SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Showtime has released the series premiere of its new comedy Kidding early across multiple platforms. The series stars Golden Globe winner Jim Carrey in his first series regular role in more than two decades. Kidding reunites Carrey with Oscar(R) winner Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and is created by Dave Holstein (Weeds, Raising Hope). The premiere episode is available for free now on YouTube, Facebook and SHO.com. The 10-episode season of Kidding will premiere on Sunday, September 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT after Shameless. Early sampling for Kidding is part of the Showtime Free Preview Weekend that was available to over 71 million households and lasted through Monday, September 3. Viewers nationwide are able sample the network's award-winning programming on SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND(R), SHOWTIME ANYTIME(R) and select distributors' TV Everywhere portals.

Kidding centers on Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles (Carrey), an icon of children's television and a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America's impressionable young minds and the parents who grew up with him. But when this beloved personality's family begins to implode, Jeff finds no fairytale, fable or puppet will guide him through this crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: A kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking. The series also stars Oscar, Emmy(R) and Golden Globe nominee Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Judy Greer (Married), Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Catherine Keener (Get Out), Cole Allen and Juliet Morris. Throughout the season, Jeff begins to push back against the limits of the well-oiled machine that is "Mr. Pickles' Puppet Time," and of his executive producer, Seb (Langella). Seb fears Jeff's mental state could ruin the branding empire they've built, and thus begins preparing the show for a life after Jeff, while Deirdre (Keener), the head puppet maker, grapples with her own professional and personal issues, including with her daughter, played by Morris. Greer stars as Jeff's estranged wife, and their son is played by Allen. Guest stars include Justin Kirk (Weeds), Ginger Gonzaga (I'm Dying Up Here, Mixologoy) and Tara Lipinski.

A longtime HBO favorite returns with six new episodes of her Emmy(R)-nominated series when Tracey Ullman's Show kicks off its third season Friday, Sept. 28 (midnight-12:30 a.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Emmy(R) winner Ullman stars as a wide array of famous faces and everyday people in the sketch comedy show, which looks at modern life and current social figures through a comedic lens. The series is also available on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and partners' streaming platforms.

Over the course of the new season, Ullman uses her signature brand of sharp satire to shape-shift into a range of public figures and offbeat original characters. She reprises her characterizations of Dame Judi Dench, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Jerry Hall, and introduces her takes on British Prime Minister Theresa May, French First Lady Brigitte Macron and U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, among others. More topical than ever before, Tracey Ullman's Show satirizes today's culture, including television's latest obsession with strong but messy female characters, the future possibilities for smart-home devices, life in a post-Brexit world and the absurdity of the 24-hour news cycle.