SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

• Tina Fey (30 Rock) - Watch Tina on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
• Zach Braff (Scrubs) - Zach stops by The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
• Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy/American Dad!/The Cleveland Show) - Seth appears on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart at 11pm.
• Malin Akerman (Trophy Wife) - Malin is a guest on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) - Josh stops by The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs/Rules of Engagement/Reno 911!) - Wendi guest co-hosts The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT. She will also be on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 12:30pm ET.
• Kelly Ripa (Hope & Faith and Michael Strahan (Brothers) - Kelly and Michael will be on ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am.
• D.L. Hughley (The Hughleys) - D.L. gives viewers an all access pass inside the hottest Oscar parties on ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am.
• Tim Conway (McHale's Navy/Rango) - Tim appears on a repeat of The Queen Latifah Show, so check your local listings.
• Beth Behrs and Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls) - Beth and Kat dish on crazy stories from their set on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
• Ted Lange (The Love Boat) - Ted appears on The Better Show, so check your local listings.
• Allison Janney (Mom/Mr. Sunshine) - Allison is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• The Cast of The Game - Brandy Norwood, Coby Bell, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Hosea Chanchez, Jay Ellis and Lauren London will be on The Aresenio Hall Show, so check your local listings.

• Betty White (Hot in Cleveland/The Golden Girls/The Mary Tyler Moore Show) - Catch Betty on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC. She will also be on ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am. Finally, she will be on LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
• Keke Palmer (True Jackson, VP) - Keke appears on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Allison Williams (Girls) - Allison is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
• Gabourey Sidibe (The Big C) - Gabourey guest co-hosts Chelsea Lately on E! at 11pm.
• Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) - Miley appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Nadine Ellis (Let's Stay Together) - Nadine talks about the new season of Let's Stay Together on BET on The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations. She will also be on Arise TV at 2pm.
• Michaela Watkins (Trophy Wife) - Michaela visits Pop Sugar on TV Guide Network at 6pm and on the next day on their website at noon.
• Jenna Elfman (Growing Up Fisher/1600 Penn/Dharma & Greg) - Jenna plays "What Am I Touching?" by trying to guess if she can identify some of the wildest animals in the bayou on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
• Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs/Rules of Engagement/Reno 911!) - Wendi will be on Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo. She will also be on Good Day New York on WNYW-Fox5 in New York at 9:15am.
• Parker Young (Enlisted/Suburgatory) - Parker is a guest on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.

• Jennie Garth (What I Like About You) - Jennie talks about her new book, Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde, on ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am. She also chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
• Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City/Square Pegs) - Sarah is a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs/Rules of Engagement/Reno 911!) - Wendi dishes about her new film, Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club, on The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations.
• Annie Potts (Designing Women) - Annie talks about her return to Broadway in Pippin on The Couch on WLNY 10/55 in New York between 7-9am.
• George Lopez (Saint George/George Lopez) - George will be on ESPN's SportsNation.
• Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) - Sarah stops by The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• Keke Palmer (True Jackson, VP) - Keke is a guest on NBC's Today in the 10am hour. She will also be on Arise TV at 2pm.
• Christine Lakin (Step by Step) - Christine appears on Big Morning Buzz Live with Nick Lachey on VH1 at 10am.
• Hayley Orrantia (The Goldbergs) - Hayley visits Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.

• Allison Janney (Mom/Mr. Sunshine) - Allison is part of the guest panel on Chelsea Lately on E! at 11pm.
• Kristin Chenoweth (Kristin) - Kristin appears on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Billy Connolly (Head of the Class/Billy) - Billy is a guest on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Paul Scheer (The League) - Paul visits The Pete Holmes Show at midnight on TBS.
• Ty Burrell (Modern Family/Back to You/Out of Practice) - Ty talks about lending his voice for new animated film Mr. Peabody & Sherman onLIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
• Scott Foley (The Goodwin Games/A.U.S.A.) - Scott appears on ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am. He will also be on LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings. Finally, he is a guest on Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo.
• Cheryl Hines (Suburgatory/Curb Your Enthusiasm) - Cheryl chats on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Whitney Cummings (Whitney) - Whitney is part of the guest panel on Chelsea Lately on E! at 11pm.
• Michael Mosley (Sirens) - Michael is a guest on Pop Sugar on TV Guide Network at 6pm and on the next day on their website at noon.
• Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) - Ray appears on a repeat of The Queen Latifah Show, so check your local listings.
• Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) - Cynthia is a guest on NBC's Today between 7-9am and in the 10am hour.
• Patrick Duffy (Step by Step) - Patrick will be on Good Day New York on WNYW-Fox5 in New York at 9:15am. He will also be on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 12:30pm ET.
• Jason Hervey (The Wonder Years) - Jason talks about his iconic role on The Wonder Years and what he's up to now on Katie, so check your local listings.

• Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen) - Watch Ellen on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
• Kenan Thompson (Kenan & Kel) - Kenan appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
• Patrick Duffy (Step by Step) - Patrick discusses the new season of Dallas on LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings. He will also be on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
• Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move) - Jason is a guest on Pop Sugar on TV Guide Network at 6pm and on the next day on their website at noon.
• Scott Foley (The Goodwin Games/A.U.S.A.) - Scott joins the Chew Crew on ABC's The Chew at 1pm ET/12pm PT/CT.
• Judy Gold (All-American Girl) - Judy weighs in on hot topics on The Couch on WLNY 10/55 in New York between 7-9am.
• Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea answers calls from the Foodie Phone Booth on Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
• Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) - Stephanie discusses Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.
• Lena Dunham (Girls) - Lena will be on NBC's Today between 7-9am.
• Patrick Warburton (Rules of Engagement/Seinfeld) - Patrick appears on NBC's Today between 7-9am.
• Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine/Are We There Yet?/Everybody Hates Chris) - Terry is a guest on Larry King Now at 2/5pm PT/ET on Ora.tv and Hulu.
• Christine Lakin (Step by Step) - Christine is a guest on Big Morning Buzz Live with Nick Lachey on VH1 at 10am.
• Henry Winkler (Happy Days/Out of Practice) - Henry visits The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.

The CW announced its May 2014 season finale dates and the broadcast television premiere of the four-hour event miniseries Labyrinth, airing across two consecutive nights on Thursday, May 22 from 8:00-10:00pm ET and concluding Friday, May 23 from 8:00-10:00pm ET. 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. Labyrinth features a multi-national and award-winning cast, including John Hurt, Sebastian Stan, Jessica Brown-Findlay, Vanessa Kirby and Tom Felton. The series is an adaption of Kate Mosse's New York Times best-seller and multi-million selling, international hit adventure/thriller novel of the same title. The CW's 2014 season finale dates are as follow:

Monday, May 5, 9:00pm: The Tomorrow People
Monday, May 12, 8:00pm Star-Crossed
Tuesday, May 13, 8:00pm: The Originals
Wednesday, May 14, 8:00pm: Arrow
Thursday, May 15, 8:00pm-10:00pm: The Vampire Diaries and Reign
Friday, May 16, 9:00pm: Hart of Dixie
Tuesday, May 20, 9:00pm: Supernatural
Wednesday, June 11, 9:00pm: The 100




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

NBC's ensemble comedy lead by Joel McHale airs Thursdays at 8:00pm and we have just watched the next episode that airs tonight (Feb. 27). In the episode airing tonight, "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality," Professor Duncan (guest star John Oliver, The Daily Show) decides it's time to seduce Britta (Gillian Jacobs) and Jeff (Joel McHale) counsels him on how to close the deal. Meanwhile, Britta runs into some old friends and realizes that they have moved on from their shared anarchist views of the past. Abed (Danny Pudi) runs afoul of Professor Hickey (Jonathan Banks) when he accidentally damages some drawings Hickey has been laboring over. When Hickey restrains Abed as punishment, the two end up spending some meaningful time together. Meanwhile, Chang (Ken Jeong) finds himself performing an impromptu one-man show for a ghostly audience.

At its heart, Community is a show about people trying to connect with each other. The show has become more known for its genre parodies and format bending over the years, but the thing that keeps it together is the strong, emotional undercurrent that focuses on how these people have been rejected from just about every other aspect of society and have to use Greendale to start themselves over. Five seasons in, it would be easy for Community to forget this undercurrent and just do a bunch of silly movie parodies every week. That's pretty much what the show did when it briefly lost its creator in Season 4, and it's the biggest reason why that season failed. But Season 5 has been a relief in that it's brought back those dark underlying in a big way. So it's nice to see the show pull off an episode like "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality," an episode that almost completely sidesteps the shows' inventive side and focuses in on its characters' emotions.



"Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality" reminded me a lot of "Mixology Certification", a season two episode that remains my favorite episode of the show. That episode centered around the study group going to be a bar and slowly tore apart each one of them, allowing us to see their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. It remains the gold standard for sitcom character development, in my mind – and although "Bondage" didn't *quite* reach those heights (mostly because it sidelines a few of its characters in favor of a silly Chang plot), it was certainly similar in its emotional honesty and its commitment to pathos. "Bondage" was also an episode that made good use of the shows' slightly altered ensemble. I was worried about the effect that Troy and Pierce's departures would have on the show, but it's done a really great job filling their void with the addition of Buzz Hickey and the re-introduction of Professor Duncan, both of whom fit quite neatly into the broken Community study group. Hickey, in particular, has been a surprisingly well-drawn and intriguing character. When a show adds a new character this late in the game, it's incredibly easy for that character to come off as a weak link, since they don't have the years of history and development like the rest of the ensemble. But Hickey has been a really rewarding addition, and the way the show has used him to sort of question each of its study group member has been fascinating. Like much of this season, "Bondage" re-highlighted what it is that makes this show work so well, while simultaneously finding new areas for its characters to explore. These kinds of episodes might not be as exciting as a paintball war of a school-wide game of Hot Lava, but they're just as rewarding, and arguably even more necessary. A-

Breaking the mold of a typical pre-launch promotion, the cast and creators of NBC's upcoming multi-camera comedy series Undateable are hitting the road on a multi-city, cross-country comedy tour. Led by the show's co-creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Spin City, Cougar Town), series stars Chris D'Elia, Brent Morin, Ron Funches and Rick Glassman - all stand-up comedians - will bring the Undateable comedy tour to venues across the country. Each performance will showcase a stand-up set from each of the actors with Bill Lawrence serving as host. This tour will give audiences a sneak peak of the comedic humor that viewers can expect when Undateable premieres later this year on NBC. A premiere date is still to come, so stay tuned on that.

A list of confirmed first-leg tour dates are released. For information on venues, additional dates or to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.nbc.com/undateable/comedy-tour. The first stop will be on Sunday, March 2, 2014 in New York City at Carolines On Broadway. As for the series itself, it is a new comedy series about a group of friends who are thisclose to finding a relationship - they just need a little help.

ION Television announced an agreement to produce new original episodes of the procedural drama The Listener. ION joins Shaftesbury, CTV and Fox International as co-producers on the drama, which started production on 13 new original episodes earlier this year. The agreement makes ION the exclusive original U.S. television network for current and future seasons of the series. The Listener joins ION's portfolio of acclaimed dramas, including Criminal Minds, Without a Trace Cold Case, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Burn Notice, Psych and Leverage. This announcement comes on the heels of ION's recent acquisition of the high profile drama Blue Bloods from CBS, which will be joining the ION schedule this fall. The Listener is the latest scripted ION Television original and joins the network following the success of the original series, Flashpoint, along with ION's made-for-TV original movies.

Starring Craig Olejnik, The Listener centers on mind-reading police consultant Toby Logan, who uses his telepathic ability to help a special law enforcement unit solve the most complicated cases. Having kept his unique power hidden for years, Toby learns to harness his skill to help others and save lives. The series also stars Ennis Esmer as Oz Bey; Lauren Lee Smith as Sergeant Michelle McCluskey; Rainbow Sun Francks as Corporal Dev Clark; Peter Stebbings as Alvin Klein; Tara Spencer-Nairn as Sandy; and Mylène Dinh-Robic as Olivia Fawcett.

Jolene Purdy has been tapped as a series regular on USA Network's upcoming courtroom comedy Benched. Purdy will play Micah, an intern in the public defender's office. She joins previously announced Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings), Jay Harrington (Better Off Ted) and Oscar Nunez (The Office). This comedy is from ABC Signature and The Mark Gordon Company. The sitcom is a single-camera half-hour courtroom comedy that focuses on Nina (Coupe), a dedicated, career-driven corporate attorney who has a very public nervous breakdown after getting passed up for an expected promotion, and finds herself working as a public defender. Her personal and professional worlds are turned upside down when she joins the ranks of the legal world's underdogs and very quickly realizes that the law isn't quite as fair as she once thought. Jay Harrington stars as Nina's new colleague, Phil, a tall, dark and handsome, if not a little scruffy, public defender and avid gambler. We still do not have a premiere date yet, but as a reminder USA Network will launch new comedy Sirens next Thursday (March 6) at 10pm

NBC is bringing back its conquering Heroes. An iconic series that still commands a rabid fan base (with reruns airing on G4), Heroes will return to the network in 2015 as an event miniseries with original creator and executive producer Tim Kring at the helm. NBC has ordered 13 episodes for a new stand-alone story arc entitled Heroes Reborn, with all details of storylines and characters being kept under wraps. The original series chronicled the life-changing stories of a series of unrelated ordinary people who discovered they had superhuman abilities. As the saga unfolded, they learned they were part of a grand plan that brought them together to change the world. With the return of Heroes Reborn, NBC will launch a digital series prior to the 2015 premiere that will introduce the characters and new storylines. This leveraging of social media is a way for fans to re-engage with what was one for the true pioneers in multiplatform storytelling.

The iconic sci-fi series, which ran on NBC from 2006-10 and was an immediate hit, ranked as television's #1 new drama with an average audience of 14.5 million viewers during its initial season. The show was Golden Globe-nominated in its first year of eligibility for best drama series; it won the BAFTA Award for best international series, the AFI Award, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award, two People's Choice Awards and the Television Critics Association Award for Program of the Year. Fun Fact: The series remains one of the best-selling TV series on DVD of all time with more than 10 million units sold. Stay tuned for continued updates, as this is the second series to be revived, with the other being 24: Live Another Day, of course. But unlike that series, this series might be brand new characters all-around, but we shall see.

Last week we mentioned Sister, Sister coming to The Hub Network, but now we have one additional detail. There will be a special TGIF-style marathon! In celebration of this acquisition, viewers can tune in to the Hub Network's special "Tia & Tamera-Thon" featuring 10 fun-filled episodes on Friday, March 7 from 7pm-12am ET/4pm-9pm PT. Separated at birth, identical twins Tia Landry and Tamera Campbell (Tia and Tamera Mowry) reunite as teenagers and live under one roof with their adoptive parents, Lisa Landry and Ray Campbell (Jackée Harry and Tim Reid). Together, this unconventional blended family learns lessons in life, laughter and love. The Hub Network has acquired all six seasons of Sister, Sister (119 episodes), which is distributed by CBS Television Distribution, and will air it regularly weekdays 7-8pm ET and encores 2-3am ET. It's double the trouble and twice the fun! Tune in and stay with us for continued updates.