Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Kerry Washington's UnPrisoned Gets Season 2; Classic Comedy Shorts Celebrate 40th Anniversary
Onyx Collective and ABC Signature announced the season two renewal of the original dramedy series UnPrisoned, starring and executive produced by Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo, on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ in all other territories. UnPrisoned debuted as Onyx Collective's most-viewed premiere on Hulu and as the inaugural dramedy series for the brand. Inspired by creator Tracy McMillan’s life, the series follows a messy but perfectionist relationship therapist, social media influencer and single mom, Paige Alexander (Washington), whose life is turned right-side-up when her dad, Edwin Alexander (Lindo), gets out of prison and moves in with her and her teenage son.
The series is executive produced by McMillan, Yvette Lee Bowser and Washington alongside Pilar Savone, through their Simpson Street production company, and Lindo. Joy Gorman Wettels and Jen Braeden also executive produce. The series hails from Onyx Collective on Hulu and is produced by ABC Signature. The story of UnPrisoned is the reality of millions of families who are affected by the criminal justice system in the United States. According to the ACLU, mass incarceration has grown 500% over the last 50 years, with over 2 million people in this country incarcerated today. With this series, McMillan creates flawed but lovable characters from a place of empathy, humor and soul to honor the families that mass incarceration affects most. All eight episodes of the first season of UnPrisoned are available to stream exclusively on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories.
Likely Stories is a collection of long lost comedy shorts featuring the work of luminaries such as Danny DeVito, Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Larry Gelbart, Steve Carell, Denis Leary, Harry Shearer, and many others; this year celebrating the 40th anniversary of its premiere. These critically acclaimed, award-winning, classic short comedies have been digitally remastered and are now available to stream online for FREE with NO COMMERCIALS! A must-see for comedy-connoisseurs just in time for Thanksgiving at www.likely-stories.com .
In the early '80s, David Jablin created and produced a ground-breaking comedy-anthology series for HBO's Cinemax called Likely Stories. Each one-hour show featured eclectic comic offerings mixing short stories, political satire, mockumentaries, precise parodies and musical sendups. It had an innovative mixed-media format utilizing film, video and animation. The series featured the directing debuts of Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal and Harry Shearer. As this year marks the 40th anniversary of the original series, Jablin decided to remaster his favorites, as well as some of his later Showtime work in HD and collect them all under the Likely Stories banner. Today he is launching a dedicated Likely Stories website and is putting it out there so comedy fans can enjoy watching these long "lost" comedy treasures with no commercials, subscriptions or sign-ups. Just click. Play. Laugh.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Wednesday, January 22
Shifting Gears - "Job" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Riley, desperate for work, reluctantly takes a job at Matt’s shop. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Stitch secretly stray from Matt’s vision on a high-stakes restomod project.
Abbott Elementary - "Strike" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
City buses have stopped running due to a strike, resulting in many students being absent from school. The teachers at Abbott try to find creative solutions and adapt to hybrid learning. Meanwhile, Gregory and O’Shon strike up a friendship.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of January 20)
Wednesday, January 22
- Lucy Liu (Joey/Pearl) - Watch Lucy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC. She also chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts/White Famous), Betsy Sodaro (Ghosts/Duncanville/Disjointed/Animal Practice) and Punam Patel (Ghosts/Return of the Mac/Kevin from Work) - Utkarsh, Betsy and Punam are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris talks about Watson on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am, on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour, and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Andrew Rannells (Girls/The New Normal) and Nick Kroll (Big Mouth/The League/Cavemen) - Andrew, Nick and Lin-Manuel Miranda are chatting with Drew about their Broadway show All In: Comedy About Love on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. They're also talking to Drew about parenting advice, how they were raised and how comedy brings people together.
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
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