Friday, September 17, 2021

Fri-Yay: NBC Reportedly Wants to Reboot The Office; Remembering Norm Macdonald of The Norm Show/Norm

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!

The Office

by Vincent

A few weeks ago, reports came out that NBC wants to reboot The Office. Whether the reboot would feature the original cast or if it would be a refresh (like The Wonder Years or One Day at a Time) is obviously not clear. Still, it's hard for me to see a situation where this Office reboot is a good idea. Simply put, while The Office is a modern classic, the show is both too outdated and too modern to work as a reboot this time.

First off, simply not enough time has passed since The Office ended for it to warrant a reboot. The Office hasn't even been off the air for ten years - it ended 8 years ago, in 2013. It also still remains incredibly popular, so any Office reboot would simply have too many comparisons to the original series, and fans would inevitably be unhappy at any changes made. At the same time, The Office was also very much a show of its time, and many of the inappropriate boss reactions that made the show work so well might play differently in today's cultural environment. Let's enjoy the original Office and if its creators want to make new content, come up with new, original series instead.


Norm Macdonald

Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Norm Macdonald, who starred as Norm Henderson on The Norm Show (aka Norm), has died. He died on September 14 from acute leukemia at a hospital in Pasadena, California. He had been diagnosed nine years prior, though he disclosed his diagnosis to only a few close friends and family members. Mr. Macdonald was 61.

Macdonald's early television appearances included a 1990 episode of Star Search as a stand-up comedy competitor and a 1991 episode of the HBO stand-up series One Night Stand. He worked as a writer for The Dennis Miller Show in 1992. He worked as a story editor on four episodes and wrote two episodes of Roseanne in 1992 and 1993. In 1993, he guest starred on an episode of The Jackie Thomas Show.

Norm Macdonald - Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live

He was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1993. He spent a total of five seasons on the show until 1998. He was the anchor of the Weekend Update segment starting in 1994 for three and a half seasons. Some of his impressions included Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole. He returned to host the October 23, 1999, show. He reappeared as Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy! on the May 16, 2009, show.

Norm

Macdonald starred as Norm Henderson on the 1999-2001 ABC sitcom The Norm Show (later shortened to Norm). Norm Henderson is a former NHL hockey player who is banned for life from the league because of gambling and tax evasion. He avoided jail time by agreeing to five years of community service as a full-time social worker. The first season aired as The Norm Show before they shortened the title to Norm in season two to avoid a legal conflict with Michael Jantze's comic strip The Norm. Macdonald also worked as a producer for the series, which aired for 3 seasons and 54 episodes. The cast included Laurie Metcalf, Ian Gomez, Amy Wilson (season 1), Bruce Jarchow (season 1), Max Wright, Faith Ford (seasons 2-3), Artie Lange (seasons 2-3) and Nikki Cox (recurring).

A Minute with Stan Hooper

He next starred as Stan Hooper on the short-lived 2003 Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper. Stan Hooper is a famous newspaper columnist turned television commentator. He moves his family from their New York home to a small Wisconsin town, Waterford Falls, where he hopes to better get in touch with Middle America in an attempt to make his weekly minute-long television commentaries more appealing to a larger audience. Macdonald also worked as an executive producer for the series. They produced 13 episodes, although only 6 episodes were aired. The cast included Penelope Ann Miller, Brian Howe, Eric Lively, Reagan Dale Neis, Garret Dillahunt, Daniel Roebuck and Fred Willard.

Norm Macdonald on The Middle

Macdonald had a recurring role as Orville "Rusty" Heck, Mike's (Neil Flynn) irresponsible, dim-witted but well meaning brother, on ten episodes of the ABC sitcom The Middle from 2010 to 2018. Some of his other sitcom guest appearances included The Larry Sanders Show, The Drew Carey Show (2 episodes), NewsRadio, Oliver Beene, My Name Is Earl (2 episodes), Real Rob and Girlboss (3 episodes). He worked as a consultin producer on Roseanne in 2018.

He was also known for his voice work. He voiced the character of Lucky the Dog in Dr. Dolittle (1998), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006), Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief (2008) and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (2009). He provided the voice of Pigeon on Mike Tyson Mysteries from 2014 to 2020. He voiced Glumshanks on Skylanders Academy from 2016 to 2018. Macdonald was the voice of Lieutenant Yaphit, an amorphous, gelatinous, shapeshifting engineer on The Orville from 2017 to 2019. His other voice credits included Family Guy (2 episodes) and The Fairly OddParents (2 episodes).

He hosted Sports Show with Norm Macdonald on Comedy Central in 2011. He co-hosted the podcast Norm Macdonald Live with Adam Eget for three seasons from 2013 to 2017. They worked again on Netflix's Norm Macdonald Has a Show in 2018.

Macdonald co-wrote and starred as Mitch Weaver in the 1998 film Dirty Work. Some of his other film credits included Billy Madison (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Man on the Moon (1999) and Screwed (2000). He made cameos in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), The Animal (2001), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), Funny People (2009), Grown Ups (2010), Jack & Jill (2011) and The Ridiculous Six (2015).

Mr. Macdonald was a true comedy genius. He was a master with his quick wit and deadpan delivery. His late night talk show appearances were always funny. He was very good on The Norm Show/Norm. The underrated sitcom should be re-released on DVD. We thank him for the many laughs and entertainment he brought us during his career. He will be greatly missed.

Share your memories on our The Norm Show/Norm message board. View photos in our galleries.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, November 29

none scheduled

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 27)

Wednesday, November 29

  • Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Watch Eddie on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Bradley Cooper (Kitchen Confidential) - Bradley appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • John Pinette (Parker Lewis Can't Lose) - John (RIP) is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
  • Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy/American Dad!/The Cleveland Show) and Liz Gillies (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll/Victorious) - NBC's Today has Seth and Liz for the Citi Music Series in sometime between 7-9am and in the 9am hour.
  • Dennis Quaid (Merry Happy Whatever) - Dennis chats and performs on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Jennifer Garner (Party Down) - Jennifer chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry is joining Drew to talk about her memoir Thicker Than Water: A Memoir, which covers navigating writing about her family, meeting her husband while working on a play and more on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian arrives to speak about his new comedy series Bookie on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
  • Melissa McCarthy (God's Favorite Idiot/Nobodies/Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa speaks about her new Christmas film Genie on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
  • Alfonso Ribeiro (In the House/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air/Silver Spoons) - Alfonso appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)

Family Matters - The Complete Series Step by Step - The Complete Series ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)

09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

11/28 - Prime Video's Hazbin Hotel; Lacey Chabert Gets Hallmark Unscripted Series
11/27 - Sundance Now Gets Original Comedy; Hallmark Original Returns for Season 2 in January
11/26 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 27, 2023)
11/25 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Kelsey Grammer Ready to Do 100 Episodes of Frasier; TBS Cancels Miracle Workers
11/24 - Fox Winter 2024 Schedule; An Evening From the Heart John Ritter Foundation NYC 2023 Event
11/23 - 2023 Thanksgiving TV Marathons
11/22 - Kerry Washington's UnPrisoned Gets Season 2; Classic Comedy Shorts Celebrate 40th Anniversary
11/21 - NBC Winter 2024 Schedule; Netflix Renews Rob Lowe Comedy
11/20 - BUZZR Celebrates Bob Barker's 100th Birthday; Ted Prequel Series on Peacock Gets Premiere Date
11/19 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 20, 2023)
11/18 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Young Sheldon Coming to an End After Seven Seasons; The CW International Sitcom Approach Not Going So Well
11/17 - ABC Winter 2024 Schedule; CBS Celebrates 98th Birthday of Dick Van Dyke
11/16 - Whoa Mama! Urkel Is Back for the Holidays!; Hulu Gets Such Brave Girls Comedy
11/15 - COZI TV's A Very COZI Christmas Schedule; Young Sheldon to End This Season on CBS
11/14 - CBS Winter 2024 Schedule; The CW Pulls 2 Comedies
11/13 - Antenna TV 2023 Holiday Marathons Schedule; Rewind TV 2023 Holiday Marathons Schedule
11/12 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 13, 2023)
11/11 - SitcomsOnline Digest: SAG-AFTRA Strike Finally Ends; New Digital TV Broadcast Networks Coming
11/10 - AXS TV's The Partridge Family Thanksgiving Marathon; AspireTV Holiday Programming
11/09 - Bookie Premieres November 30 on Max; Ted Lasso Star Holiday Special on Apple TV+
11/08 - FX Renews The Bear for Season 3; Hulu's Australian Original Series Premieres November 29
11/07 - Disney+ Holiday Specials Extravaganza; Apple TV+ Peanuts Feature Film Coming Soon
11/06 - NBC Holiday Specials; Fox Holiday Specials
11/05 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of November 6, 2023)
11/04 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Broadcast Networks Preparing for Shorter Seasons of Scripted Series; CBS Announces Host of After Midnight
11/03 - Futurama Renewed for 2 More Seasons; ABC Holiday Specials
11/02 - Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas 2023 Schedule; Roku Gets in Holiday Spirit
11/01 - REELZ Remembers Matthew Perry; Leo Reich Comedy Special on HBO This December
10/31 - TBS Friends Tribute Marathon; HBO's Albert Brooks Documentary Premieres November 11
10/30 - Remembering Matthew Perry of Friends and Richard Moll of Night Court
10/29 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of October 30, 2023)
10/28 - SitcomsOnline Digest: SAG-AFTRA Strike Negotiations to Restart; Night Court Actor Richard Moll Dies