SitcomsOnline Digest: Saturday Night Live and New Girl to Pay Tribute to Prince; Morning Show Drama at Live!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

SitcomsOnline Digest: Saturday Night Live and New Girl to Pay Tribute to Prince; Morning Show Drama at Live!

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! We've had (yet another) busy week with celebrity deaths, including sitcom star Doris Roberts and musician Prince (who had some TV connections that become relevant to our news this week), and we've also stumbled into some more morning show drama, this time over at Live! with Kelly and Michael. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

This has been a busy year with celebrity deaths but undoubtedly the biggest one in the media (perhaps since Michael Jackson in 2009) came this week with the unexpected death of musical artist Prince. Saturday Night Live has enough Prince material to fill an entire 90 minute special, as they will be doing tonight in their regular timeslot. Additionally, the Fox sitcom New Girl will replay the episode "Prince" next week, which (not surprisingly) featured Prince. (Hollywood Reporter)
The story was supposed to be that Michael Strahan is leaving Live! with Kelly and Michael to go full-time at Good Morning America, but the real story has ended up becoming a tale of another behind-the-scenes soap opera at a morning show that nobody wanted or expected. (Deadline)
We often forget that Netflix is working on a reboot of the series One Day at a Time, but this week, Todd Grinnell was cast as Schneider. (Deadline)
A reunion of the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond just in time for the 20th anniversary was planned for June at the ATX Television Festival, but with the death of Doris Roberts this week (and other factors), it has been scrapped. (Yahoo!)
Comcast is letting customers ditch their cable box for a Roku app, something that Time Warner Cable has had for a few years now. (CBS News)
ABC is making summer plans, which include the new sitcom Uncle Buck. (SitcomsOnline)

TUESDAY (APRIL 24) HOME MEDIA RELEASES

The Beverly Hillbillies - The Official First Season (DVD, $29.98): CBS is going slightly backwards with this release, which brings the first season (which was previously released in an authorized, though not by CBS, release from MPI as well as numerous public domain entities) to DVD.
Hot in Cleveland - Season Six (DVD, $29.98): TV Land's first successful sitcom wraps up on DVD with this release. Complete series also available.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Bronson Pinchot (Facebook, Twitter)

Claim to Fame: Bronson Pinchot got his start in several movies from the 80s, such as Beverly Hills Cop and Risky Business, but for sitcom stars, he came to fame playing the role of Balki on Perfect Strangers. He later went on to play the role of Jean-Luc in the final season of the series Step by Step. He has had other small guest roles and movie appearances in between and since then, but these days, his focus is on The Bronson Pinchot Project, a DIY Network show about restoring old homes, which happens to be one of his hobbies and passions.

Pick of the Tweets: "BRONSON PINCHOT & DEBRA MESSING A marriage made in Comedy Heaven. But not yet consummated; our scenes were dramatic!" (pic) (November 6, 2014)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, October 18

American Housewife - "Lasagna" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Greg hosts a meeting for the Westport Historical Guild to welcome back Stan (Timothy Omundson), and Katie’s homemade lasagna is a huge hit with the guys. After Stan makes several trips back for seconds and begins spending an inordinate amount of time at the Otto house, Chloe Brown Mueller (Jessica St. Clair) becomes convinced that Katie and Stan must be having an extra-marital affair. Meanwhile, Angela and Doris step in to help Oliver with his Teen Help Line.

Fresh Off the Boat - "S'Mothered" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
While Eddie faces his fears and finally introduces his girlfriend Tina to his mom, Louis is in search of his next passion.

Raven's Home - "Girls Just Wanna Have Phones" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Nia and Tess square off in a competition with Raven and Chelsea to see who can go without technology the longest; Booker tries to impress a new girl in the building.

Just Roll With It - "The Tutor" (Disney Channel, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Owen volunteers to tutor the school's star basketball player, Big Jim, so that he can pass an upcoming test and be eligible to play in the game.

Gabby Duran & the Unsittables - "Wesley and the Fischman" (Disney Channel, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Gabby has to choose between keeping her new secret alien-babysitting gig a secret or risking it all by confiding in her extraterrestrial-obsessed best friend, Wesley.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 14)

Friday, October 18

Chris O'Dowd (Family Tree/The IT Crowd) - Watch Chris on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Kal Penn (Sunnyside/Deadbeat/We Are Men) - Kal appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
America Ferrera (Superstore) - America is a guest on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Regina King (227) - Regina visits The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Julie Andrews (Julie) - Julie speaks about her book Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Sean Hayes (Will & Grace/The Millers/Sean Saves the World) - Sean guest hosts The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Pam Grier (Bless This Mess) - Pam drops by The Real, so check your local listings.
Sara Gilbert (The Conners/Roseanne/Living Biblically/Bad Teacher) - Sara appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Angela Kinsey (The Office/Haters Back Off/Your Family or Mine) and Jenna Fischer (Splitting Up Together/The Office) - Angela and Jenna talk about the Office Ladies Podcast on ABC's GMA 3: Strahan, Sara & Keke at 1pm.
Kal Penn (Sunnyside/Deadbeat/We Are Men) - Kal visits Access Live, so check your local listings.
Marcus Scribner (black-ish) - Marcus appears on Access Live, so check your local listings.
William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) - William can be heard on The Morning Mashup on SiriusXM.
Billy Bob Thornton (Hearts Afire) - Billy Bob talks about Goliath on Couch Surfing at 8am.