SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Fox is making additional changes to its mid-season 2014 schedule. Last season's No. 1 new series, The Following, returns for its thrilling 14-week second season with a special two-night season premiere event, beginning Sunday, Jan. 19 at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT, following the NFC Championship Game, live from 6:00-10:00 PM ET (previously new drama Rake was announced for this slot). The two-night The Following event continues with its time period premiere on Monday, Jan. 20 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, following the season finale of Sleepy Hollow, airing at a special time of 8:00 PM ET/PT (Almost Human is preempted on Jan. 20, but will return Jan. 27). Bold new legal drama Rake will now debut on its regular night and time of Thursday, Jan. 23 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, following an all-new American Idol at 8:00 PM ET/PT. Making his broadcast television series debut, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine, The Kennedys) 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.

Changes to the Fox Tuesday night comedy block begin after The Mindy Project airs its Winter Finale on Jan. 28 at 9:30PM ET/PT. Beginning Tuesday, Feb. 4, Brooklyn Nine-Nine moves to its new time period premiere at 9:30 PM ET/PT, following all-new installments of New Girl. The new duo will also air after the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 2. Dads continues to kick off Tuesdays at 8:00 PM ET/PT until Tuesday, Feb. 11, while a special two-hour Tuesday Idol will air on Feb. 18. Starting Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 8:00 PM ET/PT, Glee makes Tuesdays sing when it moves to a new night and time and returns with all-new episodes for the remainder of the season. All-new installments of New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine follow, until The Mindy Project returns Tuesday, April 1 with a special one-hour event featuring all-new back-to-back episodes. The series returns to its regular time period beginning Tuesday, April 8 at 9:30PM ET/PT following New Girl. As for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, its season finale will be on March 25. As previously announced, new comedy Enlisted will debut Friday, Jan. 10 at 9:30 PM ET/PT following Raising Hope. Additional premiere dates and schedule information to be announced, such as new comedies Surviving Jack and Us & Them.

Nickelodeon has ordered a second season of its hit family comedy for Nick at Nite and NickMom, Instant Mom. In addition, the series, starring Tia Mowry-Hardrict (Sister Sister, Tia & Tamera), has also been greenlit for six additional episodes to add to its first season, bringing the season total to 26 episodes. The second season order will be for 20 episodes. The multi-camera, scripted half-hour series features Mowry-Hardrict as Stephanie, a party girl who trades in Cosmos for carpools when she marries Charlie (Michael Boatman, Spin City), who already has three kids. Airing regularly on Nick at Nite Sundays at 8:30 pm (ET/PT), the series also airs on the adult-targeted NickMom comedy block on the Nick Jr. channel. Instant Mom continues to be a hit on Nick at Nite posting year over year gains with Adults 18-49 (0.31 rtg/336K viewers, +15%) and Women 18-49 (0.43 rtg/237K viewers, +23%) and drawing 1.2 million total viewers per episode, since its Sept. 29 premiere. Additionally, the series launch on NickMom that same night was the block's highest-rated premiere ever with W18-49 and total viewers.

The series follows Stephanie as she struggles to maintain some sense of her fun-loving, slightly irresponsible life while managing being a full-time stepmom. Sheryl Lee Ralph (Moesha) stars as Stephanie's mother Maggie, and rounding out the cast are Charlie's three kids played by Sydney Park (CSI: NY), Tylen Jacob Williams and Damarr Calhoun. Instant Mom is executive-produced by Howard Michael Gould and Aaron Kaplan.

Meanwhile, Lifetime is set to scare up a second season of its new freshman drama Witches of East End (#WitchesofEastEnd), starring Emmy(R) Award-winner Julia Ormond, Mädchen Amick, Jenna Dewan Tatum and Rachel Boston as a family of witches living in the secluded seaside town of East Haven, with a 13 episode order for a 2014 return. Based on Melissa de la Cruz's New York Times best-selling novel, Witches of East End centers on the mysterious Beauchamp family: free-spirited artist Joanna (Ormond) and her two grown daughters, wild-child bartender Freya (Dewan Tatum) and shy librarian Ingrid (Boston), both of whom are unaware that they are gifted (and cursed) with a magical birthright. Freya is recently engaged to the man of her dreams, wealthy playboy Dash Gardiner (Eric Winter), but when she finds herself inexplicably drawn to Dash's troubled, enigmatic brother Killian (Daniel DiTomasso), bizarre occurrences begin to manifest. Meanwhile, Joanna's long-estranged sister Wendy (Amick) shows up with a warning that could change the Beauchamps' fate forever, forcing Joanna to reveal to her daughters they are, indeed, immortal witches who possess great untapped powers. Witches of East End also stars Jason George and Oscar(R) and Golden Globe(R) Award nominee Virginia Madsen as recurring players.

One of Lifetime's youngest skewing scripted series ever, with a median age of 46, Witches of East End is averaging 3.0 million Total Viewers, 1.7 million Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 viewers, and 1.3 million Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 viewers on a Live+7 basis through five weeks. The series' first season will conclude on Sunday, December 15 at 10:00pm ET/PT with its tenth episode.