SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

• Catchy Comedy has a binge featuring two satirical police-themed shows with two words and an exclamation mark tomorrow: Police Squad! and Sledge Hammer!
• Antenna TV has a Dear John marathon tomorrow.
• ABC has season premieres of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Match Game (with a new host) on Wednesday.

by Vincent

It's the season to be thankful, and one thing we are all grateful for is having a long weekend off from work to binge watch some TV show episodes. So what are the best sitcom Thanksgiving episodes? The obvious choice is the Friends Thanksgiving episodes, the gold standard of sitcom Thanksgiving. But there are also some other classic Thanksgiving episodes that deserve recognition as well.

New Girl was another "young professionals in a big city" sitcom that did Thanksgiving well, and its Thanksgiving episodes are a funny mix of humor and heart. Community also had a solid Thanksgiving episode - although it took place during the "gas leak" year without creator Dan Harmon, it's still a decent half-hour that introduces us to Jeff's estranged father. Happy Endings also had a very funny Thanksgiving episode that chronicles the gang's past as reality TV stars.

However, if one show stands out above the rest, it's Bob's Burgers. Nearly every Bob's Burgers Thanksgiving episode is an instant classic, with my favorite being the Season 3 Thanksgiving episode "An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal," which also featured Linda's unforgettable Thanksgiving song. It's a classic episode, just like all Bob's Burgers Thanksgiving episodes, and I highly recommend it.

Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel are back for a third installment of Live in Front of a Studio Audience! The first two specials aired before the pandemic in spring 2019 and holiday season 2019, but now 2 years later, we are back with another holiday installment! Previous classic Norman Lear sitcoms featured were All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Good Times, now we are heading into the '80s with Lear's The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes! Yes, Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes will air Tuesday, Dec. 7 from 8pm to 9:30pm ET, followed by the series premiere of the previously announced new school comedy Abbott Elementary at 9:30pm leading into the fall finale of new drama Queens at 10pm.

Casting details for Diff'rent Strokes includes John Lithgow as Mr. Drummond, Kevin Hart as Arnold, Damon Wayans as Willis and Ann Dowd as Mrs. Garrett, with more to be announced. Casting details for The Facts of Life has not been announced yet but Ann Dowd as Mrs. Garrett will certainly be on both episodes. Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux and Jim Burrows will executive produce. Details on the episodes being recreated will also be announced soon! More to come!

by Vincent

Next month, The Office, long the most streamed series on Netflix, will be exiting the streaming service and moving exclusively to its new home on Peacock. It's been a move known for nearly two years now, but it's getting closer and closer and now feels all the more real. The same recently happened to its sister series Parks and Recreation, which left Netflix as well as Hulu and is now available only on Peacock. It's the latest, and maybe the biggest move, in the ever changing streaming wars. At one time, nearly everything was centrally located on one of the original big 3 streaming platforms: Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. But now with more streaming services popping up, it has become increasingly splintered.

The question is, who will be hurt more? Netflix has lost two of its biggest streamers. At the same time, it has gained shows, too - Seinfeld will move to Netflix in 2021, and it has also picked up shows like Community and Sister, Sister this year, which have drawn buzz to the platform, along with their continued production of originals like Cobra Kai (swooped up from YouTube Red, of course) and Never Have I Ever that drew attention and acclaim. People are used to and comfortable with Netflix's interface, and are willing to find new shows to replace ones they've streamed many times before. On the other hand, it's possible people who love watching The Office will check out Peacock and ultimately prefer their selection (which includes most recent NBC comedies), or will simply just buy box sets of the show and stop participating in the streaming warms. Time will certainly tell on what comes of these "streaming wars" in the long run.

After 113 episodes, NBC's critically acclaimed comedy Superstore will be concluding at the end of its current sixth season. Through its own comedic lens, the series has consistently examined many of the country's most topical issues, including health care, immigration, unionization, the plight of the retail worker and many more. Superstore, which reached more than 37 million viewers last season, has consistently been one of NBC's strongest comedies. Following the winter hiatus, Superstore returns to the NBC lineup on Thursday, Jan. 14 at 8:30 p.m. There are currently 11 more episodes to air this season, which will end in the spring.

Ken Jeong and Joel McHale are teaming up to "Toast & Roast" all that was 2020 during the most anticipated New Year's Eve of all time! Ken Jeong, from Fox's The Masked Singer, I Can See Your Voice and upcoming The Masked Dancer, and comedian and actor Joel McHale (Card Sharks), kiss 2020 goodbye as they co-host Fox's New Year's Eve Toast & Roast 2021 (working title). Jeong and McHale will commemorate the past year from coast-to-coast with a live, three-and-a-half-hour "Toast & Roast" to 2020. Fox's New Year's Eve Toast & Roast 2021, Part One airs Thursday, Dec. 31 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/CT live MT/PT tape-delayed), and Fox's New Year's Eve Toast & Roast 2021, Part Two airs Thursday, Dec. 31 (11:00 PM-12:30 AM ET live CT/MT/PT tape-delayed).

Live from Los Angeles, CA, Jeong and McHale will bring their signature comedic hosting style, as the former Community stars, hosts of The Darkest Timeline podcast and longtime friends reunite to help ring in the New Year with a special dedicated to the highs and lows of 2020, specifically celebrating those that helped to make the world a better place this past year. Join surprise celebrity guests and some of the year's top music artists to wrap up 2020 and kick off the New Year with a show unlike any other. Additional guest appearances and musical performances to be announced.

In PEOPLE Puzzler, hosted by TV veteran Leah Remini, three contestants put their pop culture knowledge to the test to complete crosswords in a show based on the iconic puzzles in PEOPLE Magazine. The player who has won the most points after three rounds will move on to the Fast Puzzle Bonus Round where they will have the opportunity to win a cash prize. PEOPLE Puzzler will premiere on Monday, January 18, 2021 at 6 p.m. ET on Game Show Network and air weekdays. Actress, author, producer, and television personality Leah Remini is perhaps most recognized as Carrie Heffernan on the long-running CBS comedy, The King of Queens. She was recently seen in the romantic comedy, Second Act, with her friend Jennifer Lopez. In 2015, Remini released her New York Times Bestselling memoir "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology." Following the book's successful release, in 2016 she created, produced and hosted the critically acclaimed A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which won the Primetime Emmy® Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special.

by Vincent

This weekend is Halloween, and whether you're spending the weekend participating in Halloween festivities or not, you can make the weekend a little more festive with these highlight sitcom Halloween episodes.

The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror V (Available on Disney+)
Any Treehouse of Horror installment from the Simpsons' first 10 seasons is a genuine candidate for this list, but the very best is the entry from the show's 6th season, most notable for the show's classic Shining parody. It perfectly balances creepy and funny, and is still, in my mind, the gold standard of a horror episode of a sitcom, animated or not.

Bob's Burgers - Fort Night (Available on Hulu)
Bob's Burgers is another series that has made Halloween a special time of year, and nearly all of its Halloween episodes are delightful. But the very best Halloween episode is probably Season 4's Fort Night, which introduces the character of Millie. Similar to the Simpsons episode listed, Fort Night is actually genuinely creepy, as the childrens' fate is left up to the wildly unstable Millie character. It's also just a great time seeing all of the Belcher kids together in one place.

Parks and Recreation - Halloween Surprise (Available on Hulu and Peacock)
This Parks and Rec episode isn't quite like your typical Halloween episodes, as it centers around Ben proposing to Leslie, but it's nevertheless a sweet and surprising episode that makes great use of the holiday. It's rare to call a Halloween episode "sweet", but this episode definitely gets that honor. And it's no surprise that Parks and Rec would take the darkest holiday of the year and make it heartwarming.

Happy Endings - Spooky Endings (Available on Hulu)
Maybe the all-out funniest episode of the list, Happy Endings' sole Halloween episode is a hysterical laugh riot from start to finish. There is pretty much a joke every other second in this episode, which has a simple premise (the gang goes to a costume party while Jane and Brad house sit in the suburbs) but fills that premise with so many jokes that you'll find yourself endlessly laughing for the entire 22 minutes.

Boy Meets World - And Then There Was Shawn (Available on Disney+)
Technically this isn't a Halloween episode, but it's a horror movie send up that fits in perfectly with the season, as the show pokes fun at slasher films. It's a really funny episode and a fairly early example of a live action sitcom experimenting with its genre and form. You don't typically expect it from TGIF sitcoms, but Boy Meets World did a great job with it.

Community - Epidemiology (Available on Netflix and Hulu)
Community spoofed zombie films with its second season Halloween episode, and if you can get past the fact that parts of this episode is about the school being quarantined due to the outbreak of a "zombie" virus (yes, it hits a little close to home, minus the zombie part), this is an extremely funny parody of horror movies that's one of Community's most imaginative and fun concept episodes.

CBS All Access, ViacomCBS' digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, announced the fourth season renewal for its original, half-hour comedy series No Activity. In a departure from previous seasons, the fourth season will feature all the fan favorite No Activity. characters in animated form. This season will find Special Agent Nick Cullen (Patrick Brammall) realizing his dream of joining the FBI, but he will soon discover that being an FBI agent isn’t that special after all. After being assigned to a seemingly dull observation detail, he finds a potential career case in the form of an emerging cult. A large scale operation soon takes aim at the cult but it's unclear which side will break first. Despite the promotion, Cullen's path continues to cross with former partner Judd Toldbeck's (Tim Meadows), who adjusts to life with a new partner of his own.

No Activity's third season found demoted detectives Cullen and Tolbeck back in uniform with a revolving door of quirky new partners and even quirkier criminals, while robots - and Dylan McDermott - tried to take over Janice and Fatima's jobs in dispatch. Season three starred Brammall, Meadows and a stellar guest cast, including Beth Behrs, Joe Keery, Keegan-Michael Key, Sunita Mani, Jason Mantzoukas, Dylan McDermott, Paula Pell, Amy Schumer, Amy Sedaris and J.K. Simmons. No Activity is produced by CBS Studios in association with Funny Or Die, Jungle, and Gary Sanchez Productions, and is based on the Stan original series produced by Jungle. The series is co-developed and executive produced by Brammall and Trent O'Donnell, alongside executive producers Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Joe Farrell, Mike Farah, Joe Hardesty and Jason Burrows. Nina Pedrad, Steve Toltz, and Becca Kinskey serve as co-executive producers. As in previous seasons, O'Donnell will direct all episodes. Flight School Studio serves as the animation studio for the upcoming season.

by Vincent

In response to the ongoing protests regarding racial injustice in America, several streaming services have removed episodes of sitcoms due to jokes that might now be viewed as "racially insensitive," mainly regarding instances of the use of blackface. Obviously, this is a very serious issue that's much bigger than a few sitcom episodes. But it has nonetheless sparked an interesting discussion in the TV world about censorship and what to do about jokes that might now seem insensitive. The episodes in question include: three episodes of 30 Rock (featuring the use of blackface and removed at the request of Tina Fey who says she now regrets the episodes), two episodes of Scrubs (removed by creator Bill Lawerence for similar reasons), five episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and one episode each of Community and The Golden Girls. An episode of The Office was also edited to remove a blackface joke. All episodes contained some sort of use of a non-black character painting their face black, although in nearly all instances it was used satirically to make a point about why blackface is wrong and ridicule those who do it.

Many feel that this is mostly a symbolic gesture, though, and removing a few episodes that no one was complaining about is not exactly fixing the issues of racial injustice in society or in the entertainment world. Additionally, fans of Community and The Golden Girls pointed out that the episodes removed, despite having some potentially iffy jokes, actually have quite positive messages (Community's episode dealt with suicide and mental illness and The Golden Girls advocated for the acceptance of mixed race couples.) Perhaps a better method would be to add a disclaimer to the episodes in the same way HBO Max did with Gone with the Wind, noting these episodes contain some jokes that might seem insensitive today but represent a changing of the tides in terms of racial awareness on television. Still, no matter how you feel about the episodes, it's a good reminder that as used to streaming media as we are, episodes and shows can be taken down at any time. Owning physical media is still the best way to ensure the original and unedited copies of all of your favorite TV shows. (Perhaps not coincidentally, box sets of 30 Rock, Scrubs, Community and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia sold out on Amazon after the news of the episodes being pulled.)

The Kominsky Method has been renewed for a third and final season by Netflix. Acting coach Sandy Kominsky and best friend Norman Newlander keep each other laughing as they navigate the ups and downs of getting older. The sun isn't setting yet on the once famous Sandy Kominsky and his longtime agent Norman Newlander. Academy Award(R) Winners Michael Douglas (Kominsky) and Alan Arkin (Newlander) continue their journey as two friends tackling life's inevitable curveballs as they navigate their later years in Los Angeles, a city that values youth and beauty. Both comedic and emotional, The Kominsky Method is a half-hour single camera comedy created by 8-time Emmy Award Nominee Chuck Lorre. Lorre, Al Higgins and Michael Douglas executive produce the series which is produced by Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television.

The CW has seven original scripted series lined up for its 2021 midseason which includes two new series, Kung Fu and The Republic of Sarah, joining returning series DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Dynasty, In the Dark, Roswell, New Mexico, Supergirl.

Update 6/4: The CW Network announced the acquisition of the international thriller from Sky Italia, Devils, starring Alessandro Borghi and Patrick Dempsey, adding the series to its Fall 2020 schedule airing on Wednesdays at 8:00pm, ET/PT, followed by the investigative drama Coroner at 9:00pm, ET/PT. Devils is an international thriller that follows Massimo Ruggero (Alessandro Borghi, The First King: Birth of an Empire, Suburra), the charismatic yet ruthless Head of Trading at NYL, one of the world’s most important investment banks, and his mentor, NYL's CEO Dominic Morgan (Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy, The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair). After Dominic appoints another colleague over Massimo following a bitter promotion battle, Massimo finds himself named prime suspect in a murder investigation. Fighting to clear his name, Massimo becomes involved in an intercontinental financial war and is forced to choose between supporting Dominic or going up against him.

Additional changes to the previously announced Fourth Quarter Fall 2020 schedule, include comedy Dead Pixels, which will now premiere this Summer, Two Sentence Horror Stories moving to Sundays 8-9pm, and Masters of Illusion, which is already slated for Fridays 8-9pm this Summer, will remain in same time period for the Fall, while World's Funniest Animals moves to 9:00pm on Friday. The rest of the schedule is intact as we previously announced.


Discuss The CW's 2020-21 lineup and also you can view complete program information.



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!

by Vincent

As the COVID-19 situation has dragged on in the US, one interesting trend is the reunion of sitcom casts via online video platforms. Over the past few months, many sitcoms casts have "reunited" to relive some of the show's most famous moments, read scripts, or in some cases, even produce a new episode. The Parks and Recreation remotely produced special a few weeks ago is the most obvious example, but over the past few weeks, casts of shows ranging from The Office to Community to Lizzie McGuire to Sonny With a Chance have shared reunions taking place over Zoom. It's interesting as previously, a "sitcom reunion" was a big, hyped event, often taking place on primetime or a talk show. (A Friends reunion was originally scheduled to happen this month as part of the show's much-hyped launch on HBO Max, but it has been postponed indefinitely due to the Coronavirus.) And yet now, stars are hopping onto Zoom to share with each other and fans how much they've missed each other.

The most notable other than the previously covered Parks episode is the The Office reunion, in which the cast joked, laughed and relived some of the show's finest moments. The Community cast also reunited via Zoom to read an episode script of one of the show's most beloved episodes and participate in a fan Q&A, including the now world famous Donald Glover, who many predicted would be difficult to get for a Community reunion (but has showed a large amount of love and interest in the show, sparking rumors that the long-awaited movie could finally be materializing.) It's been a nice bonus of this unfortunate situation to see actors - who for once have nothing else to do - getting together and sharing the memories they had with their fellow co-stars and with fans. It's just one of the many ways that's been helping us get through the reduced amount of content we're getting thanks to COVID-19.