SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

It's #ThrowbackThursday everyone and we have some "throwback" updates from ABC! ABC announced a major evolution of its streaming service, re-launching with seven original digital short-form series, full seasons of 38 "throwback" shows, and a redesigned user interface exclusively for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV that improves discovery and navigation. The new original ABCd shorts and the "throwback" series will be available to all viewers on ABC.com and the ABC apps for mobile and connected TV devices without signing in. Full seasons of beloved past shows include: 8 Simple Rules, Benched, Betrayal, Body of Proof, Brothers & Sisters, Commander in Chief, Detroit 1-8-7, Dinosaurs, Dirty Sexy Money, Ellen, Felicity, FlashForward, Happy Town, Hope and Faith, I Survived a Japanese Game Show, The Knights of Prosperity, Less Than Perfect, Manhattan Love Story, Mixology, My Generation, My So-Called Life, The Neighbors, October Road, Off the Map, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Perception, Reaper, Red Band Society, The River, Samantha Who?, School House Rock, Secret Millionaire, Smart Guy, Sports Night, Trophy Wife, Ugly Betty, What About Brian?

At launch, seven new ABCd (ABC Digital) comedy and lifestyle digital series developed in-house by ABC Comedy Development, ABC Daytime and ABC Digital Media, are available. More than 40 additional series are in development and will roll out monthly. These series, along with all library shows, are available without signing in with a pay TV service. The ABCd series are: All My Gay Friends are Getting Married with Michelle Collins, Boondoogle with Ty Burrell, Forever 31 with Iliza Shlesinger, Tastemade's Get Cookin', I Can Find $3,000 In Your Home, Newborn Moms, and On The Record.

Celebrate the birth of one of TV's greatest legends in his iconic role as Michael Knight...in Knight Rider. Knight, played by David Hasselhoff, will be crime-fighting the forces of evil with his artificially intelligent supercar KITT in a 10-hour marathon of Knight Rider airing on Hasselhoff's birthday, Sunday, July 17 from 10AM ET to 8PM ET on The El Rey Network. The marathon will feature all four season premiere double features, including fan favorite episode, "Goliath," in which Hasselhoff also plays Michael Knight's evil twin Garthe. So get your fake mustaches ready! Knight Rider also airs every weekday afternoon on The El Rey Network.

They're "back-ish!" The stars of the hit sitcom black-ish, Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, hosted the 2015 BET Awards last year and now they will be back for a second time. BET Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc., revealed Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross as hosts for this year's BET Awards. Anthony and Tracee are also both nominated for "Best Actor" and "Best Actress" at the 16th annual event. The 2016 BET Awards will air LIVE on Sunday, June 26 at 8pm ET from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, CA on BET. View the full list of nominees, which includes recording artists, actors, entertainers, and athletes across 20 categories with the BET Awards 2016 nominations. The nominations are selected by BET's Voting Academy, which is comprised of fans and an esteemed group of entertainment professionals in the fields of television, film, music, social media, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, and the creative arts.

El Rey Network will pay tribute to the legendary heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali on Wednesday, June 8 beginning at 10:00pm ET with a marathon of all 13 half-hour episodes of the 1977 animated series I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali only on El Rey Network. I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali aired on Saturday mornings on NBC in 1977 with voices provided by Ali and his real life publicist Frank Bannister. The series featured The Champ and Bannister traveling around the country fighting crime and solving mysteries – both real and supernatural. This will be the first time the series has been seen ever on cable and perhaps the first time in the U.S. since its 1977 original airings on NBC.

Countdown to New Year's Eve with El Rey Network and this 2002 remake of the classic series, hosted by Forest Whitaker and featuring tales of suspense, fantasy, science fiction and horror during 24 hours of The Twilight Zone, creeping into your home airing Thursday, December 31 at 6:00AM ET/PT – Friday, January 1 at 6:00AM ET/PT. Then kick off the New Year with a trip to the Magic City during a 14 hour marathon of the '80s drama Miami Vice airing Friday, January 1 from 6:00AM ET/PT –8:00PM ET/PT featuring break out performances by powerhouse guest stars, including: Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Bay, Steve Buscemi, Benicio Del Toro, Chris Rock, and Julia Roberts. Then finish the night off with three kick-ass, back-to-back airings of Roadhouse, to get your first Patrick Swayze fix of 2016 from 8:00PM ET/PT – 3:30AM ET/PT.

Actress Marjorie Lord, who was best known for her role as Kathy "Clancey" Williams in Make Room for Daddy (aka The Danny Thomas Show), has died. She died on November 28 at her home in Beverly Hills, California of natural causes. Ms. Lord was 97.

Lord's early television guest appearances included Public Prosecutor, Racket Squad, The Adventures of Kit Carson, China Smith, Ramar of the Jungle, Big Town, Hopalong Cassidy, Fireside Theatre (8 episodes), The Lone Wolf, The Ford Television Theatre, Cavalcade of America, The Lone Ranger, The Loretta Young Show and Wagon Train.

Jean Hagen, who played Danny Thomas' first wife Margaret Williams in Make Room for Daddy, was written out of the show as having died. In 1957, Lord appeared in four episodes as Kathy O'Hara, a young Irish nurse, who was hired to take care of an ill Rusty (Rusty Hamer). The characters were married off-screen. The series was re-titled The Danny Thomas Show at the start of the fourth season when it moved from ABC to CBS. She appeared in the show until it ended in 1964.

Lord appeared in two hour-long reunion specials on NBC: The Danny Thomas TV Family Reunion in 1965 and Make More Room for Daddy, which aired as an episode of The Danny Thomas Hour in November 1967. ABC aired Make Room for Granddaddy for a single season in 1970-1971.

Some of her other television guest appearances included The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (as Kathy Williams), The Joey Bishop Show (as Kathy Williams), Love, American Style, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and Sweet Surrender. Her film credits included Sherlock Holmes in Washington, Chain Gang, Mexican Manhunt, Down Laredo Way, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! and The Pirate.

Survivors include her daughter, actress Anne Archer, her son, Gregg Archer, grandson Tommy Davis, four other grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Ms. Lord was a wonderful actress. She always seemed very appreciative of her fans. She will be deeply missed.

Share your memories on our Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show message board. View photos in our galleries.

Welcome back indeed! In his first television starring role since Welcome Back, Kotter, award-winning actor and producer John Travolta will star as defense attorney Robert Shapiro in the FX miniseries American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, from Executive Producers Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Brad Falchuk, and Dante Di Loreto. The two-time Academy Award(R) nominated and Golden Globe(R) Award winning Travolta will portray Shapiro, a key member of O.J. Simpson's "Dream Team" during the sensational murder trial. He will also serve as a producer of the 10 episode miniseries. Travolta joins a stellar cast which includes David Schwimmer as O.J. Simpson's confidant and attorney Robert Kardashian, Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J. Simpson, and Emmy(R) and Golden Globe Award nominated actress Sarah Paulson as prosecutor Marcia Clark, who currently stars in American Horror Story: Freak Show.

Based on the book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin, the miniseries is a look at the O.J. Simpson trial told from the perspective of the lawyers. It explores the chaotic behind-the-scenes dealings and maneuvering on both sides of the court, and how a combination of prosecution overconfidence, defense shrewdness, and the LAPD's history with the city's African-American community gave a jury what it needed: reasonable doubt. John Travolta will next be seen starring opposite Christopher Plummer and Tye Sheridan in The Forger. Travolta recently completed production on three feature films: Criminal Activities, a crime thriller co-starring Michael Pitt and directed by Jackie Earle Haley, In A Valley of Violence, a revenge-driven western co-starring Ethan Hawke and directed by Ti West, and Life On The Line, an action/drama co-starring Kate Bosworth and directed by David Hackl.

Join El Rey Network as the Dark Angel Complete Series Marathon kicks off on Friday, January 9 at 8pm ET with over 40 hours of the James Cameron created post-apocalyptic 'Dark Angel' featuring Max Guevera (Jessica Alba), the genetically-enhanced super-soldier gone rogue after escaping from the covert government biotech facility as a child. The series chronicles her efforts to live a normal life while eluding capture by government agents and searching for her genetically-enhanced brothers and sisters who have dispersed after escape. The Dark Angel Marathon airs Friday, January 9 at 8:00pm ET and runs through Sunday, January 11 at 3:00pm ET featuring back-to-back episodes of the entire series along with introductions by El Rey Network creator Robert Rodriquez and series star Jessica Alba. El Rey Network is a new 24-hour English language network founded by maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. To find El Rey Network in your area please check out the channel finder at http://bit.ly/ElReyChannelfinder

The Hallmark Channel has made a schedule change. The biggest news is that The Good Wife has been reduced by two hours and will now air 8-10pm rather than for four hours from 6-10pm. Moving to the 6-8pm block will be four episodes of Home Improvement, as that show was airing 4-6pm. More power! Airing in the 4-6pm block will be The Brady Bunch, which will move over from 8-10am in a major timeslot upgrade. Groovy! In other schedule news, The Waltons is returning to the line-up and will air weekdays 2-4pm, replacing two-hours of The Golden Girls, which will move back to 8-10am. All of these changes are effective immediately and have already started. Why the change? Likely The Good Wife did not perform as they would have liked in its first week on the schedule. The network will add repeats of The Middle this March, which should be a much better fit. Stay with us for continued updates.


It's that time again, the winter portion of the TCA press tour. The TCA Winter 2014 press tour actually began last Thursday with cable leading it off at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California. The cable networks that went were: Discovery, IFC, TV One, Lifetime/A&E, HBO, Sportsman Channel, Viacom, Starz, Turner, Ovation, National Geographic Channel, AMC/Sundance, Weather Channel, Pivot, ESPN, BBC America, UP, Hallmark Channel, WGN America, Al Jazeera America, Revolt, and the upcoming El Rey Network. We will cover the major news only that deal with TV/sitcoms.

We'll start with the upcoming new cable network El Rey. El Rey Network, the new 24-hour English-language cable network founded by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, has licensed the cable rights to three fan-favorite and critically-acclaimed series: Starsky & Hutch, Dark Angel, and The X-Files. Under the agreement, El Rey Network will have access to an extensive library of newly-acquired content which will air as part of an expanded 24-hour schedule beginning Friday, February 14. These three celebrated series are part of an adrenaline-infused lineup featuring rebellious heroes, iconic car chases, epic fight scenes and more, which all speak to the network's desire to provide viewers a visceral storytelling experience. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Starsky & Hutch will airs Monday-Friday from 2PM-4PM ET. Dark Angel will air air Mondays and Thursdays from 4PM-8PM ET. And The X-Files will air Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 4PM-8PM ET and Sundays from 3PM-7PM ET.
The Hallmark Channel has announced many new movies for the new year, with stars like Jessica Szohr, Deidre Hall, Rachel Boston, Stefanie Powers, Lacey Chabert, Warren Christie, Kristy Swanson, Vivica A. Fox, Sarah Lancaster, Marcia Strassman, and Patricia Richardson. Original series wise, Cedar Grove has began production on season two while Signed, Sealed, Delivered premieres this spring starring Eric Mabius with guest star Valerie Harper. Moving on, Lifetime's critically-acclaimed hit series Devious Maids (#DeviousMaids, #DeviousArmy), returns for a second season on Sunday, April 20, at 10PM ET/PT. The series is executive produced by Marc Cherry and Eva Longoria, and stars Ana Ortiz, Dania Ramírez, Roselyn Sánchez, Edy Ganem and Judy Reyes as five maids with ambition and dreams of their own while working for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. Longoria will direct the series' eagerly anticipated season two opener, marking her television directorial debut.

WGN America has made bold moves, ordering straight to series the production of two standout, scripted dramas: Salem, to premiere Sunday, April 20, 2014, and Manhattan, to start production in New Mexico in March for a July 2014 premiere. WGN America has also ordered the 10-part scripted event series Ten Commandments from The Weinstein Company (TWC). Over 10 nights, 10 different visionary filmmakers will take on a single Commandment with their modern interpretation of that Commandment. Five of the 10 filmmakers on board to direct episodes are Gus Van Sant, Lee Daniels, Jim Sheridan, Wes Craven and Michael Cera. Academy Award(R) winning producer Bruce Cohen (American Beauty, Silver Linings Playbook) and Bob Weinstein will produce the series. Finally, for cable, TV One is expanding its NAACP Image Award-winning Unsung franchise with new series Unsung Hollywood, premiering Wednesday, February 26 at 10PM/ET. From revealing portraits of beloved stars of film and television, including feminist film icon Pam Grier and politically charged comic Dick Gregory, to in-depth stories behind the making (and breaking) of influential films and TV series such as Cooley High and What's Happening!!, Unsung Hollywood shines a spotlight on subjects and stories that have rarely or never been told. Preceding Unsung Hollywood's debut in February, flagship series Unsung will return with all-new episodes beginning Wednesday, January 29 at 10PM/ET. The What's Happening!! episode airs Wednesday, March 12 at 10pm!


Fox was up at the TCA Winter 2014 Press Tour yesterday and we have the full scoop! First up, the big news was that Fox is by-passing the pilot season and have already started to pick-up new series with episode orders. We mentioned one of them already was the Rainn Wilson drama. We'll have more info closer to the upfront on these pick-ups. In other news, Fox announced guest stars on their post-Super Bowl shows. Music royalty Prince will make a special guest appearance on New Girl in the episode, "Party Time" airing approx. 10:30-11:00 PM ET/7:30-8:00 PM PT. Dean Winters, Fred Armisen and Joe Thiesmann are among those set to appear on the all-new "Operation: Broken Feather" episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine airing approx. 11:00-11:30 PM ET/8:00-8:30 PM PT.

Moving on to some new series and scheduling news, Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) and National Geographic Channel (NGC) announced the global series premiere of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, the thrilling new 13-part series from executive producer/writer Ann Druyan and executive producer Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Ted). The highly anticipated series will premiere in the U.S. on Sunday, March 9 from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT on Fox, and encore with all-new bonus footage and behind-the-scenes content on the National Geographic Channel (NGC) Monday, March 10 from 10:00-11:00 PM ET/PT. As a result, beginning Sunday, March 9, all-new episodes of Bob's Burgers will move to 7:00PM ET/PT, followed by all-new episodes of American Dad! at 7:30 PM ET/PT. All-new episodes of Family Guy will move to 8:30PM ET/PT to lead-in to Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. And finally, Fox announced premiere dates for event series 24: Live Another Day, and new series Surviving Jack (comedy) and Gang Related (drama). The iconic pulse-pounding clock resets when 24: Live Another Day premieres with a special two-hour television event Monday, May 5 from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT, and makes its time period premiere the following week on Monday, May 12 at 9:00 PM ET/PT. 12 hours will air.
New comedy series Surviving Jack will premiere Thursday, March 27 at 8:30PM ET/PT following the American Idol XIII results show at 8. From executive producer and Emmy Award nominee Bill Lawrence (Cougar Town), the series is based on best-selling author Justin Halpern's autobiographical book, "I Suck at Girls." Co-created and written by Halpern and Patrick Schumacker (both of $#*! My Dad Says), the series is set in 1990s Southern California, and stars Emmy Award nominee Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) as a man becoming a dad, as his son (Connor Buckley) becomes a man, in a time before "coming of age" was something you could Google. The series also stars Rachael Harris (The Hangover), Claudia Lee, Kevin Hernandez and newcomer Tyler Foden. And finally, gritty new action-drama Gang Related will have its series premiere on Tuesday, May 20 at 9:00PM ET/PT, following Part One of the two-night American Idol XIII Season Finale at 8. Created and written by Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast Five), the series follows Ryan Lopez (Ramon Rodriguez, The Wire), a rising star in Los Angeles' elite Gang Task Force - led by Sam Chapel (Emmy Award winner Terry O'Quinn, Lost) - who teams up with longtime Task Force member Cassius Green (RZA, Californication) to take on the city's most dangerous gangs, including one that he swore an allegiance to as a boy. And that's about the major highlights from the Fox press tour. If anything else comes up, we'll let you know!

Up today at the TCA Winter 2014 press tour will be cable network FX. Stay tuned for any updates, if anything is of note for us. And Wednesday we will have CBS up at the TCA Winter 2014 press tour, as they will be doing a two-day event with CW and Showtime.