SitcomsOnline Digest: Will & Grace Limited Series Gets Additional Episodes; Shout! Announces New Diff'rent Strokes and T.J. Hooker DVDs

Saturday, April 08, 2017

SitcomsOnline Digest: Will & Grace Limited Series Gets Additional Episodes; Shout! Announces New Diff'rent Strokes and T.J. Hooker DVDs

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! It's been a busy news week this week, but we've got highlights, including an order for additional episodes of the upcoming Will & Grace revival, more Diff'rent Strokes DVDs, and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

NBC's upcoming Will & Grace limited series is a little less limited now, as it has received an order for more episodes. (Variety)
The HBO series Girls is coming to an end very soon, and given the title, it's sort of hard to believe that it took this long for somebody to do a parody where the cast does a parody (though it isn't quite character for character) of The Golden Girls, but Jimmy Kimmel helped deliver that this week. (Deadline)
In the old days (as in five years ago), a TV series would air on a broadcast or cable network, and if it did well there, it would eventually air on an online streaming service. Now, the Amazon Prime series Transparent is about to do the opposite, as Sundance will be airing the first season beginning this summer. (Deadline)
The People's Choice Awards has aired on CBS every year since it began in 1975, but that will change in 2018, as it moves to E!. (New York Times)
Joe Harris is definitely not a household name, but if you've seen the commercials with the Trix rabbit or The Underdog Show, both characters that he created and animated, then you are familiar with his work. He died this week at age 89. (Deadline)
Four decades ago, Alice and One Day at a Time were a regular part of the CBS lineup. Two decades ago, they were paired again on the cable network E.! It's been 20 years since they were last together, so it only makes sense that they would be paired again, this time as both recently started airing on the cable network Logo. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

For a while, we doubted that Diff'rent Strokes would ever be completed on DVD, but our doubts are quickly being erased now, as Shout! Factory released Diff'rent Strokes - The Complete Fifth Season just this past week and already has plans for the Diff'rent Strokes - The Complete Sixth Season, to be released on July 25.
Shout! Factory also announced another surprise this week, with their announcement of T.J. Hooker - The Complete Series, set for a July 18 release.

TUESDAY (APRIL 11) HOME MEDIA RELEASES

Father Knows Best - Season Five (DVD, $34.99): It's not exactly a new release, but this former Shout! Select release comes to regular retailers with this release.
Silicon Valley - The Complete Third Season (DVD, $24.98; Blu-ray, $34.98): The hit HBO series continues on DVD with this release.
Veep - The Complete Fifth Season (DVD, $24.98; Blu-ray, $34.98): The Julia Louis-Dreyfuss HBO series arrives on DVD in this release.

FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Jenna Elfman (Twitter), "People watcher. Human lover. Big fan of the absurd. Golden Rule enthusiast."

Claim to Fame: Jenna Elfman is best known as an actress, particularly in her role as Dharma in the ABC series Dharma & Greg. All around that, though, she has been in a string of sitcoms that haven't quite succeeded, such as Townies (before Dharma & Greg), and series such as Courting Alex, 1600 Penn and Growing Up Fischer. Currently, she can be seen on the ABC series Imaginary Mary.

Pick of the Tweets: "WEST COAST! We're watching #imaginarymary @ImaginaryMaryTV with you right now on ABC! (pic)" (April 4, 2017)

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, March 3

The Goldbergs - "Mr. Ships Ahoy" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
As William Penn’s new Quaker Warden, Beverly is thrilled to have co-workers for the first time and sets out to make them all love her. To her dismay, it’s more difficult to win them over than she anticipated, as her reputation of being a difficult school parent precedes her. Meanwhile, Geoff competes in the “Mr. Ships Ahoy” beauty pageant to prove to Erica that he can be seen as desirable by other women.

American Housewife - "The Guardian" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Katie and Greg secretly put Kathryn (Wendie Malick) through a series of tests to see if she would make a good guardian for Anna-Kat in the unlikely event something should happen to them. Meanwhile, after tracking down J.D.’s (Jake Choi) potential egg donors, Tami (Holly Robinson Peete) and Katie scheme to learn more about them.

The Conners - "A Stomach Ache, a Heartbreak and a Grave Mistake" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Mark is stressed out and feeling sick, convinced he has COVID-19. Meanwhile, Becky and Harris team up to confront Josh who has been “ghosting” Harris; and when Jackie visits Roseanne’s grave, she finds an appalling headstone right next to it and sets out to make it right.

Call Your Mother - "Feelings" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Jean and Danny’s relationship grows complicated emotionally and physically as they try to resist their feelings for one another until his divorce is final. As Celia is moving into Freddie’s apartment, Freddie is disappointed to learn that Celia plans to keep her place as a backup plan, causing some hard conversations between the two.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 1)

Wednesday, March 3

Ben Schwartz (Space Force/Parks and Recreation) - Watch Ben on The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS. He will also be on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Annaleigh Ashford (B Positive) - Annaleigh appears on Watch What Happens: Live at 3:30am on Bravo.
Kyra Sedgwick (Call Your Mother) - Kyra is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Arsenio Hall (Arsenio) - Arsenio talks about Coming 2 America on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa appears on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Kristen Bell (The Good Place) and Dax Shepard (Bless This Mess) - Kristen and Dax are guests on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Jermaine Fowler (Superior Donuts) - Jermaine will be on The Real, so check your local listings.
Awkwafina (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens) - Awkwafina appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Hillary Duff (Younger/Lizzie McGuire) - Hillary talks about My Brave Little Girl on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.