story, rather than using it to say anything interesting about the characters. Still, even though I couldn't quite get on board with the concept, there's enough here to make this fairly enjoyable, if flawed, outing for Community. B-




On the next...Parks and Recreation:
By: Skees

NBC's Thursday night comedy that stars Amy Poehler airs Thursdays at 9:30pm and we have just watched the season finale that airs tonight (May 2). In the episode airing tonight, "Are You Better Off?," Leslie (Amy Poehler) celebrates her first year as a city councilor. A surprise discovery leads Andy (Chris Pratt) to call the only man he knows who can help with the investigation: retired Special Agent Burt Macklin. Meanwhile, April (Aubrey Plaza) gets some life-changing news, and Tom (Aziz Ansari) debates a big business opportunity.

In politics, the following question often comes up: "Are you better off today than you were before?" That is the theme of the latest episode of Parks & Recreation, where Leslie Knope is ready to get an assessment of her first year on the city council. She expects nothing but positive feedback, but instead, she is confronted with those whom she has angered over the past year (along with some flashbacks), and the sudden attack make it seem as if things really can't get worse... that is, until they do. Meanwhile, Andy finds a positive pregnancy test while digging through the garbage at Ron's cabin and is determined to find out who it belongs to (and along the way, he finds out another surprise that has a significant effect upon him). But that isn't all... Tom faces a big decision that could make him money instantly, and has to decide what to do. It is an episode full of questions, and all of them may or may not be answered in 20 minutes.



I really enjoyed this episode of the series. To me, it seems that this series keeps getting better and better as it moves along, and I have yet to see an episode from this season that I haven't enjoyed. This episode, while it initially appeared that it might be some sort of "clip show" rehashing the season, turned out to have quite a bit of substance, and the brief clips really did set up what was about to happen for those who may have missed those events (such as the Pawnee "soda controversy" and the new and improved "video store") without becoming overbearing. In a way, the turn of events was a bit surprising, but not so much in light of what actually had happened in Pawnee in the past year. The other stories going on in the episode were all pretty good as well, especially Andy's pregnancy test witch hunt (and without spoiling the episode, we should say that the answer the question is actually not obvious). I feel that this episode was a proper way to close the season and, as is typical with this series, is going to leave fans wondering what is next since just about everybody is left with some sort of cliffhanger at the end of the episode. A


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, May 22

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "Diet Crap" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Tensions rise when Georgie intrudes on Mandy’s new sales gig. Meanwhile, Audrey’s conflicted when Jim makes it a point not to coddle Connor.

Ghosts - "Sad Farnsby" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Sam accidentally creates a rift between Sam and Jay’s neighbors, the Farnsbys, Henry Farnsby moves into Woodstone B&B. Also, Isaac and Nigel battle over a belated wedding present.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 19)

Thursday, May 22

  • Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) - Catch Miley on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Chloe Fineman (Big Mouth/Search Party) - Chloe appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm. Featured host Vlad Duthiers sits down with Ronny on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Elizabeth Banks (30 Rock/Scrubs) and Amanda Peet (Brockmire/Togetherness/Bent) - Elizabeth and Amanda are guests on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 10:15pm on Bravo.
  • Cynthia Nixon (And Just Like That.../Sex and the City) - Cynthia talks about ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Hugh Jackman (Human Resources) - Hugh chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Bill Bellamy (Mr. Box Office/Men, Women & Dogs/Cousin Skeeter) - Bill brings the laughs to the third annual cookout on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
  • Finola Hughes (Blossom) - Finola dishes on General Hospital on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Jason Schwartzman (Blunt Talk/Mozart in the Jungle/Bored to Death) - Jason talks about Mountainhead on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Sterling K. Brown (Starved) - Sterling is telling Drew all about playing a secret service agent in the thrilling new show Paradise on a repaet of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Midori Francis (The Sex Lives of College Girls) - Midori is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.


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


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

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05/07 - Netflix's A Man on the Inside Bulks Up Cast for Season 2; The Studio Renewed by Apple TV+
05/06 - Netflix's Long Story Short Announces Cast; NBC Renews All Chicago Series for 2025-26
05/05 - Antenna TV's The Partridge Family Mother's Day Marathon; Rewind TV's 227 40th Anniversary Marathon
05/04 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of May 5, 2025)
05/03 - SitcomsOnline Digest: CBS Cancels The Equalizer; Wisteria Lane Offshoot of Desperate Housewives in the Works
05/02 - USA and SYFY Announce Summer Premieres; CBC in Canada Renews 5 Series, Including Wild Cards
05/01 - ABC Summer 2025 Schedule; Audible Scripted Comedy Podcasts for Summer
04/30 - The Carol Burnett Show Mother of All Marathons; Netflix Renews North of North
04/29 - Lifetime Adds New Ripped from the Headlines Movie; BET+ Orders Season 2 of Series
04/28 - Fox Summer 2025 Schedule; Final Guest Hosts for Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Season
04/27 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of April 28, 2025)
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04/25 - Classic TV's Biggest Auction; Remembering Will Hutchins and Wink Martindale
04/24 - Jerrod Carmichael's 4th HBO Comedy Special; HBO's Pee-wee as Himself Premieres May 23
04/23 - Apple TV+ Announces Comedy Series Prodigies; ABC Renews Unscripted Series Slate
04/22 - Hallmark Channel's May For Moms Month; Prime Video Gets Korean Comedy Action Series
04/21 - Peacock's Twisted Metal Returns July 31; Poker Face Lines Up Big Guests for Season 2