Tuesday, April 21, 2020
New Comedy Series Old Guy on Various Platforms; Millionaire Marathon on ABC on April 29
Five Sisters Productions is back with a new six-episode comedic series, Old Guy, starring the Five Sisters' father, Roger Burton (Fargo, Shameless, Baskets), their mother Gabrielle Burton, and Peri Gilpin (Frasier's Roz). Beginning April 23, 2020, one episode will premiere each Thursday through May 31 on Vimeo and YouTube as well as Facebook and Instagram TV. Old Guy is a comedic series about ageism in media. Harry, played by Roger Burton, is going back to acting later in life, after raising his family and retiring from his traditional job. The show looks at his relationships with his wife, played by his real-life spouse Gabrielle Burton, who is a writer and tries to advise him on the value of the jobs he takes, and with his agent, Peri Gilpin, who is more interested in her commission than in what types of roles he plays. In each episode, Harry is challenged by playing an undeveloped character type that humorously highlights different stereotypes about old age. Old Guy will make you laugh, and make you think.
Old Guy is based on the real-life experiences of the Burton sisters' father, a psychology professor and musician who moved to Los Angeles after retirement. Soon after, he was "discovered" at a party and cast in a major motion picture, thus starting an acting career in his 70s. In contrast to his vital and active life as a man embarking on a 3rd career, Roger noticed that most of his parts fell into a limited number of narrow stereotypes - incontinent, impotent, lecherous - and were often not even given a character name other than... "Old Guy". The Burtons' mother, novelist and screenwriter Gabrielle B. Burton, who was in the middle of writing Don't Sit Down Yet, a book about aging and living fully until you die, thought Roger's experience was good fodder for a series and brought the idea to Five Sisters Productions. Looking deeper, Five Sisters found that studies show that television often depicts and thus reinforces a narrow stereotype of old age, and so were inspired to shine a comic light on the issue with the creation of Old Guy.
ABC will encore the first three episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as a marathon for Wednesday, April 29 from 8-11pm. The ABC comedies will be preempted on the night so they can be extended into the May sweep. The ABC Wednesday comedies (The Goldbergs, Schooled, American Housewife, Single Parents) will have their season finales on Wednesday, May 13. All three Millionaire episodes to date hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will encore back-to-back in anticipation of its move to Thursday nights at 8pm on Thursday, April 30 where it will air for five weeks. ABC will air more Shark Tank Wednesdays at 10pm beginning May 6 replacing Millionaire's former slot. In other news, ABC Tuesday comedies (The Conners, Bless this Mess, mixed-ish, black-ish) will have their season finales on Tuesday, May 5. And finally, ABC's American Idol will finally go "live" on Sunday, April 26 for its final 4 episodes of the season. The live broadcasts will all be broadcast remotely.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Wednesday, January 22
Shifting Gears - "Job" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Riley, desperate for work, reluctantly takes a job at Matt’s shop. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Stitch secretly stray from Matt’s vision on a high-stakes restomod project.
Abbott Elementary - "Strike" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
City buses have stopped running due to a strike, resulting in many students being absent from school. The teachers at Abbott try to find creative solutions and adapt to hybrid learning. Meanwhile, Gregory and O’Shon strike up a friendship.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 20)
Wednesday, January 22
- Lucy Liu (Joey/Pearl) - Watch Lucy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts/White Famous), Betsy Sodaro (Ghosts/Duncanville/Disjointed/Animal Practice) and Punam Patel (Ghosts/Return of the Mac/Kevin from Work) - Utkarsh, Betsy and Punam are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris talks about Watson on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am, on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour, and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Andrew Rannells (Girls/The New Normal) and Nick Kroll (Big Mouth/The League/Cavemen) - Andrew, Nick and Lin-Manuel Miranda are chatting with Drew about their Broadway show All In: Comedy About Love on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. They're also talking to Drew about parenting advice, how they were raised and how comedy brings people together.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
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