SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

• Catchy Comedy, which is the first national network (as far as we know) to have the broadcast rights to air all of Lucille Ball's sitcoms on a regular basis, begins airing their new block Catchy Loves Lucy tomorrow night from 8-11:30, and the first episode will feature Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie, two episodes of I Love Lucy, and an episode of Here's Lucy.
• Also tomorrow, as Catchy Comedy transitions to binge free weekends, they begin a new Sunday lineup that features two hour blocks of the sitcoms that they air.
• Family Guy returns for a new season tomorrow night, while The Simpsons has an unusually early in the year hourlong season finale--and 800th episode.

by Vincent

In addition to previously announced series endings like Superstore and Brooklyn 99, CBS's Mom announced it would be ending after 8 seasons this past week. It is still somewhat unclear whether the end was due to CBS canceling the series or a decision made by its creators, but it was a move that was seen as unsurprising given that the series lost one of its key stars Anna Faris this season, and the fact that ratings for the show have fallen recently.

Mom was a landmark series that was a critical and commercial success, easily the most acclaimed series Chuck Lorre created. It was a network multi-camera sitcom that managed to achieve critical and fan adoration as well as high viewership numbers. It also signals the end of yet another hallmark network comedy, joining the likes of Superstore and The Good Place as well as Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory in the few years prior. Without clear successors, Mom will leave yet another hole in the network sitcom landscape.

During the Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour, Hulu presented the company's lineup of upcoming original programming including the fourth season of Emmy(R), Golden Globe(R) and Peabody Award-winning series The Handmaid's Tale, the third and final season of comedy series Shrill starring Aidy Bryant, and new adult animation series Marvel's M.O.D.O.K., all of which join the company's collection of premium original content.

The third and final season of Shrill premieres all eight episodes on Friday, May 7. The new season finds Annie (Aidy Bryant) energized by her breakup with dud boyfriend Ryan (Luka Jones) and her newfound momentum at work. Annie feels like everything is finally falling into place for her, but does she actually know how to get what she wants? Shrill stars Aidy Bryant, Lolly Adefope, Ian Owens and John Cameron Mitchell. Elsewhere, the fourth season of The Handmaid's Tale premieres with three episodes on Wednesday, April 28. Following a successful first season and practically blowing up the internet, Animaniacs has been renewed for a third, zany season on Hulu consisting of 10 episodes. And finally, the popular teen dramedy Love, Victor returns with all 10 episodes on Friday, June 11.

Hulu presented the company's lineup of upcoming original programming including semi-animated comedy series Woke starring Lamorne Morris; No Man's Land, the dramatic tale of the Syrian civil war; and the second season of Pen15, a middle school comedy set in the early 2000s starring Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine. The three Hulu Originals showcased will join the company's growing slate of premium Original content, following a successful year of back-to-back new hits such as Little Fires Everywhere, Palm Springs, Solar Opposites, The Great, Normal People and more. The company also announces straight-to-series orders for two new Hulu Original series, The Girl From Plainville and The Next Thing You Eat. Starring Elle Fanning, The Girl From Plainville is a limited series inspired by the true story of the controversial case of Michelle Carter (Fanning), who was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging the suicide of her then-boyfriend via texts and phone calls.

Starring alongside comedic legends Steve Martin and Martin Short, global superstar Selena Gomez joins the cast of the upcoming Hulu Original comedy series Only Murders in the Building. The series follows three strangers (Martin, Short and Gomez) who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. Only Murders in the Building hails from co-creators and writers, Steve Martin and John Hoffman (Grace & Frankie, Looking). Martin and Hoffman will executive produce along with Martin Short, Selena Gomez, This is Us creator Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal.

Twenty-two years after its final episode, the long-awaited return of Animaniacs comes to Hulu Friday, November 20. Hulu, Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation are proud to unveil a brand-new version of the iconic family friendly cartoon series for the whole family, as the Warner siblings, Yakko and Wakko, and the Warner sister Dot, have a great time wreaking havoc and mayhem in the lives of everyone they meet. After returning to their beloved home, the Warner Bros. Water Tower, the Animaniacs waste no time in causing chaos and comic confusion as they run loose through the studio and beyond, turning the world into their personal playground. Joining Yakko, Wakko and Dot, fan-favorite characters Pinky and the Brain will also return to continue their quest for world domination in each of the 13 episodes. The show has also been renewed for a second season of 13 episodes in 2021.

AMC announced the cast for its upcoming series Pantheon, a first-ever animated primetime drama. Daniel Dae Kim (Lost, Hawaii Five-O, Always Be My Maybe), Katie Chang (The Bling Ring), Paul Dano (Escape at Dannemora, Little Miss Sunshine), Rosemarie DeWitt (Little Fires Everywhere, Rachel Getting Married), Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight, Thank You For Smoking, Ambush), Taylor Schilling (Orange Is The New Black), Ron Livingston (Loudermilk, A Million Little Things, Search Party), Chris Diamantopoulos (Silicon Valley, American Dad), Raza Jaffrey (Homeland, Code Black) and Scoot McNairy (Narcos: Mexico, Argo) lead a cast rounded out by Anika Noni Rose (The Princess and the Frog, Little Fires Everywhere), Grey Griffin (Star Wars Resistance, Scooby Doo Guess Who), SungWon Cho (Anime Crimes Division, Borderlands 3), Kevin Durand (DC's Swamp Thing, Ballers), Samuel Roukin (A Call To Spy, TURN: Washington's Spies) and Krystina Alabado (Broadway's Mean Girls, God Friended Me).

Based on a collection of short stories from Ken Liu about Uploaded Intelligence, or, human consciousness uploaded to the 'Cloud,' Pantheon is created and written by Showrunner Craig Silverstein (Turn, Nikita, Terra Nova) with Liu serving as consulting producer and Titmouse Inc., animation studio also attached. Produced by AMC Studios, AMC has placed an initial order for two seasons of the speculative fiction series consisting of eight one-hour episodes each.