SitcomsOnline Digest: Yahoo! Screen Shuts Down, Effectively Cancelling Community (Again); NBC Announces New Pilots

Saturday, January 09, 2016

SitcomsOnline Digest: Yahoo! Screen Shuts Down, Effectively Cancelling Community (Again); NBC Announces New Pilots

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! Not surprisingly, with everybody back at work this week (including in the entertainment industry), there is lots of news to catch up on from the slow holiday weeks of news, including the shutdown of an online streaming service (though one that wasn't really making a big splash to begin with), new hope for sitcoms on NBC, new additions to Hulu, and much more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

Community has managed to survive six seasons (though no movie... yet), but it can't seem to catch a break. After being on the verge of cancellation just about every season on NBC, it finally was cancelled and moved to Yahoo! Screen for the sixth season, except now, Yahoo! Screen has been shut down, effectively cancelling the series... again. (/FILM)
NBC may be falling short in the comedy realm lately, but they're not giving up, as they've picked up four new pilots from producers with a track record of success. (Hollywood Reporter)
Hulu has announced a new deal with Sony that will bring Dawson's Creek, Party of Five, and more to the service, though so far, the only sitcom announced is Happy Endings (which has actually already debuted on the service). (Hollywood Reporter)
TBS, which has been sort of redefining itself lately, has ordered a comedy pilot starring Wyatt Cenac, with Conan O'Brien and Greg Daniels producing. (Variety)
We still have another month before Fuller House debuts on Netflix, but everybody is excited over new photos from the series that have surfaced online. (Entertainment Weekly)
ABC is eager to make primetime a game show destination again (at least for the summer), as they've renewed Celebrity Family Feud and plan to introduce a Michael Strahan hosted version of $100,000 Pyramid. (Deadline)
Pat Harrington, Jr., best known for his role of Schneider on One Day at a Time, has died, and Antenna TV is airing a marathon of the series today. (SitcomsOnline)

TUESDAY (JANUARY 12) HOME MEDIA RELEASES

Hill Street Blues - The Final Season (DVD, $34.93): The final season of the classic police drama arrives on DVD for those who skipped on the complete series release.
The Wonder Years - Season Four (DVD, $39.98): Time Life continues the series on DVD with this release, for those who did not pick up the previously released complete series set.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Patricia Richardson (Twitter, Facebook), "in transition"

Claim to Fame: Last week, we featured Tim Allen as our Follow Me, and this week, we move on to his Home Improvement co-star, Patricia Richardson. For eight seasons, she played Jill Taylor, the wife of Tim Allen's character on the series. Before Home Improvement, she mostly appeared in guest roles, beginning in 1981 with an episode of Love, Sidney, and continuing on with Kate & Allie, The Cosby Show, The Equalizer, and more. She had a brief starring role on the series FM in 1989, but that was cancelled rather quickly. Since Home Improvement ended, she has had roles in Strong Medicine and The West Wing, and now, most recently she appeared on an episode of Tim Allen's new series, Last Man Standing... and the good news is that there is a little more of that to come.

Pick of the Tweets: "How about as a Christmas present to my fans and Tim's fans and HI and LMS fans I tell you I'm going to do another episode of LMS in 2016?" (December 17, 2015)