SitcomsOnline Digest: New Amazon.com Pilots; New Donna Reed Show DVD Rumors; April Mill Creek DVD Releases

Saturday, February 08, 2014

SitcomsOnline Digest: New Amazon.com Pilots; New Donna Reed Show DVD Rumors; April Mill Creek DVD Releases

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! This weekend, we've got news about new pilots on amazon.com, expansion of the Adult Swim lineup on Cartoon Network, and some more (credible) rumors about The Donna Reed Show on DVD. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

Pilot season has returned to amazon.com! Once again, the website has introduced ten new pilots for potential Prime series that fans can watch, and ultimately choose which ones will be produced as new series to be streamed exclusively through the website. Last year, this introduced both Alpha House and Betas. Among the current batch, there are three comedy pilots, so check them out and let them know what you think. (New York Times)
Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup is getting even bigger, and will soon include all of primetime hours as the start time for the lineup moves to 8 PM beginning March 31. The lineup launched in September 2001 with a start time of 11 PM and has slowly been adding time over the years. King of the Hill will kick off the lineup in the 8 PM hour, a role that it currently serves in the 9 PM hour. (Multichannel News)
Last week was a great week for showrunner Chuck Lorre. Lorre, who has four primetime sitcoms that he can call his own on CBS, managed to have all four of his sitcoms land in the Nielsen Top 20 last week among adults last week, a feat that hasn't been accomplished by any showrunner since the introduction of electronic ratings measurement in 1991. (Deadline)
Of course, not everybody is a fan of Chuck Lorre. Charlie Sheen, in particular, is not a fan of Lorre, nor is he a fan of Ashton Kutcher, who replaced him on Two and a Half Men. This week on Twitter, Sheen apologized to Kutcher for some of the things he has said about him on Twitter... but then followed up with another tweet that was a lot less pleasant. (Deadline)
Good Times turns 40 years old today, and you can celebrate the anniversary with the 12 hour marathon airing today on Antenna TV. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

We've posted plenty of very credible rumors about releases of The Donna Reed Show on DVD over the years (thanks to a poster on Home Theater Forum who has been regularly communicating with Mary Owen, Donna's daughter), and this week, it seems that this source has some new inside scoop regarding re-releases of the first three seasons. MPI is now working on plans to re-release the first three seasons, which were released by another studio and are now out-of-print, and fixing many of the technical problems that plagued those releases. Not all of the news is great, though. MPI has been trying to negotiate releasing the final three seasons of the series as well, and the rights for these seasons are held by Sony. Negotiations are still going on here and there really hasn't been any progress in getting this accomplished, but there seems to be some hope that something can be worked out in the future.
Mill Creek has a few more re-releases in the horizon. On April 1, they will release The Cosby Show - Seasons 3 and 4, I Dream of Jeannie - Seasons 1 and 2, Married with Children - Seasons 3 and 4, and Newsradio - Seasons 1 and 2. Each will come at a $14.98 MSRP, but as usual, expect to find nice discounts on all of them.
For those who didn't get the complete series release of Mama's Family (but would still like the series), Mama's Family - The Complete Fourth Season is on the way on June 24 from StarVista Entertainment. The four disc set will come at a $29.95 MSRP.
Shout! Factory is already preparing to bring fans another season of L.A. Law, announcing it even before the upcoming release of L.A. Law - Season One. On May 20, L.A. Law - Season Two arrives on DVD at a $29.93 MSRP.

FEBRUARY 11 HOME MEDIA RELEASES

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00GHH9HW2/ref=nosim/happydaysonline5-20

Newhart - The Complete Second Season (DVD, $29.93): Shout! Factory puts together the second season of this classic Bob Newhart sitcom (review).

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Dave Coulier (Twitter), "I yam what I yam."

Claim to Fame: After last week's big week for the Full House, we realized that there was one more adult star of the series that we had yet to feature here as a "Follow Me," so it is only natural to remember Uncle Joey this week. Coulier got his start as a stand-up comedian (something he often brought to his role on Full House) and doing cartoon voices, but of course, he is best known for playing the role of Joey on Full House.

Pick of the Tweets: "Thank you @jimmyfallon for the Mr. Woodchuck. You're the greatest guy I know - Ranger Joe http://www.whosay.com/l/npK7HKG" (January 30, 2014)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Sunday, July 21

Last Man Standing - "The Passion of Paul" (Fox, 7:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Rev. Paul calls on Mike to teach Sunday school, Mike calls on Kyle to take his place; Eve fears Mandy and Kristin are taking advantage of Jen at home.

Last Man Standing - "Yass Queen" (Fox, 7:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
In an effort to help get her clothing line off the ground and into stores, Mike invites Mandy to sit in on a business meeting with an aggressive sales rep; Ed hires Kyle to transcribe his life story.

The Simpsons - "From Russia Without Love" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
On a mission to play hardcore pranks, Bart, Nelson and Milhouse get Moe a mail-order bride.

Bob's Burgers - "What About Blob?" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Gene convinces Tina and Louise to help him save a misunderstood plankton blob from being destroyed by a yacht club.

Family Guy - "Pawtucket Pete" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The brewery's new bosses decide to change the company's mascot; in an attempt to be crowned the new face of Pawtucket Ale, Peter and Brian go head-to-head.

What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage - "Preempted" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
A crazy car chase on the news stops "The Flare" from airing, and Fred doesn't have anything to discuss until a call from a fan changes everything; Joel McHale stops by the show.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 15)

Friday, July 19

The Jonas Brothers (Jonas) - The Jonas Brothers are guests on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) - Aubrey is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Louie Anderson (Baskets/The Louie Show/Life with Louie) - Louie appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Allison Williams (Girls) - Allison is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Kristen Bell (The Good Place), Enrico Colantoni (Just Shoot Me!/Hope and Gloria), Ryan Hansen (Bad Judge/Bad Teacher/Party Down) and Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Barry/The Good Place/Downward Dog)- Kristen, Enrico, Ryan and Kirby talk about Veronica Mars on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Ricky Gervais (After Life/The Office) - Ricky chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Sutton Foster (Younger) - Sutton stops by The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Louie Anderson (Baskets/The Louie Show/Life with Louie) - Louie visits Couch Surfing at 8am.
Marcia Gay Harden (Trophy Wife) - Marcia talks about Netflix's Point Blank on Access Live, so check your local listings.
JD McCrary (Tyler Perry's The Paynes) - JD talks about The Lion King on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
Francesca Reale (Haters Back Off) - Francesca talks about Stranger Things on the BUILD Series at 2pm.