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SitcomsOnline Digest: Alpha House Makes Online Debut; More Seasons of In the Heat of the Night on DVD

• Netflix has had a lot of luck with some of their own original series lately, and now amazon.com has officially gotten in on the competition as well with their own original series, available exclusively to their Prime subscribers. Even though the pilot was presented in April, one of the first series that fans chose to air is the comedy series Alpha House, a political comedy starring John Goodman. Two new episodes debuted yesterday, and there will be new episodes added each Friday. (CNET)
• It looks like the proposed How I Met Your Mother is one step closer to becoming a reality. This week, CBS has announced it has ordered a pilot for How I Met Your Dad. (Deadline).
• Comcast is prepared to compete with amazon.com and iTunes by beginning to sell a few hundred movies and TV series to their Xfinity customers by the end of the year. Unlike more conventional cable on-demand services, customers will purchase access to these series to view on tablets, phones, and other devices outside of their home, and will maintain permanent access to these series, even if they cancel their cable subscription. (Deadline)
• NBC is desperately seeking new opportunities to bring in viewers, and now they've ordered a pilot for a Maya Rudolph variety show that could air after the Winter Olympics (if they are pleased with the results). Rudolph will serve as executive producer alongside well-known veteran producer Lorne Michaels. (LA Times)
• Here we go again with the reboots! This time, it is The CW and a proposed reboot of the syndicated '80s horror anthology series Tales From the Darkside. The project is still very early in the development stage, but if it becomes a reality, as Entertainment Weekly reports, we should likely expect "plenty of ridiculously hot young characters being menaced by supernatural forces." (Entertainment Weekly)
• Despite ratings that haven't been all that impressive, NBC has "saved" freshman comedy Sean Saves the World, at least for a five additional episodes. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

• It seems very rare that we hear about a big surprise release of a lesser known classic TV series from one of the major studios, but CBS did just that this week with their announcement of Joanie Loves Chachi - The Complete Series. Every single episode of the Happy Days spinoff will be available on DVD on February 4.
• Joanie Loves Chachi isn't the only Happy Days spinoff headed to DVD on February 4. On the same date, fans will also see more of a well-known Happy Days spinoff with Laverne & Shirley - The Seventh Season.
• TGG has been releasing a lot of episodes of the series In the Heat of the Night on DVD in various forms, and now after releasing the first season, a "best of" release from seasons 2-7, and the eighth season (in that order), they are now skipping around yet again to release In the Heat of the Night - Season 4 and In the Heat of the Night - Season 5. However, neither of these are complete seasons, as season four will be missing two episodes and season five will be missing three episodes (both due to clearance reasons, likely involving music). Still, the releases are better than nothing.

RECENT HOME MEDIA REVIEWS ON SITCOMSONLINE

• The Carol Burnett Show - Christmas with Carol: Another collection of two episodes of The Carol Burnett Show that aired with Christmas sketches is certain to please diehard fans of the series.
  
• Flo - The Complete Series: Warner Archive's latest sitcom release gives fans of the spinoff of the classic sitcom Alice a fan to see Flo on her own.
• Heathcliff - Season One, Volume Two: Mill Creek's latest release of the '80s cartoon cat provides a great value for fans, old and new.

Posted by Skees -- SitcomsOnline.com at 2:00 PM

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Labels: In the Heat of the Night, Joanie Loves Chachi, Laverne and Shirley