SitcomsOnline Digest: How I Met Your Dad Casting News; The Wonder Years to Arrive on DVD

Saturday, February 15, 2014

SitcomsOnline Digest: How I Met Your Dad Casting News; The Wonder Years to Arrive on DVD

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! Today, we've got some developments in pilots for series that could make it to air on CBS and NBC, developments on The Wonder Years on DVD, news on some Family Matters DVD issues, and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

With How I Met Your Mother coming to an end on CBS next month, the producers of the series and CBS are hoping to find success towards the potential spinoff, How I Met Your Dad. This week, indie film actress Greta Gerwig was cast in the lead role for the pilot of this series. (New York Times)
NBC has ordered a pilot for Feed Me, a sitcom produced by Witt/Thomas Productions (a production team that has been around in the sitcom world for almost four decades, and part of the team that brought us hit series such as Soap, Benson, and The Golden Girls, among others) and starring Mary-Louise Parker (previously of Weeds). The pilot is described as "a comedic exploration of adult intimacy and desire that centers on a dysfunctional family bound by love and the restaurant they run together." It's still very early in the development phase, and many pilots never even make it to air, but we'll be keeping an eye on it! (Deadline)
When Saturday Night Live returns after the Olympics, the host of the first new show will be one that sitcom fans are sure to appreciate: Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory. (Zap2it)
Ralph Waite, best known for playing family patriarch John Walton on the series The Waltons, died this week at the age of 85. (Los Angeles Times)
NBC is on track to go another season with no new sitcom successes, as both of their new sitcoms from fall 2013 (Sean Saves the World and The Michael J. Fox Show) have now been canceled. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Time-Life tends to announce one big DVD release per year, with past "big announcements" including Get Smart, The Carol Burnett Show, Mama's Family, China Beach, and others. This week, they announced that they'll be releasing the complete series of another sitcom favorite on DVD: The Wonder Years. No firm details are known about the set yet, other than the fact that it will include most of the original music from the series (something that has been lost in online streaming versions of the series). Keep checking back with us and WonderYearsDVDs.com (the official release website) for more details as they progress!
Warner Home Video released Family Matters - The Complete Fourth Season on February 4, but it seems that they made a huge mistake on this release. Instead of releasing unedited episodes, it turns out that the entire season consisted of syndicated versions of the episodes. But there is good news in this story: the studio is replacing these "bad" releases in stores, and is making a disc replacement program available to customers who have already purchased the release. You can read more about this in the coverage provided by TVShowsOnDVD.com.
The Dick Van Dyke Show wrapped up on DVD years ago, and if you're a devoted fan of the series and would like to own it on DVD, you may want to pick that DVD up as soon as possible. According to TVShowsOnDVD.com, a new episodes only re-release of the series is on the way, which assuming it follows the lead of The Twilight Zone, means that the original special features loaded DVDs will fall out of print (although the Blu-ray releases will maintain those features for the time being).

RECENT HOME MEDIA REVIEWS ON SITCOMSONLINE

The Jimmy Stewart Show - The Complete Series: Warner Archive puts together a great looking release of the complete series of this lost gem from the early 70s starring Jimmy Stewart.

FEBRUARY 18 HOME MEDIA RELEASES

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00GWJIDFW/ref=nosim/happydaysonline5-20

Nurse Jackie - Season Five (DVD, $39.98; Blu-ray, $39.97): The Showtime series about the nurse dealing with problems much bigger than what is going on at work returns to DVD for another season.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Jodie Sweetin (Twitter), "Actress, wife and mom to two beautiful girls! My life is beautiful and full of so many blessings, I am grateful to be where I am today!"

Claim to Fame: We've covered so many of the Full House stars here over the past few weeks in our Follow Me, and this week, we had Jodie Sweetin to this list. She made her sitcom debut not in Full House, but actually in a 1987 episode of the Valerie Harper series Valerie (better known today by the syndication title The Hogan Family). Of course, her greatest claim to fame came from her role of Stephanie Tanner on Full House, a role that she held for eight long seasons. Currently she is making a return to the small screen by playing roles in TV movies after several years of being out of the spotlight.

Pick of the Tweets: "Fun times last night with some of the Full House Family! http://www.whosay.com/l/kCl7Esf " (January 22, 2014)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Tuesday, November 12

The Conners - "Tempest in a Stew Pot" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Jackie and Becky pitch their business plan to Darlene in hopes of getting the Lunch Box back, but Darlene’s decision leads to hostility among the three. Meanwhile, Dan bans Odessa from the house, causing a rift with Harris; and Mark makes extensive Thanksgiving plans that may inevitably fall apart.

Bless This Mess - "The Visit" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Donna springs a last-minute trip to Nebraska on Mike and Rio, which she claims is to relax, but Mike and Rio soon find out she has other plans in mind when she steps into competitive mode to get them to participate in the harvest. Meanwhile, Constance’s son Brandon is driving her crazy working at the store, so she pawns him off on Rudy.

mixed-ish - "Puttin' on the Ritz" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
The kids are excited to learn more about their grandad after Harrison invites the crew to family day at his country club. Although Paul thinks it’s a bad idea, he is eventually overruled. Meanwhile, Alicia attempts to fit in at the country club but ends up fighting with Denise about keeping it real.

black-ish - "Daughters for Dummies" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
When Dre realizes that his relationship with Diane has been distant, he plans some daddy-daughter bonding sessions, but the plans backfire when he realizes the interest is one-sided. Meanwhile, Bow covers for Junior at his ChoreBoar gig.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 11)

Tuesday, November 12

Patrick Stewart (Blunt Talk) - Catch Patrick on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Da'Vine Joy Randolph (People of Earth) - Da'Vine appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Kristen Bell (The Good Place) - Kristen visits The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also talks about Frozen 2 on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Laurie Metcalf (The Conners/Roseanne/The McCarthys/Getting On/The Norm Show) - Laurie stops by The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Jenny Slate (Married/Parks and Recreation/Bob's Burgers) - Jenny is a guest on The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Rob Schneider (Real Rob/Rob) and Esther Povitsky (Dollface/Alone Together) - Rob and Esther are panelists on Lights Out with David Spade at 11:30pm on Comedy Central.
Lizzy Caplan (Party Down/The Class) - Lizzy drops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana appears on Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo.
Laura Dern (F Is for Family/Enlightened) - Laura is a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Robin Givens (Head of the Class) - Robin visits The Real, so check your local listings.
Donald Faison (The Exes/Scrubs/Clueless) - Donald appears on The Real, so check your local listings.
Nicole Byer (Loosely Exactly Nicole) - Nicole is a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Tim Robbins (The Brink) - Tim talks about Dark Waters on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Kristin Davis (Sex and the City/Bad Teacher) - Kristin talks about Holiday in the Wild on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.