SitcomsOnline Digest: Remembering Jack Riley and Fyvush Finkel; New Family Matters DVDs

Saturday, August 20, 2016

SitcomsOnline Digest: Remembering Jack Riley and Fyvush Finkel; New Family Matters DVDs

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! It has been yet another busy week with deaths of classic TV stars, news of the upcoming death of a relatively new cable network, and also a bit of good news with some new series for Antenna TV. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

Jack Riley, known for his roles on The Bob Newhart Show and many other sitcoms, as well as the the voice of Stu Pickles on Rugrats, died this week at age 80. (People)
Fyvush Finkel, who spent most of his career as a Yiddish theater actor but transitioned into TV thanks to David E. Kelley casting him in roles on Picket Fences and Boston Public, died this week at age 93. (New York Times)
The cable network Pivot will be pivoting toward going off the air sometime in the next year. (USA Today)
Antenna TV has a lot of new (to them, anyway) sitcoms coming along the way over the next year or two. (SitcomsOnline)
Comedy Central abruptly and somewhat unexpectedly canceled The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore this week, and it seems that it was in large part due to the inability to translate the series into clips that could go viral on YouTube. (Vox)
John McLaughlin, the host of the PBS series The McLaughlin Group, unexpectedly missed an episode for the first time in the 34 year history of the program earlier this week, and then died earlier this week. Now, the series that pioneered the modern "noisy" political talk show will end this weekend, with a special tribute to the host. (Deadline)
The Wonder Years - The Complete Series is coming to retailers soon, but we have a chance for you to win a copy of it. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Warner Archive is moving ahead with Family Matters, bringing Family Matters - The Complete Eighth Season (the last one to air on ABC before the series moved to CBS for the ninth) to DVD on September 20.

TUESDAY (AUGUST 23) HOME MEDIA RELEASES

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season Three (DVD, $39.98): The third season of the Andy Samberg sitcom on Fox arrives in this release.
Superstore - Season One (DVD, $29.98): The first season of the NBC comedy arrives in this release.
The Wonder Years - The Complete Series (DVD, $119.95): In case you skipped the deluxe version that came packaged in the metal locker and was only available directly from Time Life, this complete series now arrives at retailers.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Jason Hervey (Twitter), "Executive Producer/Actor/Co-Founder of Bischoff Hervey Entertainment Television (BHE TV) AKA brother from hell on the Emmy Award Winning series The Wonder Years"

Claim to Fame: We're (sort of) continuing a theme of actors who played memorable characters in 80s sitcoms, but were never part of the regular cast this week with Jason Hervey, even though Hervey did go on to an actual regular role in the late 80s on The Wonder Years. Jason Hervey's career began with a few guest roles here and there, most notably in the final season of Diff'rent Strokes, where he played Charlie in nine final season episodes. Of course, his best known role came from The Wonder Years, where he was much more than just a minor supporting character. Today, he does much more work on the production side of television, and much like his friend Scott Baio, seems to have some very strong pro-Donald Trump political opinions... just so you know before viewing his Twitter page.

Pick of the Tweets: ".@thirsty_lawyer Me and my brother (aka the REAL Wayne Arnold) at our cousin David's wedding! #JenBern #Congrats" (February 27, 2016)

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.