SitcomsOnline Digest: Virtual Reality Experience for Simpsons 600th Episode; Coffee Shops Transform Into Luke's Diner

Saturday, October 08, 2016

SitcomsOnline Digest: Virtual Reality Experience for Simpsons 600th Episode; Coffee Shops Transform Into Luke's Diner

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! This week, we've got news about something special for the 600th episode of Fox's longest running animated comedy, the death of an iconic sitcom writer, and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

The 600th episode of The Simpsons is approaching us sooner than expected, and the series is planning a virtual reality experience in connection with it. (Deadline)
Over 200 coffee shops all across the country turned into Luke's Diner (from Gilmore Girls) on Wednesday as part of a special promotion. (LA Times)
Iconic sitcom writer Austin Kalish, who wrote over 100 episodes including the groundbreaking two-part Maude episode "Maude's Dilemma," died this week at age 95. He is survived by his wife (an iconic sitcom writer in her own regard), Irma Kalish. (New York Times)
Saturday Night Live had the best season premiere ratings it has seen in 22 years. (Hollywood Reporter)
getTV is adding a pair of "redneck" sitcoms to their lineup starting Tuesday, with The Jeff Foxworthy Show and The Bill Engvall Show. (SitcomsOnline)

TUESDAY (OCTOBER 11) HOME MEDIA RELEASES

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01F2NCSJK/ref/nosim/happydaysonline5-20

Mike & Molly - The Complete Series (DVD, $112.99): The recently ended CBS sitcom comes together in one big set with every episode in this release. Season 6 is also available individually.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Issa Rae (Twitter), "swriter/producer ▪ instagram: http://Instagram.com/issarae ▪ inquire: http://issarae.com/contact"

Claim to Fame: We continue (again) our theme of the stars of the new comedies with something a little different this week, with Issa Rae, who stars in the upcoming HBO comedy Insecure. The series debuts October 9 on the network, although if you subscribe to the network, you can watch the first episode on demand now. In the series, which is actually only the second comedy in the history of television that an African American woman both created and starred in (the first being Wanda Sykes' Wanda at Large), Rae stars as Molly, an attorney who is trying to just live a normal life in that doesn't necessarily see her as that way all the time. The series is, in part, based upon a YouTube series that Rae starred in called Awkward Black Girl.

Pick of the Tweets: "James Marsden is forever fine. I hope he doesn't get cheated on in this. #Westworld" (October 2, 2016)