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
Friday, May 23
Happy's Place - "Sisters Ink" (NBC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Isabella gifts Bobbie matching sister mugs, Bobbie is forced to quickly think of an equally thoughtful gift, resulting in Isabella expecting the sisters to get matching tattoos; Steve and Takoda investigate where Emmett has been sneaking off.
Happy's Place - "Whiskey Business" (NBC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Steve drops his favorite pen down a crack in the bar, Bobbie decides to pry the bar open to find it, discovering a very valuable bottle of whiskey in the process; Steve is thrown by Emmett's reaction to breaking a knife that Steve gifted him.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 19)
Friday, May 23
- Milly Alcock (Sirens) - Watch Milly on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Michael Urie (Shrinking/Krapopolis/Partners), Jessica Williams (Shrinking/Love Life/Just for Kicks) and Luke Tennie (Shrinking) - Michael, Jessica and Luke are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That.../Divorce/Sex and the City/Square Pegs) - Sarah talks all things And Just Like That... on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Method Man (Method & Red) - Method Man talks about his new film Bad Shabbos on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) - Hannah talks about Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Joe Jonas (Jonas) - NBC's Today catches up with Joe sometime between 7-9am.
- Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about Shadow Force on a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) - NBC's Today catches up with David in the 9am hour.
- Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel joins Sherri to talk about starring in the new film Juliet & Romeo on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Terri J. Vaughn (She the People/Mann & Wife/Meet the Browns/All of Us/The Steve Harvey Show) - Terri talks about starring in the new Netflix series She the People on a repeat of Sherri, 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)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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