Friday, July 09, 2021
Fri-Yay: CNN's History of the Sitcom Looks Like a Treat for Sitcom Fans; Rutherford Falls Renewed for 2nd Season; Remembering Suzzanne Douglas of The Parent 'Hood

by Vincent
The summer is usually a pretty slow time for sitcom news, but sitcom fans have an interesting treat starting this Sunday. CNN is airing an 8-part series History of the Sitcom, which is from the same producers who did the similar series The Story of Late Night. The show will walk viewers through 60 years of sitcoms on TV, from The Dick Van Dyke Show to The Brady Bunch to The Office. According to CNN's own description of the event, the show will "explores the genre through multiple lenses, including themes of family and sex." The first two episodes will air back-to-back on Sunday.
It will be interesting to see how the show deals with the many changing faces of the sitcom through the years. In recent years, the genre of "sitcom" has become more open-ended. For years, it meant a series with a live audience or a laugh track, but obviously that has changed in the past 20 years, to the point where most sitcoms now are single-camera and ditch the laugh track. The show will also talk about modern comedies like Insecure or Master of None, which may not fit the typical "sitcom" feel but still often comedy and interesting viewpoints to their viewers. If you're interested in the evolution of the sitcom, CNN's History of the Sitcom seems like a good choice for you.
Critically-acclaimed Peacock Original comedy series Rutherford Falls from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, has been renewed for a second season. Rutherford Falls represents a breakthrough moment in Native representation in comedy television both in front of and behind the camera. The series is a comedy about two lifelong best friends, Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) and Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding), who find themselves at a crossroads - quite literally - when their sleepy town gets an unexpected wakeup call. The series stars Ed Helms (The Office, The Hangover), Jana Schmieding, Michael Greyeyes (I Know This Much Is True), Jesse Leigh (Heathers) and Dustin Milligan (Schitt's Creek).
Rutherford Falls is one of the largest Indigenous writer's rooms on television with five Native writers staffed on the series including co-creator and executive producer Sierra Teller Ornelas (Navajo), Bobby Wilson (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), Tai Leclaire(Kanien'kehá:ka [Mohawk Nation]/Mi'kmaq), Jana Schmieding (Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux), and Tazbah Chavez (Bishop Paiute/Diné/San Carlos Apache). Jana Schmieding (Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux) and Michael Greyeyes ([Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation - Treaty Six Territory in Saskatchewan]) star in the series.
Actress Suzzanne Douglas, who was best known for her role as matriarch Jerri Peterson on The WB sitcom The Parent 'Hood, has died. She died on July 6 at her home on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. She had been suffering from pancreatic cancer in the two years leading up to her death. Ms. Douglas was 64.
Douglas starred as Jerri Peterson on The WB sitcom The Parent' Hood, which aired from 1995 to 1999. The series is about the Petersons, an upper-middle-class black family in Harlem, New York City. Jerri Peterson is a law student and mother of four kids. It ran for five seasons and 90 episodes. The series also starred Robert Townsend, Kenny Blank (seasons 1-3), Reagan Gomez-Preston, Curtis Williams, Ashli Adams, Bobby McGee (season 1), Carol Woods (season 1), Faizon Love (seasons 2-4), Tyrone Dorzell Burton (seasons 4-5) and Kelly Perine (season 5).
Some of her sitcom guest appearances included The Cosby Show as Rebecca Shorter in 1990, The Parkers in 1999 and 2000 (2 episodes as Constance McFarland) and Are We There Yet? in 2011.
She starred as Yvette Carruthers on the 1990-1991 Fox dramedy Against the Law. She played Grace Cuffe on the 2019 Netflix crime drama miniseries When They See Us. Some of her other drama credits included Guiding Light, A Man Called Hawk, I'll Fly Away (3 episodes), Angel Street, Touched by an Angel (2 episodes), NYPD Blue, Promised Land (4 episodes), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Good Wife, Bones and Bull.
Douglas starred with Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr. in the 1989 film Taps. She played Cissy Houston in the 2015 Lifetime TV movie Whitney. Some of her other film credits included The Inkwell (1994), Jason's Lyric (1994) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998).
Ms. Douglas was a talented and versatile actress. She was very funny as the mother on The Parent 'Hood. We thank her for the laughs and entertainment. She will be deeply missed.
Share your memories on our The Parent 'Hood message board. View photos in our galleries.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Saturday, June 3
iCarly - "iBuckled" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Carly, Spencer and Freddie are back, navigating the next chapters in their lives and facing the uncertainties of life in their 20s.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 29)
Saturday, June 3
- Ronald Gladden (Jury Duty) - Ronald can be heard on SiriusXM's Ben +1 at 9am.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (January-June)
01/03 - Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series (2023 Release)
01/27 - Master of None - Season Three / The Complete Series
02/21 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Nine / The Complete Season Ten
02/28 - Growing Pains - The Complete Series
03/28 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/04 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Fifth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/18 - Blondie - The Complete 1957 Television Series (Blu-ray)
04/25 - Cheers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
05/23 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Eleven / The Complete Season Twelve
05/23 - Go On - The Complete Series
05/23 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (Universal)
05/29 - Gimme a Break! - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/29 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/30 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
06/13 - Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series
06/13 - Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series
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