Wednesday, January 10, 2018
TCA 2018 Winter Press Tour: NBC; grown-ish Premieres Strong on Freeform
Moving on to NBC at the TCA 2018 Winter Press Tour, we have news on a new comedy. From Executive Producers Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy, Champions will premiere Thursday, March 8 and will air at 8:30pm through May 17. From executive producers Charlie Grandy (The Mindy Project, Guys with Kids) and Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project), Vince is living every bachelor’s dream. He owns the fifth largest gym in Brooklyn, dates an endless string of beautiful women and lives with his dumb, lovable brother Matthew. But Vince's simple life gets complicated fast when his high school fling Priya (Mindy Kaling) unexpectedly drops off their 15-year-old son Michael so he can attend a city school for super-talented kids. How will Vince handle this wildly ambitious and hilariously witty teenager? Well, somehow he’ll have to work it out. Next, fresh off its stellar debut, NBC has ordered a 13-episode second season of its new hit alternative series Ellen's Game of Games.
NBC's newest comedy A.P. Bio, starring Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt with Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels as executive producers, will premiere two original episodes on digital platforms. As we mentioned, A.P. Bio will launch as a special preview on NBC Thursday, Feb. 1 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT with Will & Grace as its lead-in. The following two episodes (along with the pilot) will be available across digital platforms, including the NBC App, Hulu and those run by NBC owned and affiliated stations, beginning Feb 2, one day after the show debuts on the network. The digital episodes will then air when the series returns on NBC, first on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 10:30 p.m., immediately following the Closing Ceremony of the Winter Olympics from PyeongChang, South Korea; and then on Thursday, March 1 at 8:30 p.m. A.P. Bio will move to its normal 9:30 p.m. Thursday timeslot beginning March 1. And finally, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will host a star-studded guest lineup in Minneapolis for its special post-Super Bowl episode on Sunday, Feb. 4, including Justin Timberlake, Dwayne Johnson and the cast of NBC's hit series This Is Us: Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley. The show will air live from the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis following NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl LII, an original episode of This Is Us and late local news.
The debut of grown-ish (Jan. 3, 2018, 8:00-8:31 p.m. EST) ranked as Freeform's biggest series launch in 2 years among Total Viewers (1.562 million), Adults 18-49 (917,000/0.71 rating), Women 18-49 (658,000/1.01 rating), Women 18-34 (340,000/0.98 rating) and Females 12-34 (448,000/0.96 rating) - since Shadowhunters on 1/12/16. Freeform's grown-ish out-delivered the channel's most-recent comedy debut by strong triple digits (Kevin From Work on 8/12/15) across all key demographics: Total Viewers (+111%), Adults 18-49 (+132%), Women 18-34 (+170%), Females 12-34 (+152%) and Female Teens 12-17 (+108%). In fact, grown-ish opened as Freeform's best comedy debut in nearly 6 years in Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Women 18-49 - since long-running hit Baby Daddy on 6/20/12.
Competitively, the grown-ish debut opened as Wednesday's No. 1 scripted series on cable TV among Women 18-49, Women 18-34 and Females 12-34. The 8:00 p.m. debut of grown-ish was the strongest scripted comedy series launch on basic cable among Women 18-49 since April 2014 (MTV's Faking It), among Women 18-34 since July 2014 (FX's Married) and among Adults 18-49 since September 2016 (FX's Atlanta).
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Sunday, July 13
Ghosts - "Patience" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
While Sam and the ghosts race to find him, Isaac comes face to face with Puritan ghost Patience (Mary Holland) for the first time since she was lost in the dirt.
The Simpsons - "Homer and Her Sisters" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After a fight in an escape room, Krusty's aunt fixes Homer's relationship with Patty and Selma.
Krapopolis - "Ice Week!" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ty struggles to keep his cool when he gets the hots for a visiting reporter; Shlub is paid a visit by an old friend; Hippocampus and Stupendous risk missing the festivities altogether.
Animal Control - "Giraffes, Gorillas and Penguins" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The crew must contain a freak zoo break; Frank realizes that he needs to break up with Yasmin; Emily finds an unexpected benefactor in a celebrity businesswoman.
Going Dutch - "Pilot" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The colonel is reassigned to take emergency command of USAG Stroopsdorf in the Netherlands; Sgt. Conway provides the colonel and Shah with a tour of the things Stroopsdorf is known for... cheese, laundry and bowling.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 7)
Friday, July 11
- Aparna Nancherla (The Great North/Fairview/Corporate) and Whitney Cummings (Whitney) - Aparna and Whitney are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Malachi Barton (Stuck in the Middle) and Meg Donnelly (American Housewife) - Malachi and Meg discuss Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires and perform on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am. They will also be on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Jean Smart (Hacks/Samantha Who?/Center of the Universe/In-Laws/Style & Substance/Designing Women) - Jean chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Patton Oswalt (A.P. Bio/The Goldbergs/The King of Queens) - Patton talks about Black Coffee and Ice Water on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Margaret Cho (All-American Girl) and Joel Kim Booster (Loot/Shrill) - CBS News contributor Lisa Ling talks with Margaret and Joel on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - Tamron Hall (repeat) has a DAYTIME EXCLUSIVE sitdown with actress/director/author Krysten Ritter who recently released her new thriller/mystery novel Retreat, so check your local listings.
- Maggie Q (Pivoting) - Maggie Q talks about Prime's Ballard on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Tisha Campbell (Act Your Age/Uncoupled/Outmatched/Dr. Ken/Rita Rocks/My Wife and Kids/Martin) and Wendy Raquel Robinson (Poppa's House/The Game/Here We Go Again/The Steve Harvey Show/Minor Adjustments) - Tisha and Wendy chat about their film Operation: Aunties on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings. They will also be on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.
- David Zayas (The Bear/Saint George) - David appears on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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