SitcomsOnline Digest: Undateable Renewed for Second Season; Facts of Life Complete Series Coming to DVD

Saturday, August 02, 2014

SitcomsOnline Digest: Undateable Renewed for Second Season; Facts of Life Complete Series Coming to DVD

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! This week, we've got news of a late renewal for an NBC series, a cancellation for a TV Land series, news about The Facts of Life on DVD, and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

Summer premieres for a sitcom are usually seen as a dumping ground, and even Undateable executive producer Bill Lawrence acknowledged that before the show premiered. However, it was renewed. (Deadline)
The TV Land original sitcom Kirstie has been canceled after just one season. (TVLine)
This is our third week reporting it, and The Big Bang Theory cast still hasn't signed new contracts, but it looks like there is a good chance that will be taken care of by Sunday night. (Boston Herald)
A critic at The New York Times shared his negative views on retro TV this week in an opinion piece this week, and we think you'll disagree (as we do). (New York Times)
Musicals seems to be one of the latest trends in specialty programming for the broadcast networks, but NBC and Kathie Lee Gifford may be taking that a bit too far with their musical version of Today, which will actually air on the morning show sometime later this year.. (Huffington Post)
Bewitched is almost 50 years old, and Antenna TV will mark that anniversary with a 50 hour marathon in September. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Shout! Factory dropped a huge surprise last week, when they announced that they would be releasing The Facts of Life - The Complete Series on DVD sometime next year.
It seems like we can't go more than one week without an update on new special features for The Wonder Years - The Complete Series, and this week, TVShowsOnDVD.com announced a few more.
Mill Creek has a pair of complete series releases in store for November 11, including Highway to Heaven - The Complete Series and Starsky & Hutch - The Complete Series.
For those who aren't necessarily interested in making the big investment into one of the Batman complete series releases, Warner Home Video will also be releasing Batman - The Complete First Season on November 11.
We mentioned in the past that MPI has plans to right some of the wrongs done with The Donna Reed Show on DVD, and part of the plan appears to be to re-release the first three seasons on DVD, beginning with The Donna Reed Show - Season One on September 30.

AUGUST 5 HOME MEDIA RELEASES

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00K31RCCA/ref=nosim/happydaysonline5-20

Dennis the Menace - Lights! Camera! Menace! (DVD, $12.98): The animated version of the comic book page character comes to DVD once again with 32 "new" episodes, almost all of which available on DVD for the very first time.
Mad About You - Seasons 1 and 2 (DVD, $14.98): A Mill Creek re-release of a set previously released by Sony (also available in configurations of just the first season or second season).
The Nanny - Seasons 1 and 2 (DVD, $14.98): Another Mill Creek re-release of a set previously released by Sony (also available in configurations of just the first season or second season).
Perry Mason Movie Collection - Volume 3 (DVD, $59.99): This six movie collection brings more the 80s and 90s movies based upon the classic series to DVD, leaving only twelve more of the movies unreleased (eight of which starred Raymond Burr).

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Bill Lawrence (Twitter), "UNDATEABLE, Cougar Town, Scrubs, Spin City, Clone High, Ground Floor, Surviving Jack, finds himself boyishly handsome, is not boyishly handsome"

Claim to Fame: You may not know his name, but you know his work. You may not know his first work, though, which was as a writer on the short-lived Head of the Class spinoff, Billy (it never dawned on me that the series even had a spinoff), but shortly thereafter, he went on to write for series such as Boy Meets World, Friends, and The Nanny. But it was in 1996 where he really made a name for himself, when he created the series Spin City. He followed up on that success with the series Scrubs. His most recent work has been as co-creator of Cougar Town, and executive producer of Undateable, which was recently renewed for a second season.

Pick of the Tweets: "For some of us, every day is national Tequila day." (July 25, 2014)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Monday, August 19

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Climb" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Gemma decides to fire a teacher at her school, she’s unprepared for the aftermath. Also, Calvin gets a surprise when he faces off with his newspaper carrier.

The Big Bang Theory - "The D&D Vortex" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When the gang finds out Wil Wheaton hosts a celebrity Dungeons and Dragons game involving William Shatner, Joe Manganiello, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Smith, deception and betrayal are the path to make it to the one open seat.

The Big Bang Theory - "The Conference Valuation" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Penny and Bernadette go to San Diego for a pharmaceutical sales convention, Wolowitz is in charge of the kids. Also, Sheldon finds a book on experimenting on kids, and the guys plus Amy make a day of it.

Mom - "Jell-O Shots and the Truth About Santa" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Bonnie pushes Christy to mend her relationship with Violet (Sadie Calvano), and Adam prepares for the grand opening of his bar.

I Ship It - "Somewhere Magical" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Ella seizes the opportunity to work as a personal assistant to a writer for "Superstition," her favorite TV show; Ella's fantasies begin to collide with reality in unexpected ways, in both her creative life and love life.

In The Cut - "Lucky Charmed" (Bounce TV, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Jay buys Cheryl a necklace for her birthday, not knowing it was stolen; when the police want it back, Jay must devise a plan to return it before she finds out.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 19)

Monday, August 19

Billy Eichner (Friends from College/Difficult People) - Watch Billy on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Issa Rae (Insecure) - Issa appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:34pm on NBC.
Dax Shepard (Bless This Mess) - Dax is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Tom Hanks (Bosom Buddies) - Tom appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place/Barry), Henry Winkler (Barry/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) and Bill Hader (Barry) - D'Arcy, Henry and Bill are panelists on Lights Out with David Spade at 11:30pm on Comedy Central.
Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Bryton James (Family Matters) - Bryton appears on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll) - Charlie is a guest on a repeat of The Real, so check your local listings.
Bella Thorne (Shake It Up) - Bella appears on a repeat of ABC's Strahan & Sara at 1pm.
Donald Faison (The Exes/Scrubs/Clueless) - Donald talks about Emergence on Access Live, so check your local listings.
Melissa Peterman (Reba/Working Class/Baby Daddy) - Melissa guest co-hosts Access Live, so check your local listings.
Patti LaBelle (Out All Night) - Patti opens up about her 22-year battle with diabetes on a repeat of The Dr. Oz Show, so check your local listings.