Fri-Yay: Rick and Morty Season 4; HBO Max Orders 2nd Season of Love Life

Friday, June 12, 2020

Fri-Yay: Rick and Morty Season 4; HBO Max Orders 2nd Season of Love Life

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

As we enter the summer months, sitcoms on TV are increasingly rare to find, and more so now than we're entering a COVID age. So I thought I'd spend this column talking about Rick and Morty, an animated comedy that technically doesn't fit the sitcom bill, but is still one of the most popular comedic shows on TV today. Rick and Morty is Adult Swim's flagship series, a time travel, sci-fi sitcom from the minds of Justin Roiland and Community creator Dan Harmon. The series quickly grew to extreme popularity, with it becoming Adult Swim's highest-rated series of all time by its third season. And yet, the show has only produced 4 seasons and 40 episodes since being on the air in 2014, a slow rollout schedule that has somewhat complicated its' fans fervent relationship with it. Granted, TV is gradually moving towards more sporadic releases rather than the clockwork-like scheduling it adhered to for years, but this seems like a lot even for that.

Rick and Morty's fourth season was split up into two 5-episode short seasons, one airing in late 2019 and one starting in May, just finishing last week. The season overall was very solid, with some highlight episodes that could stand up with the best of the series, as well as some disappointing episodes - fairly standard for a comedy in its fourth season. But given the sporadic release schedule and how every episode now feels like an event, getting a "regular old" season feels a bit disappointing. And the show seems to be starting to recycle some of the same patterns (Rick is a jerk, kind of learns that he shouldn't be, then goes back to being a jerk again). This season also moved away from the long-term storytelling that marked much of its second and third seasons. Still, for all of these flaws, Rick and Morty remained one of the funniest and move inventive comedies, even if it's not quite as perfect as it was at the start, and still made me wish and hope we can start getting episodes on a more consistent basis.

Love Life

HBO Max announced that it has picked up its first scripted original series Love Life for a second season. Audiences love Love Life, the romantic comedy anthology series from Lionsgate Television that has quickly become one of the streaming platform's top performers out of all available content, and this is the first Max Original to earn a renewal. Season one stars Oscar® nominee Anna Kendrick, and its final four episodes are now available to stream on HBO Max. Season two will remain set in New York City but will focus on a new character’s journey – one which explores what happens when you've lived your whole life knowing who your soulmate is, only to find out years into a marriage that it's not the right fit at all. The new season will also cleverly key off characters in season one, and "Darby" (Anna Kendrick) will appear occasionally.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, February 24

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Getting Lucky" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Calvin and Dave join Lamar (Kevin Pollack) on a road trip to the casino. Also, Tina and Gemma babysit Daphne while Marty desperately tries to spend time with Courtney alone. Series star Tichina Arnold directs this episode.

Poppa's House - "Slumber Party" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
When Poppa dodges an invitation to a family slumber party, Junior attempts to change his mind by making him jealous of everyone attending. Charo guest stars as herself. Wendy Raquel Robinson returns as Catherine. Geoffrey Owens returns as J.J.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 24)

Monday, February 24

Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) - Watch Chris on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Drew Carey (The Drew Carey Show/The Good Life) - Drew appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Woody Harrelson (Cheers) - Woody stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Wendell Pierce (The Odd Couple/The Michael J. Fox Show/The Weber/The Brian Benben Show/The Gregory Hines Show) - Wendell appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS. He talks about the latest season of Raising Kanan on Starz on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Sam Waterston (Grace and Frankie) - Sam makes a special appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Christian Slater (Breaking In) - Christian is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Zosia Mamet (Laid/Girls) - Zosia appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Tichina Arnold (The Neighborhood/Survivor's Remorse/Happily Divorced/Everybody Hates Chris/Martin) and Essence Atkins (Poppa's House/Marlon/Mr. Box Office/Are We There Yet?/Half & Half/Smart Guy/Under One Roof) - Tichina and Essence are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS. Tichina appers on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Jon Hamm (Grimsburg/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) - Jon appears on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11pm on Bravo.
Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris is a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9pm on Bravo.
Kate Hudson (Running Point) - E! News has an interview with Kate at 11pm on E!.
Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) - NBC's Today catches up with Eric in the 9am hour.
Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons and Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood/The Last O.G./The Soul Man/The Steve Harvey Show) - CBS Mornings has CBS deals with Anthony and Cedric sometime between 7-9am.
Clifton Davis (Amen/That's My Mama) - Nancy Giles goes behind the scenes of CBS' new series Beyond the Gates with actors Clifton Davis, Tamara Tunie, Daphnée Duplaix and Karla Mosley on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Hank Azaria (The Simpsons/Brockmire/Free Agents/Herman's Head) - Hank chats with the hosts and performs with the EZ Street Band on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso) - Phil talks about the new season of Ted Lasso on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Halle is hitting the headlines with Drew and Ross and opening up about finding love again on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Then, Halle is opening up about her experience with menopause and the new platform Respin she made to help women through it.
Wilmer Valderrama (That '70s Show) - Wilmer and Freddy Rodriguez chat about their podcast Dos Amigos on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.