Fri-Yay: Disney+ Launches; NBC Orders 8th Season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Friday, November 15, 2019

Fri-Yay: Disney+ Launches; NBC Orders 8th Season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine

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 week, Disney+ made its grand debut on TV screens (or whatever device you have) all over the country. While the service's claim to fame is likely primarily its library of Disney original movies, there is some reason to be excited as a sitcom fan, as well. If you're a fan of old-school, '90s and '00s era Disney or Disney Channel sitcoms, many of them are now available to be streamed on Disney+ -- and many did not previously have a streaming home. Additionally, every episode of The Simpsons is now available ad-free for the first time ever. It's a big deal for Simpsons fans, although it's somewhat disappointing that the service is not broadcasting the episodes in their original aspect ratio. Still, having every episode of the animated series at your fingertips easily is a great feat. As good as Simpsons World was, the ads and the buggy aspects of the FXNow platform held it down - Disney+, if they fix the original aspect ratio, is a better fit for it.

Still, it's easy to wonder what Disney+ means for the future of TV going forward. 10 million subscribers signed up on the first day, beating the service's own end-of-year estimate of 8 million in the first 24 hours after launch. Perhaps not coincidentally, the live ratings for the ABC sitcom line-up that night tanked to series lows. We know streaming is the future, but having a major new player in the streaming wars certainly nails it into the coffin. It remains to be seen how the streaming landscape will exactly take place (will HBO Max and Peacock see the same type of success? Will Netflix cool off with all of the competition?) but one thing is for sure: the future is streaming.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

NBC has renewed its critically acclaimed and Golden Globe Award-winning comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine for an eighth season in 2020-21. The seventh season begins Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 at 8 p.m. ET/PT with a one-hour premiere before airing in its regularly scheduled 8:30 p.m. timeslot beginning Feb. 13. Last season Brooklyn Nine-Nine averaged a 1.2 rating and 3.2 million viewers overall in "live plus same day" Nielsens for a total-viewer increase of +15% versus the prior season on Fox. After 35 days of linear and digital delayed viewing, the show last season grew to a 3.1 rating in 18-49 and 6.4 million viewers overall, with 59% of that 18-49 rating coming from nonlinear sources - the #1 biggest digital percentage for an NBC series last season. Brooklyn Nine-Nine was also last season's #1 most-social primetime comedy series across television, earning 9 million total interactions (Source: Nielsen Social SCR , 09/24/18-05/23/19, Primetime Daypart, Linear Window, Scripted Series Only. Twitter [Organic + Owned], Facebook [owned only], Instagram [owned only].)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio, Dirk Blocker and Joel McKinnon Miller.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Tuesday, January 28

The Conners - "Mud Turtles, A Good Steak and One Man in a Tub" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Becky thinks that Jackie’s new friend Dawn (guest star Cheryl Hines), a restaurant supplier, is only cozying up to her to sell them things they can’t afford for the Lunch Box. Darlene is thrilled when Harris gets into Central Illinois State, but Harris might have found a better offer on her own. When Dan finds himself in an embarrassing situation nursing an injury, Louise (Katey Sagal) tries to help him out.

Bless This Mess - "The Letter of the Law" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Rio is bummed she can’t afford to go to Iceland for her best friend’s wedding, so the nuptials are moved and brought to the farm. Meanwhile, Rio is forced to take on Deb’s mail route after she quits, and Mike and Jacob help Rudy get over Constance.

mixed-ish - "True Colors" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Paul is shocked to hear from his estranged mother who wants to visit for Rainbow’s 13th birthday and soon learns more about why she abandoned him. Meanwhile, Rainbow sees turning 13 as a huge turning point in her life and wants a big birthday party, but Alicia wants to celebrate all the things Rainbow missed out on over the years while on the commune.

black-ish - "Adventure to Ventura" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Dre worries Diane and Jack don’t know how to fend for themselves and sends them out on an adventure, only to realize it’s his overbearing worries that hold the twins back. Meanwhile, Junior gets into a tricky situation at work when he befriends Josh in hopes of scoring a positive peer review.

Schitt's Creek - "Maid of Honour" (Pop, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Moira shares the newly released "Crows" movie trailer with the Jazzagals; Johnny and Roland find a suspicious bag of money at the new motel.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 27)

Tuesday, January 28

Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) - Catch Ben on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) - William drops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Ashton Kutcher (The Ranch/Two and a Half Men/That '70s Show) - Ashton visits The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Ilana Glazer (Broad City) - Ilana is a guest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Trevor Noah at 11pm.
Tony Rock (Living Biblically/All of Us) - Tony is a panelist on Lights Out with David Spade at 11:30pm on Comedy Central.
Kumail Nanjiani (Bless the Harts/Silicon Valley) - Kumail stops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Aidy Bryant (Shrill) - Aidy appears on Watch What Happens: Live at 10pm on Bravo.
Miles Brown (black-ish) - Miles is a guest on The Real, so check your local listings.
Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris talks about Fox's The Resident on a repeat of Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Wendie Malick (Hot in Cleveland/Hot in Cleveland/Jake in Progress/Just Shoot Me!) - Wendie talks about Disney Channel's The Owl House on a repeat of Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Life) - Nia talks about Poisoned Love on NBC's Today in the 10am hour and on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Bill Pullman (1600 Penn) - Bill talks about The Sinner on NBC's Today in the 10am hour and on the BUILD Series at 12:15pm.
Janeane Garofalo (The Larry Sanders Show) and Grant Rosenmeyer (Oliver Beene) - Janeane and Grant are guests on the BUILD Series at 2pm.