SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

SHOWTIME has ordered a second season of its comedy series Kidding, starring two time Golden Globe(R) winner and Emmy(R) nominee Jim Carrey in his first series regular role in more than two decades. Ordered for 10 episodes next season, Kidding is created by Dave Holstein (Weeds, Raising Hope). The first season of Kidding currently airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT, with its season finale on November 11. 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(R), Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Catherine Keener (Get Out), Judy Greer (Married), 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) and Tara Lipinski.

Turner's TBS has ordered the comedy game show Misery Index, a new unscripted series inspired by the outrageously entertaining card game Sh*t Happens. Critically acclaimed and in demand comedy troupe The Tenderloins — Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray, Joe Gatto and Sal Vulcano — creators and stars of truTV's Impractical Jokers, cable's #1 original comedy series, have joined the series to help infuse comic relief. The game will feature two teams — each consisting of one contestant and two Tenderloins. Teams will compete against each other by attempting to determine the ranking of hilarious and miserable real-life events — from getting fired to accidentally sexting your grandfather — on a scale of 1-100. The network is adding 10 episodes of the half-hour comedy to its successful lineup of unscripted programs including Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker's Wild and Drop the Mic, the top two new unscripted cable comedies of 2017.