SitcomsOnline Digest: Fox Gives Presentation Order to Animated Alaska Comedy; Time-Life Brings Lucille Ball Collection to DVD

Saturday, September 29, 2018

SitcomsOnline Digest: Fox Gives Presentation Order to Animated Alaska Comedy; Time-Life Brings Lucille Ball Collection to DVD

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! We've gone through the first week of the fall season (and getting reactions to some of the new series), and we're already hearing what may be coming in the 2019-2020 season. Also, we're hearing of a new Lucille Ball DVD collection from Time-Life and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

The Great North, an animated sitcom from some of the same people behind Bob's Burgers and featuring voices such as Nick Offerman, Jenny Slate, Meg Mullaly, Will Forte, and others, has been given a presentation order from Fox. (Deadline)
The season premiere of Murphy Brown included a surprise cameo by Hillary Clinton, and there is word that another surprise cameo from somebody else is to come as well. (Deadline)
Last Man Standing did rather well in ratings when it debuted on Fox last night. (TVLine)
With Bill Cosby now in prison, words that we never imagined we'd be seeing, one journalist has gone back to watch the pilot episode of The Cosby Show and given his thoughts of watching it with this new image of Cosby. (Washington Post)
With Julie Chen gone from The Talk, the show needs a new co-host. Could Rosie O'Donnell be the one? (TVLine)
Fox has already ordered an animated comedy for the 2019-2020 season, with Bless the Harts. (SitcomsOnline)

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

Time-Life has pulled off a surprise release this week with Lucy: The Ultimate Collection, which features selected episodes (though not a complete series of any of them) of I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy, and even Life with Lucy.
Warner Archive has more Alice on the way, with Alice - The Complete Eighth Season arriving on October 23.

HOME MEDIA RELEASES (OCTOBER 2)

The Beverly Hillbillies - The Complete Fifth Season (DVD, $29.98): It has been a long and bumpy ride to getting this series out on DVD, but the Clampetts return with the fifth season of the series in this DVD release.

WEEKLY PLANNER (SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 4)

The season premiere of Saturday Night Live, with Adam Driver and Kanye West (and probably Alec Baldwin and somebody playing Brett Kavanaugh, we're willing to bet), will air tonight.
Decades is airing My Three Sons all weekend long.
The Fox Sunday night lineup returns on Sunday, with new episodes of The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, and the second episode of Rel.
The Neighborhood and Happy Together debut Monday on CBS.
Thursday night marks the return of NBC's sitcoms, with Superstore, The Good Place, Will & Grace, and I Feel Bad.
ABC brings back TGIF... sort of... on Friday, with the season premiere of Fresh Off the Boat and Speechless.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, August 17

Abbott Elementary - "Pilot" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
In this workplace comedy, a group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal — are brought together in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life. Though these incredible educators may be outnumbered and underfunded, they love what they do — even if they don’t love the school district’s less-than-stellar attitude toward educating children.

Abbott Elementary - "Work Family" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After Jacob reveals a detail about his personal life, Janine realizes she doesn’t know the other teachers as well as she thought. Meanwhile, as Gregory’s stern teaching approach is causing his whole class to underperform, Barbara and Melissa teach him how to relax and make his lessons more fun.

Abbott Elementary - "Step Class" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Janine is thrilled when Ava asks to help her teach the after-school step class, but the two don’t see eye to eye on how to run the program. Later, when Barbara, Melissa and Jacob plan an “eat-off” to decide who makes the best pizza in Philadelphia, Gregory is forced to reveal a secret.

Abbott Elementary - "Desking" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When the students start participating in a new online trend that causes disruption to the school, the teachers band together to put an end to it. Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson provides comforting life advice to Gregory; and later, the teachers finally meet Jacob’s boyfriend, Zach, who joins in to help stop the students “desking”.

Wellington Paranormal - "Mobots" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Officer Minogue meets Officer O'Leary's mom when they use her house for a stakeout to investigate why a mass quantity of obsolete electronics goes missing.

Wellington Paranormal - "The Invisible Fiend" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Minogue and O'Leary investigate a mysterious home invasion with no visible signs of entry, managing to arrest an invisible creature and bring it back to the station for questioning.

grown-ish - "You Don't Know Me" (Freeform, 10:00PM ET/PT)
The girls enlist Junior's help to find their shady roommate, Lauryn, who has a habit of mysteriously disappearing; Junior wonders if Annika is starting to catch feelings for him; Aaron suspects that Doug isn't being honest with him.

Everything's Trash - "Rom-Coms Are Mostly Trash" (Freeform, 10:30PM ET/PT)
After Phoebe suddenly sees Michael in a new light, she attempts to set him up with Malika, who already has her eye on an old flame; Jayden worries that he and Jessie have lost their spark, so they decide to spice things up.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of August 15)

Wednesday, August 17

Alison Brie (GLOW/Community) - Watch Alison Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Sasheer Zamata (Home Economics/Woke) - Sasheer appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Nicole Byer (Grand Crew/Loosely Exactly Nicole) - Nicole guest hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Demi Lovato (Sonny with a Chance) - Demi co-hosts The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan will be on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) - Zazie appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience) - Simu chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Susan Walters (Dear John/The War Next Door) - Susan is a guest on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Blair Underwood (The New Adventures of Old Christine) - Blair will be on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
Kel Mitchell (Game Shakers/Kenan & Kel) - Kel appears on a repeat of The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Sherri Shepherd (Mr. Iglesias/Trial & Error/Sherri/Less Than Perfect/Suddenly Susan) - Sherri guest hosts a repeat of The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Josh Peck (Grandfathered/Drake & Josh) and Rhea Perlman (Cheers/Pearl/Kirstie) - Josh and Rhea talk about Netflix's 13: The Musical on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Murray Bartlett (Physical/Looking) - Murry talks about White Lotus on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.