Fri-Yay: Is the Shine Wearing Off on Reboots?; Brady Bunch Cast Reunites to Renovate Brady House

Friday, November 02, 2018

Fri-Yay: Is the Shine Wearing Off on Reboots?; Brady Bunch Cast Reunites to Renovate Brady House

It's time for another edition of Fri-Yay! That means we will take a look back on some sitcom happenings in recent days or weeks or other fun sitcomy stuff. It's a sitcom lover's paradise! Happy Fri-Yay!

by Vincent

It's no secret that the past two or three years have been chock full of sitcom reboots. Starting with Fuller House and continuing with shows like Will and Grace, Roseanne and now Murphy Brown, not to mention rebooted dramas like Gilmore Girls, The X-Files and Twin Peaks, reboot culture has been alive and well. This fall was no exception. With a rebooted Charmed and the return of Murphy Brown with its original cast, not to mention Roseanne spin-off The Conners, reboots have marched on - with no end in sight. And yet, I'd argue this fall saw the speckle wear off reboots a bit for the first time.

The biggest reason for this was the relative thud of the Murphy Brown reboot. Murphy premiered to an OK-but-not-outstanding 1.0 in the 18-49 demo. It's remained mostly steady from there, but it sheds most of lead-in Mom's audience and is barely outperforming marginal rookie Happy Together. It's certainly not up to the levels of say, the big Will and Grace and Roseanne reboots last year. But speaking of those shows...Will & Grace itself has gone from rock solid hit to marginal performer itself, averaging a 0.9 in the 18-49 demo this season (it premiered to over a 3.0, and averaged in the high 1's for most of last season.) Its performing similarly to other NBC comedies Superstore and The Good Place - all shows are solid tentpoles, but not exactly huge ratings hits. And, of course, Roseanne's reboot scored sky high ratings but ended disastrously after Roseanne Barr posted racist comments on Twitter, although spin-off The Conners continues to perform fairly well (if not at Roseanne reboot levels.) Drama-wise, the Charmed reboot on The CW got off to a decent start, but has been slowly losing audience each week. Reboots, for now, are still reliable performers, but the hype does seem to be wearing off of them. Now, perhaps part of this is the overall decline of broadcast ratings this fall (it's been a really terrible fall for broadcast TV, with nearly everything down double digits) but given the drama and backlash over the Roseanne reboot and the general "meh" reception to Will and Grace and Murphy Brown this season, it does have me wondering if this trend is built to last.

The Brady Bunch

It was a sunshine day at The Brady Bunch house in Los Angeles as six of the legendary sitcom's original cast members came together for the first time in nearly 15 years to kick-off a full-scale overhaul of the world-famous home and begin production on HGTV's newest renovation series, A Very Brady Renovation (w.t.). TV siblings Barry Williams (Greg), Maureen McCormick (Marcia), Christopher Knight (Peter), Eve Plumb (Jan), Mike Lookinland (Bobby) and Susan Olsen (Cindy) gathered with Jonathan and Drew Scott (Property Brothers), Mina Starsiak and Karen E Laine (Good Bones), siblings Leanne and Steve Ford (Restored by the Fords), Jasmine Roth (Hidden Potential) and Lara Spencer (Flea Market Flip) for an on-camera walk-through of the home. As one of the biggest programming events that HGTV has ever undertaken, the renovation of The Brady Bunch house will feature additional surprise celebrity guests. It is scheduled to premiere in September 2019.

Stirring up social media buzz from fans and A-listers alike, the upcoming series will showcase the famous house as it gets a '70s-inspired rehab that's sure to have everyone saying, "far out!" The Brady Bunch, a popular family sitcom that ran for five seasons in the early 1970s, is widely recognized as a hallmark of American television. Its success led to multiple spin-off series, specials and feature films.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Sunday, October 6

The Simpsons - "The Yellow Lotus" (Fox, 7:00PM ET/PT)
The Simpsons encounter death on vacation at a high-end resort.

Bob's Burgers - "Bully-ieve It or Not" (Fox, 7:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The Belcher kids learn a secret about Zeke's past; Bob rekindles his feud with Jimmy Pesto.

The Simpsons - "The Yellow Lotus" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The Simpsons encounter death on vacation at a high-end resort.

Universal Basic Guys - "Jaws of Life" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Jealous of the attention Tammy gets for saving the life of a choking stranger, Mark buys a Jaws of Life to efficiently save lives; Tammy's life is threatened when she rejects the advances of Paul, the stranger she saved.

Bob's Burgers - "Saving Favorite Drive-In" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
When the Belchers visit the local drive-in, Bob comes up with a plan to save the theater from closing; Linda accidentally insults another mom while on a group text chain; Louise and Gene hide from Tina after stealing some of her favorite candy.

Krapopolis - "Thor" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Tyrannis' little hunting mishap brings the Norse gods to Olympus; the family is forced to deal with the hunky Thor, the mischievous Loki, and some nasty bridge trolls.

The Conners - "Double Honeymoon and Seeing Double" (The CW, 7:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
In an effort to save money, newlyweds Darlene and Ben, and Jackie and Neville head off on their joint honeymoon, where their cost-saving measures contribute to a tension-filled getaway.

The Conners - "Gas Pump, House Dump and Stew Volcano" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Darlene searches for a home that she and Becky can afford; after an attempt to boost business at the diner goes awry, Jackie finds herself apologizing to Ben and rethinking her future running the place.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 30)

Friday, October 4

Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Watch Halle on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Will Ferrell (The Office) - Will and Harper Steele (Will & Harper) are guests on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Kristen Bell (Nobody Wants This/Central Park/The Good Place) - Kristen appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Tien Tran (How I Met Your Father) - Tien is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Sarah Paulson (Leap of Faith) - Sarah can be heard on The Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM.
George Lopez (Lopez vs Lopez/Lopez/Saint George/George Lopez) and Mayan Lopez (Lopez vs Lopez) - NBC's Today catches up with George and Mayan in the 10am hour.
Paul Scheer (Black Monday/Fresh Off the Boat/The League) - Paul is telling Drew all about his new memoir and answering questions from his wife June Diane Raphael on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Niecy Nash-Betts (Reno 911!/Getting On/The Soul Man/Do Not Disturb) - Niecy talks about the highly-anticipated premiere of Grotesquerie on FX on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Deon Cole (grown-ish/Angie Tribeca/black-ish) - Deon sits down to chat about his new comedy special and touring with Martin Lawrence on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Nathan Lane (Only Murders in the Building/Modern Family/Charlie Lawrence/Encore! Encore!/One of the Boys) - Nathan chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Yvette Nicole Brown (Act Your Age/The Odd Couple/Community/The Big House) - Yvette guest co-hosts The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
John Stamos (UnPrisoned/Fuller House/Grandfathered/Jake in Progress/Full House/You, Again?) - John talks about his memoir If You Would Have Told Me on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Victoria Justice (Victorious/Zoey 101/) - Victoria discusses her film Depravity on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT and on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Paul Reiser (Mad About You/Red Oaks/Married/My Two Dads) - Paul is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:15am.