Friday, September 24, 2021

Fri-Yay: Ted Lasso Wins Big at The Emmys; CBS Expands Ghosts Premiere to One-Hour; Remembering Willie Garson of Sex and the City, Director Jay Sandrich

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!

Ted Lasso

by Vincent

This Sunday was a big one for Apple TV+, as it received its first Emmy award victory with Ted Lasso - and then received multiple more victories with Ted Lasso over the course of the night. The sports comedy series, which has easily been the most buzzed about comedy of the year, took home all but the Lead Actress category in the comedy column last night, including the big prize, Outstanding Comedy Series. In my mind, it's a very deserving award. Ted Lasso is an excellent show with lots of humor and heart and is easily the best comedy series currently airing.

It was a big night in general for streaming services. For the first time in its history, Netflix won the most Emmys of any streaming service or channel of the night, including taking home Outstanding Drama Series for The Crown and Outstanding Limited Series for The Queen's Gambit. It continued the overall trend of streaming services winning big and traditional channels losing out. Overall, it was another Emmys that proved the media landscape is rapidly changing.


Ghosts

The series premiere of the new comedy Ghosts will now have a one-hour debut, Oct. 7, 9:01-10:00 PM. As a result, The second season premiere of B Positve will move one week, to Thursday, Oct. 14, 9:30-10:00 PM. One other note, CBS has announced that the second season premiere of United States of Al will address current events on Oct. 7 at 8:31-9:01 PM.

Thursday, Oct. 7
8:00-8:31 PM Young Sheldon (5th Season Premiere)
8:31-9:01 PM United States of Al (2nd Season Premiere)
9:01-10:00 PM Ghosts (1-Hour Series Premiere)
10:00-11:00 PM Bull (6th Season Premiere)

Thursday, Oct. 14
8:00-8:31 PM Young Sheldon
8:31-9:01 PM United States of Al
9:01-9:30 PM Ghosts
9:30-10:00 PM B Positive (2nd Season Premiere)
10:00-11:00 PM Bull

Willie Garson

Actor Willie Garson, who played Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City, has died. He died at his home in Los Angeles on September 21 from pancreatic cancer. Mr. Garson was 57.

Garson had a recurring role as Carl, Kevin Owens' (Rob Stone) best friend, on seven episodes of Mr. Belvedere from 1986 to 1990. Some of his other early sitcom guest appearances include Family Ties, Cheers, You Again?, The New Gidget, My Two Dads, Newhart, It's a Living (three episodes as Phil Roman), Coach, Chicken Soup, Flying Blind, A League of Their Own, Boy Meets World (four episodes), Pig Sty, Partners, Mad About You, The Single Guy and Mad About You.

Ask Harriet

He starred as Ronnie Rendall on the short-lived 1998 Fox sitcom Ask Harriet. Ronnie Rendall was Jack Cody's (Anthony Tyler Quinn) best friend and the newspaper critic for the New York Dispatch. The cast included Patrick Y. Malone, Lisa Waltz, Julie Benz, Edward Asner, Jamie Renée Smith and Damien Leake.

Sex and the City

Garson had a recurring role as Stanford Blatch on 27 episodes of the 1998-2004 HBO romantic comedy-drama Sex and the City. Stanford Blatch is a gay talent agent from an aristocratic family. He is Carrie Bradshaw's (Sarah Jessica Parker) best friend outside of the other three women (Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones, Kristin Davis as Charlotte York and Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes). Garson reprised his role as Stanford Blatch in the films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City (2010). He will appear in the upcoming HBO Max revival series And Just Like That....

Some of his other sitcom guest appearances included Conrad Bloom, Friends, Just Shoot Me!, Spin City, Greetings from Tucson, All About the Andersons, Yes, Dear (2004), Wizards of Waverly Place, Two and a Half Men, Wendell & Vinnie, Girl Meets World (also directed a 2015 episode) and Weird Loners. He provided various voices for three episodes of Big Mouth.

White Collar - Matt Bomer and Willie Garson

Garson had a recurring role as Henry Coffield on seven episodes of the ABC police drama NYPD Blue from 1996 to 1999. He appeared as Meyer Dickstein on the 2007 HBO drama John from Cincinnati. He starred as Mozzie on the 2009-2014 USA Network police drama White Collar. In 2013, he directed an episode of White Collar. He had a recurring role as Gerard Hirsch on nine episodes of Hawaii Five-0 from 2015 to 2020.

Some of his other drama guest appearances included Quantum Leap, thirtysomething, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Touched by an Angel, The Practice, Melrose Place, Ally McBeal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Party of Five, Star Trek: Voyager, Early Edition, Stargate SG-1 (three episodes), Special Unit 2, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, Pushing Daisies, Medium, Franklin & Bash, The Mysteries of Laura, Scandal, Supergirl (three episodes) and Magnum, P.I. (2019).

He appeared in three films from the Farrelly brothers – Kingpin (1996), There's Something About Mary (1998) and Fever Pitch (2005). Some of his other film credits included Groundhog Day (1993), The Rock (1996), Being John Malkovich (1999), Fortress 2: Re-Entry (2000), Out Cold (2001), Freaky Friday (2003), Just Like Heaven (2005), Little Manhattan (2005) and Labor Pains (2009).

Mr. Garson was a talented and versatile actor. He appeared in more than 300 TV episodes and over 75 films. We thank him for the laughs and entertainment he brought us during his career. He will be sorely missed.

Share your memories on our Sex and the City message board. View photos in our galleries.

Jay Sandrich

Emmy-winning director Jay Sandrich, who worked on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Soap and The Cosby Show, has died. He died from complications of dementia on September 22 in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Sandrich was 89.

He began his career as an assistant director on I Love Lucy from 1956 to 1957. He was assistant to the producer on The Andy Griffith Show from 1961 to 1963 and an associate producer from 1964 to 1965. He was an associate producer for the first season of Get Smart from 1965 to 1966. In 1967, he worked as a producer for Captain Nice.

Sandrich's early sitcom directing credits included The Danny Thomas Show, The Bill Dana Show, He & She, That Girl, Get Smart, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Here's Lucy and The Governor & J.J..

He directed 119 of the 168 episodes of the 1970-1977 CBS sitcom The Mary Tyle Moore Show. He won Emmy Awards in 1971 and 1973 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy.

Sandrich directed 54 episodes of the ABC sitcom Soap from 1977 to 1980. Some of his other 1970s directing credits included The Bill Cosby Show, Nanny and the Professor, Arnie, The Good Life, Here We Go Again, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Diana, We'll Get By, Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, The Odd Couple, The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, Rhoda, Ball Four, Phyllis, The Tony Randall Show, Loves Me, Loves Me Not (1977), Welcome Back, Kotter (1976, 1977), The Betty White Show, WKRP in Cincinnati, Stockard Channing in Best Friends, The Stockard Channing Show and Benson.

He directed 100 episodes of the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992. He won Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series.

Some of his 1980s sitcom directing credits included Love, Sidney (1981), Night Court, Off the Rack, It's a Living, The Golden Girls, A Different World, Empty Nest and The Van Dyke Show. His 1990s and 2000s sitcom directing credits included Love & War, Thea, The Office (1995), Pearl, Ink, The Tony Danza Show, Built to Last, LateLine, The Secret Lives of Men, Style & Substance, Thanks, Three Sisters, Charlie Lawrence and Two and a Half Men.

Sandrich directed the 1980 film Seems Like Old Times, which starred Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Charles Grodin.

Jay Sandrich

He was interviewed for The Interviews: An Oral History of Television on December 4, 2001.

Mr. Sandrich was a prolific director who worked on more than 50 sitcoms. He was a four-time Emmy winner for his work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Cosby Show. He was inducted into the Televison Hall of Fame in 2020. We thank him for work on many sitcoms during his directing career, which spanned from 1963 to 2003. He will be greatly missed.


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Monday, September 15

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Pickleball" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The new neighbors who moved into Miss Kim’s old house are keeping the Butlers and Johnsons up all night. Meanwhile, Courtney tells Marty she is going on a date.

The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Pickle" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The Johnsons and Butlers are curious about their new neighbors’ lifestyle and their interest raises some surprising questions. Also, Marty feels pressure to enroll Daphne in the best preschool.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 15)

Monday, September 15

  • Frank Grillo (Battery Park) - Watch Frank on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Keegan-Michael Key (Schmigadoon!/Friends from College/Playing House/Gary Unmarried) - Keegan-Michael appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Zach Cherry (Duncanville/I Feel Bad/Crashing) and Pete Holmes (How We Roll/Crashing) - Zach and Pete are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Jennifer Aniston (Friends/Muddling Through/Ferris Bueller/Molloy) - Jennifer and Reese Witherspoon talk about The Morning Show on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
  • Michelle Buteau (Survival of the Thickest/Bless the Harts/Enlisted) - NBC's Today catches up with Michelle in the 10am hour.
  • Josh Gad (Wolf Like Me/Avenue 5/The Comedians/1600 Penn/Back to You) - Josh talks about his latest movie Adulthood on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Queen Latifah (Living Single) - Queen Latifah is getting real with Drew about women's health on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Sarah Hyland (Modern Family) - Sarah appears on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Lacey Chabert (Still the King/Baby Daddy/Family Guy) - Lacey is a guest on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.
  • Persia White (Girlfriends) - Persia appears on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:15am.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

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09/14 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of September 15, 2025)
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