SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! It's another slow news week (though it will only get slower the next two weeks!) as we approach Christmas and the new year, but we're here with more news and highlights, including a lot of news about Charlie Sheen. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

• CBS has finished Becker on DVD, with their MOD release of Becker - The Sixth and Final Season.
• MPI has a date set for their re-release of The Donna Reed Show - Season Two,  and that date is March 24. There is still no word on when or if the unreleased seasons of the series will be released.

DECEMBER 23 HOME MEDIA RELEASES 

• My Favorite Martian - Season Two (DVD, $39.98): MPI gives this season of the classic series a re-release on DVD, with new special features.

Who to Follow: Jimmie Walker (Facebook)

Claim to Fame: This week, we're continuing our child star theme, although the child star this week wasn't quite a child when he became famous for playing a high school kid. In fact, Jimmie Walker was already over the age of 20 when he made his first TV appearance, and approaching 30 when he was cast in his most famous role as J.J. Evans on the classic sitcom Good Times. Following that series, he never quite had a regular role on any series, but did appear in several series in guest or recurring roles, such as Cagney & Lacey, The Drew Carey Show, and Everybody Hates Chris, among many others. Today, a lot of what he does is stand-up comedy, touring the country.
Pick of the Tweets: "Norman Lear and David Letterman talking Jimmie Walker :-) — feeling thankful. (Link to Video)" (November 23, 2013)

TV Land has picked up The Gaffigan Show, created by Peter Tolan and Jim Gaffigan. The network has ordered 10 episodes. Jim Gaffigan is The New York Times best-selling author of Dad is Fat. The single-camera series is inspired by Gaffigan's real life, exploring one man's struggle in New York City to find a balance between fatherhood, stand-up comedy and an insatiable appetite. The Gaffigan Show will shoot in New York and premiere on TV Land in 2015. Peter Tolan (The Larry Sanders Show) will serve as executive producer alongside Jim Gaffigan and Jeannie Gaffigan. Brillstein Entertainment Partners' Alex Murray and Sandy Wernick will also executive produce along with Michael Wimer of Fedora Entertainment. Seth Gordon (The Goldbergs) directed the pilot episode.

The series will also air on Comedy Central, a sister Viacom network, within one week after its TV Land premiere. Gaffigan has a large, loyal fan base on Comedy Central with his stand-up specials and on social media with over two million Twitter followers. Ashley Williams (How I Met Your Mother) will co-star in The Gaffigan Show as Jim’s wife. Cult comedy favorites Adam Goldberg (Fargo) and Michael Ian Black (Ed) also star as Jim's best friend and his wife's meddling confidante, respectively.

FX will serve up original Monday laughs in late summer. Charlie Sheen returns to Monday nights in original back-to-back episodes of Anger Management beginning Monday, August 4 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on FX. The series will follow the double-episode 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT premiere of FX's new 10/90 sitcom Partners, starring Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence. Both Lionsgate-produced comedies will air back-to-back episodes for five consecutive weeks. Anger Management has now completed 80 episodes of its 100-episode order and will enter syndication this fall (check local listings for time and station). Partners, also crafted using the unique 10/90 syndication model pioneered by Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury, is now commencing its initial 10-episode run.

In the first new episode of Anger Management airing August 4, Charlie Goodson (Charlie Sheen) struggles to resist the advances of his friend Sean's (Brian Austin Green) gorgeous younger sister and in the second, he deals with the unexpected consequences of meeting his girlfriend's best friend. The series ensemble also includes Shawnee Smith, Laura Bell Bundy, Noureen DeWulf, Michael Arden, Derek Richardson, Barry Corbin, Brett Butler and Daniela Bobadilla.

Partners opens after Allen Braddock (Kelsey Grammer), a blue-blood Chicago lawyer, is fired from his father's law firm for his questionable ethics and is brought down to the courthouse to be punished. There he runs into Marcus Jackson (Martin Lawrence), a man-of-the-people community lawyer who is representing himself in his own divorce settlement hearing. The two men strike a deal and end up forming an unexpected partnership. In the second episode, the partners suspect that a high-end wedding planner is taking advantage of same-sex couples and while Marcus sees this as an opportunity to help a young couple that was duped, Allen focuses on the lucrative potential in cornering the market on future same-sex divorces. When they pose as a couple to get evidence, it shines a light on the problems in their own relationship. Other series regulars include Telma Hopkins, Rory O'Malley, McKaley Miller, Edi Patterson and Danièle Watts.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course! Hallmark Movie Channel has acquired the classic '60s sitcom Mister Ed! The series starring Alan Young is coming back to cable. The series will begin airing next month starting Monday, March 26, 2012 on Hallmark Channel's spin-off network The Hallmark Movie Channel every morning from 6-8am. The sitcom will replace a movie airing, so no series will be replaced. It has not aired on cable since TV Land stopped airing in about 2006 but the digital simulcast network THIS tv airs the series still weekday mornings at 6:30am (following The Patty Duke Show at 6am). If you don't get that network, then you'll get to see it on cable on Hallmark Movie Channel!
Hallmark Movie Channel will also still continue to air Perry Mason and Murder, She Wrote in the afternoons and encores of Murder, She Wrote in the late night. It is nice to see a sitcom join the network. Perhaps it will make an appearance on the regular Hallmark Channel for a marathon if you don't have Hallmark Movie Channel.
Speaking of Hallmark Channel, they have announced a marathon change. On Sunday, March 24 from 10am-12am, the marathon is now a We Love Lucy Marathon (aka The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour) replacing the scheduled I Love Lucy marathon. The comedy hour also aired on Feb. 26, so perhaps it did well in the ratings so now Hallmark will air it again. Everything else we mention for Hallmark Channel in March and April will still happen, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show marathon on Sunday, April 1! Keep it right here for continued updates!


FX will be television's comedy destination this summer with the return of two of its acclaimed original series, Louie and Wilfred, the debut of its new late-night original series Strangely Uplifting with Russell Brand, and new sitcom Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen, all airing Thursday nights beginning June 28. The series premiere of FX's first-run acquired comedy Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen kicks off June 28 with the first two episodes airing at 9:00 PM and 9:30 PM ET/PT. In the following weeks, the series will air first-run episodes Thursdays at 9:30 PM with the previous week's episode repeated at 9:00 PM. FX has ordered 10 episodes of Anger Management from producers Debmar-Mercury and Lionsgate Television.
In Anger Management, Sheen stars as "Charlie," a non-traditional therapist specializing in anger management. Selma Blair, Shawnee Smith, Daniela Bobadilla, Michael Arden, and Noureen DeWulf co-star. He has a successful private practice, holding sessions with his group of primary patients each week, as well as performing pro bono counseling for an inmate group at a state prison. Prior to his career as a therapist, Charlie was a stalled minor league baseball prospect whose road to the majors was sidetracked by his own struggle with anger issues. After a stint in anger management therapy, he made it to the majors and had one terrific season before his anger issues put him on the shelf for good. In the final game of his career, he tried to snap a bat over his leg, which resulted in a career-ending injury. That injury led him back to school and to his current profession. Charlie thrives on the chaos in his life while still battling his own anger issues. His life is complicated by his relationships with his own therapist/best friend, an ex-wife whose positive outlook but poor choice in men frustrates Charlie, and their 13-year-old daughter who has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Bruce Helford serves as Executive Producer/Showrunner. Joe Roth, Mark Burg, Dave Caplan are Executive Producers.
Season two of the acclaimed hit comedy Wilfred starring Elijah Wood and Jason Gann debuts at 10:00 PM E/P. Academy Award-winning actor/comedian Robin Williams has signed on for a guest-starring role in the season opener. FX has ordered 13 episodes for season two. Season three of the acclaimed and award-winning comedy series Louie, starring actor/comedian Louis C.K., premieres at 10:30 PM E/P. FX has ordered 13 episodes of the series for season three. Finally, the series premiere of Strangely Uplifting, FX's new late-night comedy starring acclaimed actor/comedian Russell Brand, will debut, at 11:00 PM E/P. The series features Brand's unvarnished, unfiltered take on current events, politics and pop culture. The network has ordered six half-hour installments of the series that will be shot in front of a live audience. The format will draw heavily on Brand's interaction with that audience.

Yesterday we hinted that the Cougar Town season premiere date would be revealed and it was. We broke the news on Twitter that the series will return for its third season on Tuesday, Feb. 14 - Valentine's Day - at 8:30pm. The comedy will air Tuesdays at 8:30pm. It has a 15 episode order (down from the original 22 it was given last May) since it is launching in mid-season. The series will air repeat free from Feb. 14 to May 15. On the third season premiere episode "Ain't Love Strange," Jules (Courteney Cox) is miffed when Grayson (Josh Hopkins), who has an ulterior motive, calls her "predictable," while Ellie (Christa Miller) frets that little Stan is turning into a "devil child," or even worse, could grow up to be like Laurie (Busy Phillips) and Travis (Dan Byrd) likes his new off campus housing, until Bobby (Brian Van Holt) tries to convince him to take dog Travis in.
Cougar Town is essentially replacing Work It, which was pulled after just two episodes. Repeats of Last Man Standing are airing for the rest of January in this timeslot. It is unclear right now what is airing at 8:30pm on Feb. 7, but Cougar Town will launch the week after on Feb. 14. Show some love and watch Cougar Town on Valentine's Day! Penny can!

FX announced Sunday at the TCA Winter 2012 Press Tour that Charlie Sheen's sitcom adaptation of the Adam Sandler-Jack Nicholson big screen comedy Anger Management will premiere in June 2012. Previously it was announced just as "Summer 2012." He'll fill the Nicholson role of an anger management counselor. The series of course will mark Sheen's return to television following his firing from the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men last year following his erratic behavior. Sheen was on hand at the TCA winter press tour on Sunday.
FX also airs reruns of Two and a Half Men, so the new sitcom is a perfect fit for them. Ten episodes will air for sure of this new comedy and if ti does well, it will get a bulk order of about 90 episodes. There is plenty still to come on Anger Management, such as an actual premiere date and timeslot. So you'll want to stay with us, but we just had to mention that it was being introduced at the TCA winter press tour.

Happy Halloween! This could be scary for some, but former Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen will return to television, as we know... but now we have the full details! Starting in summer 2012, FX has acquired the new Sheen sitcom Anger Management, a new sitcom loosely based on Revolution Studios' 2003 hit comedy feature film of the same name. FX has ordered 10 episodes of Anger Management from Lionsgate-owned distributor Debmar-Mercury, led by Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein. Production on the sitcom will begin in early 2012 with comedy veteran writer-producer Bruce Helford (George Lopez, The Drew Carey Show) as executive producer and showrunner. It will be produced by Lionsgate Television, led by Television Group President Kevin Beggs and COO Sandra Stern; Joe Roth and Revolution Studios' Vince Totino; Sheen manager Mark Burg's production company, Evolution Management; and Ramon Estevez and Estevez Sheen Productions.

In success, FX will pick up an additional 90 episodes under a unique syndication model crafted by Debmar-Mercury for multiple Tyler Perry sitcoms and Revolution's and Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? The series will air exclusively on FX until the off-network episodes start airing in broadcast syndication in fall 2014 -- only two years after its debut, since it will have 100 episodes by then. Sheen will retain a significant ownership stake in the series inspired by the film, in which an anger management therapist, who may need more counseling than his patients, wreaks havoc on the lives of his patients through his unconventional methods.
FX already airs repeats of his former sitcom Two and a Half Men everyday and they do great ratings. We will have more on this for sure as we get closer to summer 2012, such as a premiere date and what day/time it will air. So come on back!


ABC Family has cast rising star Chelsea Kane (Dancing with the Stars Season 12) on a new sitcom pilot. She is probably best known for being a finalist on ABC's Dancing with the Stars and who stars in Disney Channel's Jonas as Stella and in the upcoming ABC Family movie musical, Elixir (working title), has been cast as Penny in the new half-hour comedy pilot, Baby Daddy. Kane joins previously announced cast including Derek Theler and Cameron Deane Stewart. This sitcom pilot, a half-hour comedy from executive producer Dan Berendsen, is about Ben (Stewart) who, in his 20s, becomes a surprise dad to a baby girl when she's left on his doorstep by an ex-girlfriend. Ben decides to raise the baby with the help of his mother, his brother, Danny (Theler), his best buddy and his close female friend, Penny (Kane), who is harboring a secret crush on him. Baby Daddy is a multi-camera comedy and is scheduled to shoot in front of a live audience in December in Los Angeles.

If the series is picked-up to series, it could be a possible companion to ABC Family's popular original sitcom Melissa & Joey. ABC Family has not found a good pairing with that sitcom yet, as State of Georgia (starring Raven Symone) was recently canceled by ABC Family due to low ratings, which is a bummer since it was decent. ABC Family also has another sitcom pilot that is in contention titled Village People, a multi-camera half-hour pilot centering on a single, high-powered career woman who adopts a baby from a teen mother -- whom she ends up caring for as well. We hope both make it to series but are hoping more for Baby Daddy so we can see Chelsea Kane blossom into a big star. Stay with us for further updates!

Former Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen is planning his return to series television in Anger Management, a new sitcom loosely based on Revolution Studios' 2003 hit comedy feature of the same name. Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury, headed by Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, will distribute the series that will be produced by Lionsgate Television.
Sheen will retain a significant ownership stake in the series inspired by the film, in which a mild-mannered, non-confrontational man is ordered to attend group anger management sessions led by a therapist who could probably use some anger management himself.
"I chose Anger Management because, while it might be a big stretch for me to play a guy with serious anger management issues, I think it is a great concept," Sheen said. "It also provides me with real ownership in the series, a certain amount of creative control and the chance to be back in business with one of my favorite movie producers of all time, Joe Roth."
Roth and Sheen have worked together on five features, including Major League, Young Guns and Three Musketeers. Roth is also currently working with Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury and Ice Cube's Cube Vision on the TBS hit Are We There Yet? It is one of three hugely successful sitcoms (along with Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet The Browns) that are the result of a unique sitcom business model created by Marcus and Bernstein. All three sitcoms air on TBS, but as of now, Anger Management does not have a network home. As soon as we find out, we will let you know, but as with other Lionsgate series, it will be given a 10-episode order and if they like it, they will produce a whole bunch more very quickly (likely 90 more episodes).

Fans of Friday Night Lights will once again be able to recapture the excitement of the Dillon Panthers as ESPN will air the entire series. The series started on ESPN last Tuesday (July 12, 2011) as they celebrated the kick-off of the football-themed drama with episodes one and two from season one and aired it back-to-back in primetime on ESPN at 8pm and 9pm ET.
And then for those who are new to the series, a crash course in Friday Night Lights was offered via a "Season 1 FNL Marathon" on ESPN Classic last Thursday and Friday (July 14 and 15).
Now, beginning Thursday, July 21, ESPN Classic will become the new cable home for Friday Night Lights, airing each season in sequential order beginning with season one/episode one, with "new" episodes each Thursday night at 9pm and 10pm ET. Longhorn Network, the ESPN owned and operated 24-hour network dedicated to Texas athletics in partnership with UT and IMG College, will also air the entire five seasons of Friday Night Lights upon its August launch.