Friday, October 16, 2020
Fri-Yay: COVID-19 Storylines on TV, Will Viewers Watch?; Antenna TV's 70 Episode Jack Benny Marathon for 70th Anniversary
by Vincent
This past week, NBC premiered the first new sitcom since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Connecting..., a sitcom shot remotely about a group of friends meeting through video chats during quarantine. If you haven't heard of it, you might not be some: the show attracted just a bit over 1 million viewers for its premiere, low numbers even in a world where broadcast ratings continue to drop. The show will likely finish out its 8-episode order, but there's no doubt that it didn't attract much interest. Which leads me to wonder: how much will viewers want to watch the pandemic reflected back at them?
It's a fair question given many shows are planning to incorporate COVID-19 into their storylines this year, from Connecting... to Superstore to black-ish, as well as dramas like Grey's Anatomy, The Good Doctor. And yet, I personally think people watch TV shows as a means of escape, which includes escaping from our anxiety-ridden reality. Will viewers think the same thing? That could be part of why they didn't connect with Connecting... (despite the show actually being pretty solid, as noted in our review). As more and more shows premiere and cover COVID-19, it will be interesting to see whether viewers embrace the real life stories or whether they prefer to forget.
Antenna TV will air 70 back-to-back episodes of The Jack Benny Program starting next Saturday, October 24 to mark the program's 70th television anniversary. The 70-episode marathon will feature the best gags, guests and glares from The Jack Benny Program. First a radio program, the show's cast regularly broke the fourth wall to interact with the audience and included running jokes such as Benny's age, forever frozen at 39. The Jack Benny Program 70th anniversary marathon starts Saturday, October 24 at 10 a.m. ET and continues through 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 25.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Monday, January 20
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 20)
Monday, January 20
- Don Cheadle (The Wonder Years/Black Monday/House of Lies/The Golden Palace) - Watch Don on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- David Alan Grier (St. Denis Medical/Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!/The Cool Kids/The Carmichael Show/Bad Teacher/Life with Bonnie/DAG) - David appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Christian Slater (Breaking In) - Christian is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Zosia Mamet (Laid/Girls) - Zosia stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Mekki Leeper (St. Denis Medical/Jury Duty/The Sex Lives of College Girls) - Mekki appears on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 3:30am on Bravo.
- Rosie Perez (Human Resources/Search Party) - Rosie is reminiscing with Drew on the film they worked on together on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Plus, Rosie shares which famous rapper filled in as a last-minute date to an awards show when she got stood up.
- Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) - Quinta talks about the current season of Abbott Elementary on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Jaleel White (Family Matters/Grown Ups) - A Tam Fam DAYTIME EXCLUSIVE on Tamron Hall (repeat) with 90s TV star Jaleel White. In his new memoir, Growing Up Urkel, Jaleel talks about his iconic role as Steve Urkel on Family Matters and the impact it’s had on his career. Plus, life with his new wife and daughter.
- Gabriel Iglesias (The Santa Clauses/Mr. Iglesias/Cristela) - Gabriel talks about Netflix's Legend of Fluffy on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Rita Moreno (One Day at a Time/Happily Divorced/9 to 5) - Rita debuts her limited-edition tribute Barbie on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
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
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