SitcomsOnline Digest: Shameless Renewed for Eighth Season; Quantum Leap DVDs to be Re-Released With Most of the Original Music Intact

Saturday, December 24, 2016

SitcomsOnline Digest: Shameless Renewed for Eighth Season; Quantum Leap DVDs to be Re-Released With Most of the Original Music Intact

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! It's Christmas Eve, and while we don't have a whole lot of "presents" this week, we do have news of a new season of a Showtime favorite, and news of a pair of re-releases from Mill Creek (including one that is worth replacing your previous release if you own it). Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

Fresh off of a season finale that gave Showtime their biggest audience of the year and a new salary deal for Emmy Rossum, Shameless has been renewed for an eighth season on Showtime. (Entertainment Weekly)
While Zsa Zsa Gabor was much more of a movie star than a TV star (the opposite of her sister Eva Gabor, who was better known as a TV star), she died this week at age 99. (LA Times)
Matt Lauer is set to be reunited with some of his former Today co-anchors next month with Savannah Guthrie on maternity leave, but it is probably no surprise that Ann Curry will likely not be among them. (USA Today)
Just an early heads up: Syfy will be airing their annual Twilight Zone marathon (which will be longer than usual this year, although it comes up about 30 episodes short of last years marathon of every episode) beginning December 31. (UPI)
You can find Christmas cheer almost everywhere today, and of course, that includes classic Christmas episodes of all of your favorite series. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01MSX5322/happydaysonline5-20

Mill Creek announced long ago that they would be re-releasing Quantum Leap on DVD, but perhaps the most pleasant surprise that may have gotten overlooked in that announcement is that they will also release it on Blu-ray, and best of all, the new release will include most of the original music in the episodes, which was lacking in the original Universal releases. The releases will arrive on February 7. TVShowsOnDVD.com has more on this.
Mill Creek has also announced that they'll be re-releasing 227 - The Complete First Season on February 7, though there do not seem to be any plans for releasing any of the remaining four seasons at the moment.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Jay Baruchel (Twitter), "Canadian. Lithe. Wan. Director of GOON: LAST OF THE ENFORCERS coming soon! IG:jonathanadamsaundersbaruchel"

Claim to Fame: Jay Baruchel is a Canadian actor who started out his career in TV series that were abruptly canceled. His first TV series was the Fox series Undeclared, which actually did get a chance to air every episode that was fully produced, but more storylines had been in the works for the series before it was abruptly cut short. The next series he appeared in was the CBS comedy The Stones, which starred Robert Klein and Judith Light, and managed to produce 10 episodes. But once again, it too was cut short after just three episodes and the remaining seven were never seen. His third attempt at a series was on The WB, in a legal drama called Just Legal, in which he starred alongside Don Johnson. Despite getting an actual fall premiere date and airing on a network that had lowered expectations, it too was canceled after just three episodes, though at least this time the remaining five did get a chance to be burned off later in the summer. That doesn't mean he has been a failure, though, because his latest endeavor has been successful, and is actually returning for a second season next month on FXX, the series Man Seeking Woman. Additionally, while his first three TV series didn't go so well, he has had a successful movie career

Pick of the Tweets: "I LIKE THIS SWEATER AND I THINK YOU WILL TOO." (November 29, 2016)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, October 29

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "The Devil’s Interval and a British Stripper" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Georgie and Mandy are caught in the crossfire between their moms over CeeCee’s Halloween costume, and Missy (Raegan Revord) and Mary (Zoe Perry) clash over her Halloween plans.

Eternally Yours - "Halloween" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Up for a promotion at her teaching job, Liz invites her boss and his wife over for drinks on Halloween, when they arrive dressed in stereotypical vampire costumes, much to Charles’ annoyance. Also, the coven fears Max has placed them in danger of a werewolf attack when he inadvertently uses an ancient protective relic as a candy bowl for trick-or-treaters and it goes missing.

Ghosts - "Halloween 6: The Mirror – Part One" / "Halloween 6: The Mirror - Part Two" (CBS, 9:00PM ET/PT)
A couple of months after Pete’s disappearance, while Sam is in Australia on the set of her new film, Polar Opposites, Kyle (new series regular Ben Feldman) steps up to help baby-sit the ghosts. Also, Hetty is unexpectedly reunited with her estranged sister, Margaret (guest star Maria Thayer), and Bela throws an unconventional Halloween bash at Woodstone.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 26)

Thursday, October 29

Christopher Lloyd (Taxi/Stacked) - Catch Christopher on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Veronika Slowikowska (Tires/Davey & Jonesie's Locker/What We Do in the Shadows) - Veronika appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Rose Byrne (Platonic/Physical) - Rose is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons), Sean Hayes (Will & Grace/The Millers/Sean Saves the World) and Will Arnett (Murderville/Arrested Development/Flaked/The Millers/Up All Night/Running Wilde) - Jason, Sean and Will talk about the "Smartless" podcast on NBC's today sometime between 7-9am.
David Alan Grier (St. Denis Medical/Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!/The Cool Kids/The Carmichael Show/Bad Teacher/Life with Bonnie/DAG) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
Meagan Good (Cousin Skeeter/Raising Dad) - Meagan talks about Reasonable Doubt on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Sophia Bush (Partners) - Sophia talks about And I Will Tell You Mine: Notes from a Life in Progress with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) - Zazie talks about Nocture on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Joe Manganiello (Mythic Quest/How I Met Your Mother) - Joe opens up about his seven-year health battle, his new memoir, Bloodlines, and the family secrets he uncovered while searching for answers on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Cafe Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - It's a special food news with Valerie Bertinelli on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Plus, Val is joining Drew in the kitchen to make zucchini chips.