SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

TVGN announced that it will rebrand as Pop across its distribution of 80 million homes on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015. The CBS/Lionsgate joint venture, currently known as TVGN, will embrace a new on-air look and creative design to accompany its new brand promise - celebrating the fun of being a fan, as we previously announced. Among the original series will be The Story Behind, airing Wednesdays at 8:30pm. The Story Behind features new episodes that go behind-the-scenes of TV's greatest hits and most iconic shows, and how they got their start. The series reveals stories straight from the set with exclusive on-camera interviews with all the insider players from cast members to producers to television executives. The one-hour episodes will highlight some of TV's most treasured classics, including Everybody Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, Beverly Hills 90210, Will & Grace, Full House, Friends and ER. The Story Behind will be a Pop Media Group production and will begin with The Story Behind: Everybody Loves Raymond on Jan. 14.

Also, docu-sitcom Unusually Thicke returns for a second season this spring 2015 starring Alan Thicke. Not even seven seasons as Dr. Jason Seaver on Growing Pains could prepare Alan Thicke to be the patriarch of his own modern family. Between his fiery, much younger Latina wife, Tanya, and his three sons - teenaged know-it-all Carter, pop star Robin and marijuana dispensary owner Brennan - Alan Thicke has his work cut out for him as a father, a husband and a Hollywood actor, writer and icon. Unusually Thicke follows the hilarious, action-packed and dramatic daily lives of Alan's real-life family. Dozens of celebrity appearances have been featured in the series, including David Hasselhoff, Bob Saget, Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, John Stamos, Bill Maher and Tom Green, with many more to come. Unusually Thicke is an original series that blends reality television with situation comedy, and is produced by Peacock Alley Entertainment.

Pop will also have its own sitcom, Schitt's Creek, premiering Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT. Starring the incomparable Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, the character-driven comedy series (created by and starring Eugene Levy and his son Daniel) will become the first original scripted project in the history of the network. Thirteen half-hour episodes will star Emmy winners(R) Eugene Levy (American Pie, Best In Show, SCTV) and Catherine O'Hara (Home Alone, Best In Show, SCTV) and Chris Elliott (How I Met Your Mother, Late Show With David Letterman, There's Something About Mary) alongside Daniel Levy (Admission) and Annie Murphy (Blue Mountain State). The series centers on filthy rich video store magnate Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy), his soap star wife Moira (Catherine O'Hara), and their two kids, über-hipster son David (Daniel Levy) and socialite daughter Alexis (Annie Murphy), after they suddenly find themselves broke. They are forced to live in Schitt's Creek, a depressing small town they once bought as a joke. And finally, what about the network's reruns like Family Ties, The Love Boat and more? No word yet on the full weekday schedule, but the #Throwback programming lineup will continue. The new 90210 will begin airing Monday, Jan. 19, 2015 at 4:00 PM, ET/PT with the original two-hour pilot, and beginning Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, the series will air at its regularly scheduled time slot of Monday through Friday at 5:00 PM, ET/PT. The original Beverly Hills, 90210 will continue to air marathons Tuesdays at 12:00 PM, ET/PT. But that's not all! The original Melrose Place will join the line-up and air weekly beginning Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 at 12:00 PM, ET/PT. Stay with us for continued updates on the #Throwback block as we get closer to January.92

The fifth season of Mike & Molly, starring Billy Gardell and Emmy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Melissa McCarthy, will premiere Monday, Dec. 8 at 8:30PM ET/PT on CBS. One week earlier, on Monday, Dec. 1, four encore episodes of the series will air from 8:00-10:00PM, followed by a rebroadcast of Scorpion at a special time of 10:00PM ET/PT. Mike & Molly replaces canceled sitcom The Millers on the schedule. Mike & Molly will air right after 2 Broke Girls and will lead into new episodes of new drama Scorpion at 9. Mike & Molly of course stars Billy Gardell, Melissa McCarthy, Reno Wilson, Katy Mixon, Nyambi Nyambi, Swoosie Kurtz, Louis Mustillo, Cleo King, Rondi Reed and David Higgins. Chuck Lorre and Al Higgins are the executive producers for Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. and Warner Bros. Television. The comedy is about a working-class Chicago couple who had almost given up on love...and then found each other.