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

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!!

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

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.

Webster and What's Happening!!

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, April 30

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A New Scoreboard and a Horse’s You Know What" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Georgie and Fagenbacher (Matt Letscher) go head to head when Fagenbacher tries to sabotage Georgie’s attempt to honor his dad. Additional guest stars include Zoe Perry as Mary, Lance Barber as George Sr. and Raegan Revord as Missy.

Ghosts - "Under New Management" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When new pressures threaten Sam and Jay’s control over Woodstone, they’re forced to navigate unexpected challenges to protect its future. Meanwhile, a long-absent ghost returns, reopening emotional connections that complicate new relationships.

Animal Control - "Lost Dogs and Bar Flies" / "French Bulldogs and White Broncos" (Fox, 9:02PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Roman Park takes Frank's beloved dog away from him; in an effort to get his dog back, Frank and Shred find themselves on a late-night rescue mission; Frank scrambles to find a date for a romantic sunset horse ride; Patel hosts a "sip 'n snip."

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 27)

Thursday, April 30

Desi Lydic (Awkward) - Catch Desi on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Olivia Rodrigo (Bizaardvark) - Olivia appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Adam Scott (Ghosted/Veep/Parks and Recreation/Party Down) - Adam is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He also talks about Hokum on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am and in the 10am hour and on the Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM.
Juliette Lewis (Camping/I Married Dora) - Juliette drops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
B.J. Novak (The Office) - B.J. talks about The Devil Wears Prada 2 on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Stanley Tucci (Central Park) - Co-host Gayle King talks with the cast of The Devil Wears Prada 2 on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Wilmer tells Sherri about his role on NCIS on CBS on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Kate Hudson (Running Point) and Justin Theroux (Running Point) - Kate joins Drew to chat about season two of Running Point with co-star Justin Theroux on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Cafe Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie and Drew chat with Wolfgang Van Halen and his wife Andraia about his new music, plus a performance from his band on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
John Goodman (The Conners/The Righteous Gemstones/Roseanne/Center of the Universe/Normal, Ohio) - NBC's Today catches up with John in the 9am hour.
Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) - Jack talks about HGTV's Zillow Gone Wild on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Jess Hilarious (Rel) - Jess is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.