SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Fox has picked up nine additional episodes of Dads, bringing the series to a 22-episode order. In the next all-new episode, "Foul Play," airing Tuesday, Nov. 5 (8:00PM ET/PT), Eli (Seth Green) and David (Peter Riegert) are forced to sleep at the Ghost Child Games offices when bedbugs overtake the loft. Meanwhile, Camila (Vanessa Lachey) gets the lead in a local theater production, and Crawford (Martin Mull) ends up being uncharacteristically helpful, much to the chagrin of Warner (Giovanni Ribisi). Meanwhile, Fox is announcing premieres dates for new and returning series for winter 2014, including the returns of American Idol and The Following, and the debut of new legal drama Rake. Featuring host Ryan Seacrest, a new judging panel, including Harry Connick, Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban, and Randy Jackson returning as the new in-house mentor, American Idol XIII begins with an exciting two-night, four-hour premiere Wednesday, Jan. 15 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT and Thursday, Jan. 16 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.

Following the season finale of Sleepy Hollow at a special time on Monday, Jan. 20 at 8:00 PM ET/PT, The Following returns to 9:00 PM ET/PT to begin its 15-week uninterrupted second season. Bold new legal drama Rake debuts with a special two-night event beginning Sunday, Jan. 19 at 10:00PM ET/7:00PM PT, following the NFC Championship Game, and continuing with its time period premiere on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 9:00PM ET/PT. Making his broadcast television series debut, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Greg Kinnear plays a brilliant and frustratingly charming criminal defense attorney, whose chaotic and self-destructive personal life often gets in the way of his professional one. Glee will return in spring 2014. As previously announced, new Army-set comedy Enlisted debuts Friday, Jan. 10 at 9:30PM ET/PT. Written and created by Kevin Biegel (Cougar Town, Scrubs) and starring Geoff Stults (October Road, The Finder), Chris Lowell (Private Practice, Veronica Mars) and Parker Young (Suburgatory), the series is a single-camera comedy about an older sibling who returns home to reconnect with his two brothers and lead a group of misfits on a small Florida Army post.

This spring, new comedies Surviving Jack and Us & Them will debut on Fox; series premiere dates to be announced. From Emmy Award nominee Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town) and set in 1990s Southern California, Surviving Jack stars Emmy Award nominee Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) as a man becoming a dad, as his son (Connor Buckley, Deception) becomes a man, in a time before "coming of age" was something you could Google. Surviving Jack is set to air on Thursdays at 8:30PM ET/PT for eight weeks, following American Idol's live results shows now airing for half-hour at 8:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed. New ensemble comedy Us & Them will also join the schedule in the spring, but no night and time has been announce yet. Starring Emmy Award nominee Jason Ritter (Joan of Arcadia, Parenthood) and Alexis Bledel (Mad Men, Gilmore Girls), and based on an award-winning BBC series, the series follows a young couple, whose path to happily-ever-after is complicated by the screwed-up circus of people closest to them.

Actress Marcia Wallace, best known for her roles as receptionist Carol Kester in The Bob Newhart Show and as the voice of elementary school teacher Edna Krabappel in The Simpsons, has died. She died on October 25 in Los Angeles due to complications from pneumonia. Ms. Wallace was 70.

Wallace played the joke-loving receptionist Carol Kester (later Carol Kester Bondurant) in The Bob Newhart Show. The popular sitcom ran for 142 episodes on CBS from 1972-1978. Her character married travel agent Larry Bondurant (Will Mackenzie) in the fourth season. The series received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1977. In 1991, the cast reunited for the one-hour clip show The Bob Newhart Show 19th Anniversary Special. Wallace reprised her role as Carol Bondurant in a 1994 episode of Murphy Brown. In the episode Anything But Cured, Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart) begs her to leave her job as Murphy's secretary and come back with him to Chicago. Wallace received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 1994 for her role as Secretary #66.

Wallace's early sitcom credits included Bewitched, The Brady Bunch (2 episodes: Will the Real Jan Brady Please Stand Up? and Getting Davy Jones) and Love, American Style. She was a semi-regular on The Merv Griffin Show, with over 75 appearances, before she landed her role on The Bob Newhart Show. Her many other sitcom guest appearances included The Love Boat, Flying High, Taxi, Gimme a Break!, ALF, Night Court, Small Wonder, Charles in Charge, A Different World and Full House. She was a series regular as Maggie Hawley on the Comedy Central sitcom That's My Bush in 2001. In 2009, she played Annie Wilkes in the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. She was also a regular game show panelist for more than thirty years. Her many appearances included The Hollywood Squares, Password Plus, Super Password, Card Sharks, Hot Potato, Body Language, The $25,000 Pyrmaid, Double Talk, Win, Lose or Draw, and Match Game.

Her other main role was the voice of Bart's elementary school teacher in The Simpsons. Edna Krabappel was married to Ned Flanders. Wallace voiced the character in over 100 episodes. In 1992, she won an Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for the episode Bart the Lover. The show has announced that her character will be retired. Wallace's other voice credits included Darkwing Duck, Batman, The Addams Family, The Angry Beavers and Monsters University.

Survivors include her son Michael Hawley, sister Sherry and brother Jimmy. She was a very talented and funny woman. She was also an inspiration to many as a long-time breast cancer survivor. We thank her for bringing us many laughs over the years. Ms. Wallace will be deeply missed.

We will keep you posted on any tributes planned for her. Share your memories on our Bob Newhart Show message board. View photos in our photo galleries.