Friday, October 04, 2019
Fri-Yay: New Sitcoms: First Week Impressions; Pop Goes Back to Florida for Poverty Sitcom

by Vincent
Well, the first week of the 2019-2020 TV season is officially in the books, and well, let's just say...it was a week that the networks would like to have back, if they could, at least in terms of viewing audiences. Unfortunately, they can't, so networks are simply going to have to hope that things get better from here on out. Let's take a look at the sitcoms specifically and see the...well, "best" of the bunch, although there isn't much to be excited about in the ratings department.
CBS premiered their new slate of sitcoms, and none of their new shows seem to be catching fire, although none of them look like complete disasters yet either. The network's Monday block, though, is fairly mediocre-rated all around, including sophomore comedy The Neighborhood. Newbie Bob Hearts Abishola dropped from The Neighborhood's already-not-huge audience, and the eye's Thursday sitcoms didn't fare much better, losing most of the sturdy audience of Young Sheldon through-out the night. ABC's lone new sitcom, mixed-ish, fared a bit better, but still is a ways off from the dominant heights of its nights' anchor The Conners (whose premiere was around Season 1's low point, but still easily ranks as the highest-rated sitcom of the week with little competition). And ABC's returning comedies weren't exempt from the downtick most returning series saw, with even anchors like The Goldbergs and Modern Family seeing ratings lows. But the network with the most to be worried about is NBC, whose two new sitcoms Perfect Harmony and Sunnyside could already be classified as fairly major flops. Perfect Harmony's 0.5 rating shed most of lead-in Superstore's decent-enough numbers, but Sunnyside's 0.4 rating was a flat-out disaster. Needless to say, this year's new crop of sitcoms will, hopefully, be the types of shows that grow, because they're starting off in pretty low places.
Pop TV announced that it has renewed its highly praised series Florida Girls for a second season. Florida Girls, which debuted in July to rave reviews, is an unapologetically bold comedy inspired by the life of creator and star Laura Chinn (The Mick) about four friends who are making the most out of life while living below the poverty line in Clearwater, Fla. Fronted by an all-female cast, the series also stars Melanie Field (Heathers, Shrill), Patty Guggenheim (Splitting Up Together, LA to Vegas) and Laci Mosley (The Wedding Year). The first season of Florida Girls is available on the network's app, PopNow, at POPTV.com and via cable and satellite video on demand. Florida Girls is produced by Lionsgate, 3 Arts Entertainment and Jax Media, and is executive produced by Laura Chinn, Jared Miller, Tony Hernandez, Lilly Burns and 3 Arts Entertainment's Josh Lieberman and Oly Obst.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Saturday, May 3
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 28)
Friday, May 2
- Jon Hamm (Grimsburg/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) - Watch Jon on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Tim Robinson (Detroiters) - Tim appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Sunita Mani (Government Cheese/No Activity/GLOW) - Sunita is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Cheech Marin (Rob/The Golden Palace) and Tommy Chong (That '90s Show/That '70s Show) - Cheech and Tommy are guests on Real Time with Bill Maher at 10pm on HBO.
- Kelsey Grammer (Frasier/Partners/Hank/Back to You/Cheers) - Kelsey talks about his new book Karen: A Brother Remembers on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about Shadow Force on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Connie Britton (SMILF/Lost at Home/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Spin City) - Connie talks about The Motherhood on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am. NBC's Today catches up with Connie in the 9am hour.
- Liza Lapira (9JKL/Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life/Super Fun Night/Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23/Traffic Light) - Liza talks about The Equalizer on CBS Mornings Plus sometime between 7-9am.
- Adam DeVine (The Righteous Gemstones/Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin/Workaholics/Modern Family) - Adam talks about The Righteous Gemstones on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Wilmer discusses the NCIS finale on CBS and his memoir, An American Story: Everyone's Invited, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Denis Leary (Going Dutch/No Good Deed/Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll/The Job) - Denis is telling Drew about his new comedy Going Dutch and working with his son on it on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Drew also has a surprise for Denis in celebration of 25 years of his organization, The Leary Firefighters Foundation.
- Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken/Community) - Ken co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
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)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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