Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family & Good Times on Dec. 18; NBC Orders More Superstore Episodes

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family & Good Times on Dec. 18; NBC Orders More Superstore Episodes

Live in Front of a Studio Audience, the live broadcast television event that captivated audiences with its all-star cast recreating episodes of All in the Family and The Jeffersons last spring, is set to return to ABC on Wednesday, Dec. 18, with newly recreated, live installments of Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin's Emmy(R) Award-winning series All in the Family and groundbreaking sitcom Good Times, created by Mike Evans, Eric Monte and developed by Lear. The holiday-inspired live event produced by Sony Pictures Television, will reunite executive producers Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Will Ferrell and Justin Theroux. Kerry Washington, who portrayed Helen Willis of The Jeffersons in the original special in the spring, will join as an executive producer.

ABC's Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons was nominated for three Emmy Awards, and took home the prize for Outstanding Variety Special (Live). The premiere of ABC's Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons on Wednesday, May 22, averaged 14.29 million Total Viewers and a 2.86 rating in Adults 18-49 across all platforms after 35 days of TV playback and reached 23.5 million Total Viewers for its original Wednesday broadcast and two encore airings on Saturday, May 25, and Saturday, Aug. 17. Much more information on the upcoming All in the Family and Good Times special is still to come, including full casting details. What we do know is that the special will air for 90-minutes, live, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, just like the special last spring. And as previously announced, a third Live in Front of a Studio Audience special will air in spring 2020. Perhaps more Norman Lear greats like Maude, One Day at a Time or Sanford & Son?

Superstore

NBC has ordered four more episodes of its hit comedy Superstore, bringing the the season total to 22 episodes, just like its order the last few seasons. So far in its fifth season, Superstore is averaging a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.9 million viewers overall in "live plus seven day" Nielsens. The season premiere has surged to a 2.8 rating in 18-49 and 6.7 million viewers to date when viewing on all platforms is counted, easily tripling the episode's next-day "live plus same day" 0.8 rating in 18-49.

Superstore stars America Ferrera, Ben Feldman, Mark McKinney, Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, Nichole Bloom and Kaliko Kauahi. The comedy centers around Amy, who recently was promoted to be the store manager and is the glue holding the place together, and Jonah, a dreamer determined to prove work doesn't have to be boring. Their fellow associates include the sardonic Garrett, the sweet and clueless Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom) and the perpetually dismissed Sandra. Also on the team are Glenn, who stepped down as manager in an attempt to have more family time, and Dina, the aggressive assistant manager who enforces Cloud 9 policy with an iron fist. Mateo was also part of the team, recently as the self-promoted floor supervisor, until being detained due to his undocumented status.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Friday, July 3

The Dick Van Dyke Show - Now in Living Color! - (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
CBS will honor the memory of legendary actor, producer, director, writer, comedian and Emmy Award winner Carl Reiner with THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW – NOW IN LIVING COLOR! A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO CARL REINER, featuring two colorized back-to-back classic episodes of the beloved 1960s series, Friday, July 3 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. As series creator and co-star, Carl Reiner personally supervised the original colorization of the episodes.

The special features “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” which ranked #8 on TV Guide’s list of the “100 Greatest TV Episodes of All-Time,” and “October Eve,” which Mr. Reiner considered to be one of the series’ funniest episodes. Both were written by Bill Persky and Sam Denoff.

In “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” Laura Petrie blurts out a top secret on a national television quiz show, revealing that comedian Alan Brady wears a toupee. The episode, which was the show’s fifth and final season premiere, was originally broadcast on Sept. 15, 1965. “Coast to Coast Big Mouth” won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1966.

In “October Eve,” a painting of Laura returns to haunt her when, despite her having posed fully clothed, the artist (played by Carl Reiner) takes the liberty of “undraping” her. The episode was first presented on April 8, 1964, during season three.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 29)

Friday, July 3

Kevin Hart (The Big House/Undeclared) - Watch Kevin on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12:35am on ABC.
Tina Fey (30 Rock) - Tina appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Laura Dern (Enlightened) - Laura is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Mark Duplass (Togetherness/The Mindy Project/The League) - Mark appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa guest hosts a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Brett Gelman (Camping/Fleabag/Love/Married/Go On) - Brett appears on a repeat of A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/The Game) - Tika talks about the season finale of mixed-ish and her latest project helping new moms on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Peter Gallagher (Grace and Frankie/The Secret Lives of Men) - Peter talks about Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and Grace and Frankie on a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.