Thursday, January 16, 2014

TCA Winter 2014 Press Tour: CBS and The CW; Episodic Review: Community - "Cooperative Polygraphy" Airing Tonight on NBC

CBS

CBS and The CW were up at the TCA Winter 2014 Press Tour yesterday and we have the full scoop! First up, CBS made some scheduling announcements. Eleven former teams return for another sprint around the globe on a special All-Star themed edition of The Amazing Race, featuring 11 returning fan favorite teams in pursuit of the $1 million prize, premiering Sunday, Feb. 23 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT. The 28th edition of Survivor, the longest-running reality competition series, hosted by Jeff Probst, will have a special two-hour premiere on Wednesday, Feb. 26 from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT, marking the first two-hour launch since "Heroes vs. Villains" on Feb. 11, 2010. And next, CBS announced some summer scheduling news for its two scripted summer event series - Under the Dome and Extant, both produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television. Under the Dome returns for its sophomore season on Monday, June 30 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT. The premiere episode will be written by Stephen King, whose bestselling novel the series is based on. Extant, starring Academy Award winner Halle Berry, premieres Wednesday, July 2 at 9:00 PM, ET/PT. Extant is a mystery thriller about a female astronaut trying to reconnect with her family when she returns after a year in outer space. Her experiences lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history.

The CW

In addition, CBS has renewed its entire daytime schedule for the 2014-2015 season. Set to return next season are Let's Make a Deal, The Price is Right, daytime television's most-watched program; The Young & The Restless, which received a multi-year pickup through the 2017 season; The Bold and the Beautiful and talk show The Talk. Moving on to The CW, two reality series - Barber Battle, an all-new, half-hour reality competition series hosted by actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer, and Penn & Teller: Fool Us, a one-hour competition series celebrating magic and featuring the legendary duo Penn & Teller - will premiere later this year on The CW. 10 episodes for the Cedric series and 9 episodes of the Penn & Teller series have been ordered. The CW Network has acquired Labyrinth, the four-hour event miniseries with a multi-national and award-winning cast, including John Hurt, Sebastian Stan, Jessica Brown-Findlay & Tom Felton. Premiere night and time will be announced at a later date. Filmed on-location in the medieval town of Carcassonne in southwest France and Cape Town, South Africa, the historical miniseries jumps back and forth between modern and medieval France as it follows the lives of two women who are separated by centuries, but united in their search for the Holy Grail. And finally back to CBS, comedy legends Carl Reiner, Tim Conway, Steve Lawrence and Garry Marshall are set to guest star on an upcoming episode of Two and a Half Men, to be broadcast Thursday, Jan. 30 at 9:30 PM, ET/PT. In the episode, multi-millionaire Marty Pepper (Reiner) proposes to Evelyn (Holland Taylor). In advance of their upcoming nuptials, Walden (Ashton Kutcher) and Alan (Jon Cryer) throw Marty a bachelor party. Marshall, Conway and Lawrence play Marty’s friends who help him celebrate his last days of bachelorhood.

Up today at the TCA Winter 2014 press tour will be cable network Showtime. Stay tuned for any updates, if anything is of note for us. And Friday we will have ABC and ABC Family up at the TCA Winter 2014 press tour. Stay tuned for updates!




On the next...Community (NBC, Thur 8:00pm):
By: Skees

NBC's ensemble comedy lead by Joel McHale airs Thursdays at 8:00pm and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (Jan. 16). In the episode airing tonight, "Cooperative Polygraphy," after Pierce Hawthorne's (guest star Chevy Chase) unexpected passing, a team of investigators headed by the no-nonsense Mr. Stone (guest star Walton Goggins), arrives at Greendale to submit the study group to lie detector tests before they can be considered for distributions under the will. Tensions mount as Mr. Stone digs in with the questions and the group members learn a little more about one another than they wished.

When Community returned with the episode "Repilot," it returned minus one character, that character being Pierce Hawthorn (who was played by Chevy Chase). Of course, fans were surprised in this episode when Pierce actually made a surprise appearance, but he wasn't in his usual form. In fact, he had died. In "Cooperative Polygraphy," the Greendale gang returns to school after attending Pierce's funeral, but upon their return, they are greeted by a team of investigators who are there to present them with their inheritance from Pierce. After all, he was a very wealthy man, and had a lot to offer. Unfortunately, part of Pierce's will mandates that it must be proven that none of the study group members murdered Pierce, leading to a painfully probing polygraph that reveals a lot of secrets that they would rather leave covered. In the end, everybody gets something that they really don't want... but one lucky member of the study group receives something so big that may change the dynamics of the series as it progresses.



Once again, the classic Community that fans all loved in the first three seasons (and to be fair, I didn't think the fourth was a complete disaster, even though it did pale in comparison) is back in this episode. The episode uses a simple formula that keeps the entire cast in one room for the entire episode to develop an entire plot, which works remarkably well for this series. However, the developments of this episode so far are precisely what concern me about the series going forward. One of the great things about this series has been the study group (the study group that has been there since the first episode) and their interactions with one another. In this episode, we have a new development about Troy that seems like it will change the series significantly as it moves ahead (it should be no surprise that Donald Glover is leaving the show, but here we begin to find out how and why). So, while I enjoyed this episode, I am still a bit concerned about where the series is going to go from here. Hopefully, with Dan Harmon back in charge of the series, it'll be able to overcome these rough waters, and so far it has been able to do just that. B+


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Saturday, May 17

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 12)

Friday, May 16

  • Lunell (Lopez) - Watch Luenell on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC. She will also be on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:39am.
  • Benito Skinner (Overcompensating) - Benito appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Mayan Lopez (Lopez vs Lopez) and Jerry O'Connell (We Are Men/Do Not Disturb/Carpoolers/My Secret Identity) - Mayan and Jerry are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Luke Kirby (Étoile) and Gideon Glick (Étoile/The Other Two) - Luke and Gideon talk about Étoile on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
  • Stanley Tucci (Central Park) - Stanley talks about his new series Tucci in Italy with GMA co-anchor Michael Strahan on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm. He will also be on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
  • Howie Mandel (Good Grief) - Howie talks about America's Got Talent on Live with Kelly and Mark (check your local listings) and on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your lcoal listings.
  • Marissa Jaret Winokur (What We Do in the Shadows/Retired at 35/Stacked) - Marissa talks about her latest project Mama I'm a Big Girl Now on Sherri, so check your local listings.


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


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