SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

• As Dick Van Dyke's 100th birthday approaches, PBS has an American Masters special about him on Friday.
• Saturday Night Live is back tonight with host Melissa McCarthy.
• Catchy Comedy has a binge of Christmas sitcom favorites tomorrow.

The Dick Van Dyke Show - Now Living In Color!, a new one-hour special with two newly colorized back-to-back classic episodes of the beloved 1960s series, will be broadcast Friday, Dec. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Series creator and co-star Carl Reiner personally selected the two episodes to showcase his favorite episodes featuring Dick Van Dyke. The special features the season one episode "Where Did I Come From," written by Carl Reiner, and the season four episode "Never Bathe on Saturday," also written by Reiner. The main titles and end credits of the two episodes are seamlessly combined into one set - at the beginning and end of the hour - with no interruption between the episodes.

I Love Lucy Christmas Special, a new one-hour special featuring two back-to-back colorized episodes of the classic series, will be broadcast Friday, Dec. 14 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. I Love Lucy Christmas Special features "The Christmas Episode" and the newly colorized "Pioneer Women." Both were colorized with a nod to the 1950s period in which they were filmed. The main titles and end credits are seamlessly combined into one set at the beginning and end of the hour, with no interruption between the episodes.

The CW Network has started to set its 2019 midseason schedule by slating the debut of new series Roswell, New Mexico for Tuesday, January 15, 2019 (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT) and moving Black Lightning to Mondays after Arrow starting on January 21, 2019 (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT). With these January moves, DC's Legends of Tomorrow will return to Mondays in April after Black Lightning concludes its second season. Additionally, new series In the Dark is currently scheduled to debut on Thursdays after Legacies completes its first full 16-episode season. The beloved Jane the Virgin will return for its final season on Wednesday nights at 9 (after Riverdale at 8) in the spring once All American wraps its first full 16-episode season. Also, slated to return later in the Spring of 2019 is the final season of iZombie and the sixth season of The 100. Exact dates for Spring premieres to be announced later.

COZI TV announced the launch of two new tribute specials honoring Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke, premiering Saturday, October 28 at 10 PM ET (check local listings). The hour-long tribute specials, 10 Secret Stories: "A Tribute to Mary Tyler Moore" and 10 Secret Stories: "A Tribute to The Dick Van Dyke Show" feature commentary from the legendary Carl Reiner, the creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as cast members Rose Marie (Sally Rogers) and Larry Matthews (Ritchie Petrie) and other insiders. The shows are the latest episodes in COZI TV’s original 10 Secrets series that takes a unique, behind-the-scenes look at television’s best-known personalities and most iconic shows.

The two specials can be seen on COZI TV at the following times:

Saturday, October 28 (Premiere)
10:00PM: 10 Secret Stories: "A Tribute to Mary Tyler Moore"

Sunday, October 29 (Encore)
4:00PM: 10 Secret Stories: "A Tribute to Mary Tyler Moore"

Saturday, November 18 (Premiere)
10:00PM: 10 Secret Stories: "A Tribute to The Dick Van Dyke Show"

Sunday, November 19 (Encore)
4:00PM: 10 Secret Stories: "A Tribute to The Dick Van Dyke Show"

The cast of the iconic comedy series Roseanne gathers for their first table read for the revival's premiere episode entitled "Twenty Years to Life." Returning to The ABC Television Network, the eight-episode reboot, featuring the original cast – Roseanne Barr (Roseanne), John Goodman (Dan), Sara Gilbert (Darlene), Laurie Metcalf (Jackie), Michael Fishman (D.J.) and Lecy Goranson (Becky) – will air in 2018. Sarah Chalke, who played the character Becky in later seasons, will also appear in another role.

October 18 is the 29th anniversary of the show's original premiere on ABC in 1988. Roseanne Barr is an executive producer, along with Sara Gilbert, Tom Werner, Bruce Helford, Whitney Cummings and Tony Hernandez. The series is from Carsey-Werner Television. Pictures in the image from the table read above are: John Pasquin (Director), Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne Barr, Michael Fishman, Jayden Rey Bruce Helford (Executive Producer), Whitney Cummings (Executive Producer), Sid Youngers (Co-Executive Producer), Sarah Chalke, Lecy Goranson, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Ames Mcnamara, Tony Hernandez (Executive Producer).

Effective immediately MTV is airing sitcoms in the mornings. As of yesterday, MTV is airing a block of My Wife & Kids from 9-11am, followed by George Lopez from 11am-12pm and a block of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 12pm-2pm. All three comedies are being borrowed from other Viacom networks, with My Wife & Kids currently on Centric, George Lopez on Nick at Nite and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Nick at Nite/BET. MTV2 is already airing sitcoms, but now it looks like MTV will get in on the action in the mornings, while MTV2 stops the sitcoms in the mornings. MTV2 will continue to air sitcoms in afternoons (Boy Meets World) and late nights (i.e. Wayans Bros, Martin, Jamie Foxx). In addition, MTV will air a The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Columbus Day marathon on Monday, Oct. 13 from 9am-4pm. MTV has aired sitcoms in the past, like That '70s Show. Stay with us for continued updates as we get them.

Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke guest stars as Goofy's pirate grandpappy, Captain Goof-Beard, in a special music-filled episode of Disney Junior's Emmy Award-nominated animated series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse premiering this Friday (Oct. 10) at 9:00am ET/PT on Disney Channel. The episode, titled Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: "Mickey's Pirate Adventure," features six new original songs performed by Van Dyke's character alongside Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy and Pluto. In the special, Mickey and pals are enjoying a day at the beach when Peg Leg Pete delivers a note from Goofy's long-lost Grandpappy, Captain Goof-Beard, asking for the gang's help in ensuring that Harmony-Chord Island, the musical isle where Goof-Beard lives, doesn't go completely out of tune and sink.

Everybody's smiling when The Brady Bunch cast reunites to celebrate Florence Henderson's 80th birthday, on the talk show The Talk, airing tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 13) at 2:00PM, ET/1:00PM, PT/CT on CBS. Original cast members Florence Henderson (Carol Brady), Christopher Knight (Peter Brady), Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady), Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady) and Barry Williams (Greg Brady) will appear live in-studio. Ann B. Davis (Alice Nelson) and Eve Plumb (Jan Brady) will deliver special taped birthday messages. Cast members will share fun behind-the-scenes tales from their days on The Brady Bunch set, reminisce about favorite memories and episodes, and share personal stories about their television mom. Chef Jason Santos will prepare the classic Brady dish, pork chops and applesauce, in a homage to the memorable episode in which Peter Brady impersonates Humphrey Bogart saying, "Pork chops and applesauce...isn't that swell!"

The Talk hosts will celebrate the Brady matriarch's birthday and the '70s classic TV show by recreating the famous show opening title sequence and donning wardrobe from that era. Additionally, The Talk set will be transformed into a 1970s living room, featuring retro-style furniture, wood paneling and over-sized photos of The Brady Bunch cast in character. The Brady Bunch, which premiered 44 years ago, revolved around a large blended family which included six children. The show premiered Sept. 26. 1969 and ran until March 8, 1974 on ABC.

Hallmark Channel announces five-time Emmy(R) winner and two-time Golden Globe(R) nominee Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Diagnosis Murder) will guest star in a revolving role that will feature television icons through the run of the first season of Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Hallmark Channel's highly anticipated new Original Series premiering April 2014. The series stars Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty), Kristin Booth (The Kennedys), Crystal Lowe (Smallville) and Geoff Gustafson (Primeval: New World) and is Created and Executive Produced by Martha Williamson, best known as the Executive Producer and creative force behind the mega-hit Touched By An Angel. Hallmark Channel's new original series is a wonderful combination of romance, comedy, and drama that follows the lives of a group of postal workers who transform themselves into an untraditional team of detectives to track down intended recipients of undeliverable mail. Their missions take them out of the office into an unpredictable world where redirected letters and packages can save lives, solve crimes, reunite old loves and change futures by arriving late but somehow on time.

The series will showcase Van Dyke in a comedic role as their supervisor Kenneth Brandt, who's such a stickler for mailroom rules he literally manages the team from his manual... until he has a transformational experience. Stay with us for continued updates on him on this show and other TV icons!

Elsewhere on TV Land, they will have movie premieres for Mission Impossible (Sunday, Dec. 2 at 6pm) and Starsky & Hutch (Monday, Dec. 17 at 10:30am) in December, and we mentioned last week about their annual Thanksgiving Laugh More-a-thon (Nov. 22-25), which includes Leave it to Beaver. Also, season four of Hot in Cleveland will premiere on TV Land on Wednesday, November 28 at 10:00pm and the second half of season two of Happily Divorced will begin at 10:30pm on the same night. Stay with us in the coming weeks for the TV Land Merry-thon schedule airing on Christmas Day that will consist of classics like The Andy Griffith Show, M*A*S*H, The Cosby Show, Roseanne, Gunsmoke, Bonanza and modern classics like Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens.

ABC Family begins production this week in Los Angeles on the multi-camera comedy series pilot Phys Ed, starring Ryan Sypek (Wildfire), Kate Lang Johnson (Persons Unknown), Sunkrish Bala (I Just Want My Pants Back, Notes from the Underbelly), Samm Levine (Freaks and Geeks), and Chelsea Harris (Just Jordan). We mentioned the casting news last month, but now production has begun on the pilot.
Phys Ed is a half-hour multi-camera comedy about a high school's star jock, Ed (Sypek), who returns to teach at his former alma mater only to find that, even though he's changed, nothing else really has. Ed's new colleagues include Janie (Johnson), a Government/Civics teacher at the school who was ignored by Ed in high school and now finds herself cautiously drawn to his affections; nerdy and needy chemistry teacher Matt (Levine), who quickly befriends Ed and provides him with the latest faculty gossip; popular English teacher Alan (Bala), who likes being the alpha male at school and feels an overpowering need to put Ed in his place, just as if they were still both in high school; and Wendy (Harris), a hot history teacher and cheerleading coach who is rumored to be having an affair with Alan.

The pilot is written and executive-produced by David H. Steinberg (American Pie 2) and directed by Ted Wass (Melissa & Joey). It is produced by Prodco, Inc. Ryan Sypek is an ABC Family alum, having starred in the network's first original scripted series Wildfire. As we mentioned before, should Phys Ed get picked-up to series, we will let you know...but for now this is just a pilot order.

Thanksgiving comes a week early on ABC Comedy Wednesday! A four-course meal of Thanksgiving comedy starts tonight beginning at 8/7c!