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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, July 3

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A Sportsbook and a Breakup" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mandy finds out Meemaw runs an illegal sportsbook and decides she wants in on the action. Meanwhile, Georgie struggles to keep Mandy’s new job a secret.

Ghosts - "His Girl Shiki" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Pete makes good on his promise to find someone for Sasappis by bringing in a wisecracking 1940s screenwriter who also has the ability to roam.

Bob's Burgers - "The Shell Game" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Bob competes in a competition to inherit Mr. Fischoeder's 100-year-old tortoise.

Grimsburg - "Molly" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Flute forgets to buy Stan a gift for his birthday, he steals an AI doll from the evidence locker; Wynona is forced to confront her ex-boyfriend.

Family Guy - "Row v. Wade" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Brian wins a boat on "The Price is Right" and decides to sail to Texas to help women seeking legal abortions.

The Great North - "Silence of the Dams Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Honeybee accidentally revives an old Lone Moose curse, sending a terrifying creature after her and the Tobins.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 30)

Thursday, July 3

Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building) - Catch Steve on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Zach Cherry (Duncanville/I Feel Bad/Crashing) - Zach is a guest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Joel McHale (Animal Control/The Great Indoors/Community) - Joel appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Sandy Honig (Three Busy Debras), Mitra Jouhari (Clone High/Three Busy Debras) and Alyssa Stonoha (Three Busy Debras) - Sandy, Mitra and Alyssa are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Rob Lowe (Unstable/The Grinder/Parks and Recreation/A New Kind of Family) - Rob discusses cancer research and how it changed his life with GMA lifestyle contributor Lori Bergamotto on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Laurence Fishburne (black-ish) - Laurence chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Justin Bartha (The New Normal/Teachers) - Justin talks about Nuked on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am and on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour.
Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke guest co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Adam Scott (Ghosted/Veep/Parks and Recreation/Party Down), Britt Lower (Ghosted/Man Seeking Woman/Big Lake) and Ben Stiller (Arrested Development) - Adam, Britt and Ben talk about Severance on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.