Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Antenna TV's Matchup Madness Marathon; Episodic Reviews: The Mindy Project - "French Me, You Idiot" and "Indian BBW" Airing Tonight on Fox

Antenna TV's Matchup Madness

Today the winners of the Antenna TV Matchup Madness (a play on the NCAA Basketball March Madness) will air from 11am-5am. Fans voted for their favorite match-ups for their favorite Antenna TV shows and now we will see the winners. The sitcoms airing will be the same shows that air in their regularly scheduled time periods but we have different episodes from the normal rotation. Did you pick a perfect bracket? Tune in today for these shows: Hazel, McHale's Navy, The Patty Duke Show, Dennis the Menace, Mister Ed, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Good Times, Diff'rent Strokes, Sanford & Son, All in the Family, Maude, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Burns and Allen Show and The Jack Benny Program. And since I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched air for two-hours each, you'll get four episodes each! Among the winners are Sammy Davis Jr. on All in the Family, Muhammad Ali on Diff'rent Strokes, and the classic "Black Jesus" episode of Good Times. Dyno-mite!

Antenna TV launched on January 1, 2011 and is available as a digital multicast channel on 84 affiliates across the U.S. reaching 70% of TV households, including WPIX-TV (11.2) New York, KTLA-TV (5.2) Los Angeles, and WGN-TV (9.2) Chicago. And don't forget, Three’s Company and Too Close for Comfort Join Antenna TV's schedule beginning next week - Monday, April 7!

The Mindy Project - French Me, You Idiot

On the next...The Mindy Project:
By: Skees

It has been over two months since we last saw a new episode of The Mindy Project, but tonight, the series returns from the extended hiatus with two new episodes: "French Me, You Idiot" (airing at 9:00PM ET/PT) and "Indian BBW" (airing at 9:30 PM ET/PT) When we last saw Mindy, she was on a mission to get Cliff (Glenn Howerton) back into her life, when plans are interrupted with a cliffhanger of a kiss between Mindy and Danny... a cliffhanger that could have a real impact on the series.

In the first episode, "French Me, You Idiot," Mindy is forced to deal with the aftermath of the kiss, which may possibly include leaving Cliff and beginning a relationship with Danny. Everything seems to be heading into that direction without a flaw until tragedy hits Cliff's life, with the death of his grandmother. The death complicates Mindy's plans to the point that she is forced to be there to comfort him, even forced to attend her funeral (along with Danny). Unfortunately, the funeral turns out to be somewhat of a disaster, so much of one that it requires assistance from the fire department.

It's hard to know at this point what the consequences of this episode will be at this point, but part of me enjoys seeing the fact that Mindy could perhaps be settling down with somebody, rather than continuing to play the somewhat tiring dating game. But I don't think we can end that story just yet. The episode itself wasn't particularly great, as it seemed to focus on this one story (with no major subplot) and while there were a few funny moments, it really seemed to drag on without much going on. C+

The Mindy Project - Indian BBW

In "Indian BBW," Mindy begins to get a little more serious with Danny, and is determined to "take it slow," which of course, is not exactly a common trait of Mindy's. That is particularly obvious when Peter discovers a video sex tape (courtesy of her ex-boyfriend Tom, played by Bill Hader) on the internet where she wasn't taking it slow at all. Now Mindy is on a quest to get the video removed from the porn website that has posted it, but that proves to be a challenge as she appears in one of their few "Indian big beautiful women" videos, a type of video in high demand on their website. But getting the video off of the internet is the least of her worries when she has to consider the possibility that it could be seen by the wrong person.

I found this episode to not only be a rather enjoyable episode, but one of the stronger episodes of the series that I've seen in quite a while. The episode stayed focused on the one main plot, but the plot was full enough to fill the entire episode without being too thin. There were plenty of solid moments in the episode, and I think in a sense, some fans are sort of rooting for a relationship between Mindy and Danny. The plot of the episode was a little more absurd than usual, and at times it felt like an episode of 30 Rock, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm hopeful that we'll see more of these episodes that get into a plot that brings us a little more comedy that isn't centered solely on who Mindy is dating in a given episode.  A


Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, December 8

Norman Lear: A Life on Television

CBS announced the new entertainment special Norman Lear: A Life on Television, to air tonight - Friday, Dec. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs). Presented by Entertainment Tonight, this one-hour special features new interviews with stars of the long-running comedies Lear created, including Jimmie Walker from Good Times and Mackenzie Phillips from One Day at a Time, in addition to never-before-seen interviews from the ET vault. Also included with this new footage and interviews is an in-depth sit-down interview with Lear that ET host Kevin Frazier conducted when Lear celebrated his 100th birthday, in which he reflected on his lengthy, groundbreaking career.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 4)

Friday, December 8

  • Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Watch Eddie on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • John Caponera (The Good Life) - John is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
  • Robert Smigel (Let's Be Real) - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog aka Robert Smigel chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Noah Galvin (The Real O'Neals) and Molly Gordon (Ramy) - Noah and Molly talk about Theater Camp on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
  • Eric Stonestreet (The Santa Clauses/Modern Family) - Eric talks about The Santa Clauses on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan sits down with Sherri to talk about his new book, When I Was Your Age, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)

Family Matters - The Complete Series Step by Step - The Complete Series ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

That Girl - The Complete Series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest


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