SitcomsOnline Digest: Premiere Dates for Fall Series; Hulu Announced Commercial-Free Option; Planned Family Guy DVD Release for September 15 Delayed?

Saturday, September 05, 2015

SitcomsOnline Digest: Premiere Dates for Fall Series; Hulu Announced Commercial-Free Option; Planned Family Guy DVD Release for September 15 Delayed?

Happy (early) Labor Day, and to SitcomsOnline Digest! The three day weekend signals the unofficial end of summer, which means that fall (and the new fall season) is just around the corner... but we're not there quite yet! In the meantime, we're here with news of premiere dates for all of the new season of (just about) everything, a new Hulu commercial-free option, and some rumors and speculations about a Family Guy DVD release planned for September 15 that has seemingly vanished into thin air. And, to top it all off, it looks like a reboot that seemed to be a sure thing has now been killed... at least when it comes to NBC airing it. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

You're probably going to want to know when the new season of each of the new and returning series begins, and Deadline has you covered with a list of all of them, with most broadcast network series debuting the week of September 21. (Deadline)
Hulu has long been mocked for the fact that it competes with commercial-free services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, yet Hulu places commercials in their series for paid subscribers. But now, there is an option to pay a higher subscription fee to view everything on the service (with the exception of a few ABC series, as well as Grimm, and New Girl) without ads. (CNET)
The Carmichael Show managed to see an a rare increase in ratings from week 1 to week 2 on NBC, and seems to be sort of a hit (at least by NBC summer sitcom standards)... but with only two more episodes (both airing next week) remaining to measure the ratings, the question that remains is whether or not they would be willing to give it another season to truly test it out. (TV By the Numbers)
Throughout the summer, late night talk shows on the broadcast networks have been limited to two guys named Jimmy, but on Tuesday night, CBS puts a new (yet already established from cable TV) in the mix: Stephen Colbert. So will it be a big hit in the competition against two guys named Jimmy? (Yahoo)
NBC's reboot of Coach seemed to be a sure thing when it was announced, but now NBC has abruptly pulled the plug... which likely means that it will show up on Netflix or some other similar service. (Deadline)
Antenna TV's fall season starts September 14, and while there aren't a whole lot of big changes (aside from new time slots for almost everything), it does include Family Ties, and two much rarer sitcoms: It's About Time and My Mother the Car. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Sometimes, DVD releases tend to fall off of the schedule for unexplained reasons, and we've recently discovered one that may possibly be raising some questions, particularly since it was perhaps THE series to first demonstrate the (now fading) power and dominance of TV-on-DVD (in fact, it weren't for the popularity of the DVDs, the series probably would have ended when it was canceled in 2002): Family Guy - Season Thirteen. It was scheduled for release on September 15, and pre-orders were being taken at one point in time on amazon.com, but they no longer are. While we don't know exactly what happened here, it appears that the date may have been moved to December 8, if we are to believe a pre-order listing from Target (which appears to be the only website currently accepting pre-orders). We aren't completely sure what is going on here, but our best guess is that Fox wanted something to replace the void being left with the lack of Simpsons releases (which invariable came out every December). We'll update when we know more!
Olive Films promised fans of King of the Hill that they would complete the series by the end of this year, and they weren't kidding. The studio now has King of the Hill - The Complete 13th Season scheduled for October 20, but that isn't all, they will also be releasing it on Blu-ray.
VEI announced several big releases earlier this year, and they seem to be diving head first into complete series (and attempting to get them all out by the end of this year). This week, they gave some details on their complete series release of Barnaby Jones, due to arrive in November.
Hotel - The Complete Series will also be arriving from VEI on October 20.

SEPTEMBER 8 HOME MEDIA RELEASES

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season Two (DVD, $44.98): The Andy Samberg sitcom returns to DVD with this release of the second season of the series.
The Goldbergs - The Complete Second Season (DVD, $45.99): With the third season coming up, Sony gives fans this release of last season

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Loretta Devine (Twitter), "actress,singer,poet,creator ,lover,step mom.just Me"

Claim to Fame: Loretta Devine's first claim to fame was in a Broadway musical in 1978, which was literally called A Broadway Musical, which was such a flop that it ended after only one performance. It was a bad way to start a career, for sure, but in all fairness, Jackée Harry also got her start in that very same musical. She had some minor movie roles after that, and she also appeared on A Different World and even starred in her own sitcom for a brief period of time. In the late 90s, she found movie success in a pair of major Whitney Houston blockbuster films, Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher's Wife. But she returned to TV, where she finally found more success, in 2000 in her role as Marla Hendricks, a very unstable (but caring and effective) teacher on Boston Public. In fact, she was one of the few cast members to actually appear in the entire series. Currently, she appears in the NBC series The Carmichael Show, which will air the last two episodes of the season (and perhaps the series, since we don't know the fate of the series yet) on Wednesday.

Pick of the Tweets: "Thanks everyone for watching the Carmichael show our ratings for week two are way way up . Blessed" (September 3, 2015)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Wednesday, September 17

Shifting Gears - "Gummies" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Riley is horrified when she finds weed gummies in Carter’s pocket, prompting surprising advice from Matt. Meanwhile, Eve inadvertently lands Gabriel and Stitch in hot water after asking them to donate to a charity auction.

Shifting Gears - "Kiss" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Jimmy returns with a new job and a proposition for Riley and the kids to move into his house, Riley is torn between her past and her future. Meanwhile, Matt's feud with Eve flares up once again after she damages his car.

Abbott Elementary - "Rally" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ava and the Abbott teachers go to the district to plead for Ava's job back; Gregory handles duties as interim principal.

Abbott Elementary - "Please Touch Museum" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Abbott Elementary goes on a schoolwide field trip to the Please Touch Museum, which has some of the older kids skeptical.

The Hospital - "Double or Nothing; Make a Wish" (BET, 11:00PM ET/PT)
Apparently the best spot to gamble during your shift, is in the morgue.

The Hospital - "Lyrical Surgery; Get It Poppin" (BET, 11:30PM ET/PT)
Dr. Do-It-To-Em's mixtape has more bars than a nursing student during finals week.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 15)

Wednesday, September 17

Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/George and Leo/Chicago Sons/Simon/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons) - Jason appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Ron Howard (Arrested Development/Happy Days/The Andy Griffith Show) - Ron is a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Brett Goldstein (Shrinking/Ted Lasso) - Brett stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Rob Reiner (All in the Family/Morton & Hayes) - Rob appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Paul F. Tompkins (The Great North/BoJack Horseman/DAG) and Greta Titelman (Fantasmas/Search Party/Los Espookys) - Paul and Greta are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Eva Longoria (Only Murders in the Building/Telenovela) - Eva talks about FX's Necaxa on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Marlon Wayans (Marlon/The Wayans Bros.) - Marlon talks about Him on The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Eugene Levy (Schitt's Creek/Greg the Bunny/Hiller and Diller) - Eugene talks about The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Mark Duplass (Big Mouth/Togetherness/The Mindy Project/The League) - Mark talks about The Morning Show on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Rosie Perez (Human Resources/Search Party) - Rosie co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Kristin Davis (And Just Like That.../Bad Teacher/Sex and the City) - Kristin dishes on the end of And Just Like That and surprises Drew with an item from the set of Sex and the City on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Jane Lynch (Angel from Hell) - Jane talks about Fox's Celebrity Weakest Link on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Judy Reyes (Scrubs) - Judy is a guest on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.