Friday, June 14, 2019
Fri-Yay: Reaction to The Good Place Ending; Antenna TV Brings Back Webster, What's Happening!! and What's Happening Now!!

by Vincent
This past week, it was announced that NBC's The Good Place will be ending after its upcoming fourth season. I had two district reactions to this news. On one hand, I'm incredibly sad that we are only getting one more season of what has been the best comedy on TV for the past few years, and one of the most creative and imaginative sitcoms of the decade. I'm a bit of a traditionalist with sitcoms - if it were up to me, every good sitcom would air 22 episodes a year and run for 6 or more seasons. I just like the comfort that sitcoms offer, even if the quality of them admittedly gets spotty as they grow long in the tooth. So the selfish part of me wanted The Good Place to stick around for years and years.
And yet, I can't help but feel that this is the right move to preserve the show's legacy. The Good Place is such a unique show, but it can only reinvent the wheel so many times. While I feel the show's quality has remained consistently high in its three seasons that have aired so far, I could also sense some sense of "well, what now?" for the first time ever in the third season. Granted, the show ended on a high note, but I'd imagine it very well could get tiring re-inventing the wheel over and over again. So I do consider it a creative win that the show is going out on top and on its own terms, and the fact that NBC is allowing a solid-rated veteran comedy to do so in a time where it desperately needs comedy hits shows how much network TV has changed recently. 10 years ago, NBC would've milked the show for all they could, but now, there's more respect paid towards shows and their creators - and if you're a fan of good TV, it's a good thing to see.
Antenna TV is making some changes to the weekend afternoon schedule beginning next weekend (Saturday, June 22, 2019) and one minor change on weekdays beginning June 24. As a result of the changes, three shows are returning from hiatus. Webster, What's Happening!! and What's Happening Now!! all return back to the lineup. Webster will air weekends at 1:00pm & 1:30pm, replacing The Hogan Family, which is still on the schedule Sunday late nights at 3:00am & 3:30am. What's Happening!! is replacing Head of the Class at 2:00pm, while spin-off What's Happening Now!! will air at 2:30pm for Head of the Class. Not to worry Head of The Class fans, the sitcom will air an hour later replacing Family Ties at 3:00pm & 3:30pm, but Family Ties will still remain weeknights at 2:30am. What's Happening!! will also return to the weekday line-up, airing weekdays at 3:30pm, replacing Soap. Not to worry Soap fans, Soap will also still remain on the schedule in its Saturday at 9pm & 9:30pm slots.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Thursday, July 10
Ghosts - "Smooching and Smushing" (CBS, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Jay, Sam and the ghosts attempt to fix the ghost trap in hopes of getting Sasappis across the ghost boundary to visit his longtime crush, Shiki.
Bob's Burgers - "Wild Steal-ions" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Tina's lost book of semi-erotic horse-torical fiction lands in the hands of a mysterious stranger with nefarious intentions.
Grimsburg - "How to Lose an Ankle Monitor in 10 Days" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When the criminals of Grimsburg go on strike, the police force gets furloughed.
Family Guy - "Karenheit 451" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Lois becomes the leader of a group of mothers who want to ban books from schools.
The Great North - "Bust a Moon Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Moon makes a big decision after clashing with Beef; Judy and Ham hatch a plot to make some extra cash.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 7)
Thursday, July 10
- Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons) - Anthony guest hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Keke Palmer (Scream Queens/True Jackson, VP) - Keke is a musical guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Rhys Darby (Wrecked/How to Be a Gentleman/Flight of the Conchords), Rory Scovel (Grace and Frankie/Robbie/Ground Floor) and Baron Vaughn (Corporate/Grace and Frankie) - Rhys, Rory and Baron are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Oliver Hudson (Splitting Up Together/Rules of Engagement/My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star) - Oliver is a guest on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie appears on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Jessica Lowe (Wrecked) - Jessica talks about Elixir's Red Flag Green Flag on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
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)
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
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