SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

SitcomsOnline Digest: Marcia Wallace Tribute on The Simpsons; Flo Arrives on DVD

• We reported on the death of actress Marcia Wallace earlier this week, and now on Sunday night at 7:30 PM ET/PT, Fox will pay tribute to her by airing a classic third season episode "Bart the Lover," which garnered an Emmy Award for the actress in 1992. They will also conclude the new episode airing at 8 PM ET/PT with a tribute card to the actress from the producers. (Entertainment Weekly)
• How I Met Your Mother is set to come to an end in May on CBS, but could a How I Met Your Father be in the works? It appears that CBS is in talks with 20th Century Fox to create some sort of spinoff, but it appears that it would include a new cast if it were to happen... although they would be introduced in the current series. (TV Guide)
• Speaking of spinoffs and remakes, a journalist at Zap2it has observed that of the 250-plus projects in development for the five major networks for the 2014-2015 TV season, about 20% of them are spinoffs or remakes of series that we've seen before, including updated versions of Charmed and even Murder, She Wrote. Of course, a very small number of these projects will actually make it to air, but even so, is this the direction that TV is headed? (Zap2it)
• Bret McKenzie, best known for his work with Jermaine Clement as part of the duo Flight of the Conchords, could be joining the ranks of Matt Groening and Seth MacFarlane on the Fox Animation Domination lineup. It is far from a done deal, but Fox has given a script and presentation order for McKenzie to produce, according to TV Guide, "(an) untitled workplace comedy (that) follows the exploits of a group of employees toiling away at an almost-obsolete NASA space center in Boulder, Colorado." (TV Guide)
• The Greatest Event in Television History, a sporadically appearing (as in once every few months) series that airs on Adult Swim featuring Adam Scott from Parks and Recreation and others doing shot-for-shot recreations of classic TV series opening credits, has a third installment coming up on November 7th at midnight ET/PT. The newest installment is said to be a recreation of the opening credits of a "not-so-classic" sitcom... we think we know which one, but we'll let you decide what you think. (Entertainment Weekly)
• Actress Mary Carver, best known for her role as Cecilia Simon on the series Simon & Simon, passed away this week at the age of 89. In addition to her role on Simon & Simon, she also appeared in roles on The Donna Reed Show, The Twilight Zone, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Mannix, Lou Grant, and other series. (The Hollywood Reporter)
• In case you missed it, check out our Seven Questions interview with Masiela Lusha, who played Carmen on George Lopez, from earlier this week. (SitcomsOnline)

• Warner Archive has been steadily releasing seasons of the classic sitcom Alice, and this week they took things a bit further by announcing a release of spinoff series Flo. Flo - The Complete Series will begin shipping from Warner Archive.
• Halloween may have already passed by us two days ago, but Nickelodeon gave fans of Are You Afraid of the Dark? a treat in their bag this week with their release of Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Volume 1. Not too many details are known about this release, but it can be owned for under $15.
• Fans of the TNT series Dallas get a chance to say goodbye to J.R. in Warner Home Video's release of Dallas - The Complete Second Season. It'll be available to own on February 11.

• Boy Meets World - The Complete Collection ($99.98): Lionsgate has released every season of this series, but now they've got every single one compiled in one release.
• Family Ties - The Complete Series ($220.98): CBS brings all of the episodes of this classic series together in one collection, along with extra bonus material not included on the previous season release.
• Flo - The Complete Series ($29.95): Warner Archive brings fans all 29 episodes of the grit kissin' Alice spinoff on DVD.
• I Love Lucy - Colorized Christmas ($16.99): This single-disc release brings fans three classic episodes of the series (including, of course, the Christmas episode) in full color.
• Naked City - The Complete Series ($179.98): Despite never having any proper season releases of the series, RLJ Entertainment has every episode of this classic police drama on DVD on this set.
• Saved by the Bell - The Complete Collection ($49.98): Lionsgate brings together all of the episodes of the classic Saturday morning teen comedy in this set.
• Seinfeld - The Complete Series ($149.98): In case you missed out on the classic series about nothing on the now out-of-print complete series set, a re-release is now available at a slightly lower price.
• Weeds - The Complete Collection (Blu-ray) ($119.98): Lionsgate brings all of the episodes of the Showtime series that follows a woman that goes from neighborhood soccer mom to the FBI's most wanted in this release, along with some new special features.

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Memorial Day Marathons, Include Growing Pains On The N; Flo and She's the Sheriff Among the New In2TV Programming; Remembering Charles Nelson Reilly

Happy Memorial Day from everyone here at SitcomsOnline! If you are not out in the sun enjoying the weather then head to your TV to watch tons of marathons! We will give you a breakdown on who is airing what.
First, let's start off with The N. They will air a marathon of Growing Pains after all the festivities are over for Memorial Day, so you can actually go outside if you want because the marathon will air from 12 midnight to 6am of this show. The N is one of the sister stations of Nick at Nite, so that is how the network is airing this show. The show will air Mon-Thurs at 12 & 12:30 a.m. for the rest of the week, but it is unclear if it will continue after this week. We will let you know as soon as we do.
Imagine the joy of a road trip without leaving the comfort of your own home -- no overheated cars, no flat tires and no getting ripped off at the pump. Beginning Monday, May 28 from 6:00am to 8:00pm (all times ET/PT), TV Land takes viewers on an excursion to cool and exotic places when the network presents Memorial Day Roadtrips, a fourteen-hour marathon of vacation episodes from the network's line-up, culminating with the hilarious pop culture hit movie, National Lampoon's Vacation. Join The Munsters for a frightful night of camping, the Ricardos and the Mertzes on their comedic cross-country journey to Hollywood, the Sanfords for some sun and surf in Hawaii and top off the day's adventures with The Griswolds at the famed Wally World Amusement Park.
FX will travel back to the '70s with That '70s Show's Memorial Day Marathon. Twenty episodes of the 1998-2006 sitcom begin with a 1998 outing in which the gang's finding of a keg of beer demands a party. But tapping the keg proves problematic, and there are parents in pursuit. Airs from 7am-5pm.
Hallmark Chanel will have a M*A*S*H marathon, as we stated before. And as we stated before spend the day with Martin on TV One.
BET will have an epic block for Memorial Day featuring 10 episodes of Run's House, followed by six episodes of The Wayans Bros. and six episodes of The Jamie Foxx Show. Al from 9am-8pm.
G4 will air a marathon of the original Star Trek from 9am-4pm, while Oxygen will air a marathon of the hit sitcom Roseanne from 11am-4pm.
TNT has an all-day Law & Order marathon starting at 10am through 11pm, while the spin-off Law & Order: Criminal Intent will get a marathon on USA Network from 6am-8pm.
A&E will send out the mob for an all-day The Sopranos marathon from 9:24am to 11:37pm. Spike TV will do some investigating this Memorial Day with a CSI marathon from 9am-11pm.
Other notable marathons: VH1's Flavor of Love, style's Biggest Loser marathon, Bravo's Shear Genius, History Channel's Band of Brothers, CourtTV's Beach Patrol: San Diego, Animal Planet's Planet's Funniest Animals, and MTV will also air a Run's House marathon along with some Real World. TBS and Comedy Central will go to the movies all-day.
Wow! I think I covered it all. Something for everyone will air I hope.

In2TV, the online TV channel airing tons of TV shows, has added two short lived sitcoms this month! Flo, the spin-off of the hit sitcom Alice was added earlier this month and just recently the short lived first-run syndicated sitcom She's the Sheriff was added. That sitcom starred Suzanne Somers in the title role. Flo joins Alice on In2TV, so both shows are now on the online network. 8 episodes of Flo have been added thus far. And thus far 10 episodes have been added of She's the Sheriff. There is an episode of She's the Sheriff titled "Hair" that has Suzanne Somers' Three's Company co-star Don Knotts in it, along with Jenilee Harrison, who replaced Suzanne Somers on that show...interesting right? That is the episode I'm watching first and you should, too! Click HERE to view it. Also of note, after just one episode was added to In2TV last year, The Ben Stiller Show will now have all 13 episodes online for viewers to view!
And of course new episodes of your favorite In2TV series such as Martin, Head of the Class and Veronica's Closet will have new episodes this month!

Finally, we leave you with some sad news. TV legend Charles Nelson Reilly has died. Reilly was famous for being one of the celebrity panelists on the '70s game show Match Game. He also appeared on The Tonight Show many times. Reilly died Sunday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia, his partner, Patrick Hughes, told the New York Times. He wore his trademark giant glasses and colorful suits with ascots on Match Game and Hollywood Squares.
The actor appeared on many sitcoms as well. He appeared on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir from 1968-70. He has guest starred on The Patty Duke Show, Car 54 Where Are You?, The Farmer's Daughter, Nanny and the Professor, Here's Lucy, Arnie, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Love American Style, Charles in Charge, Evening Shade, New WKRP in Cincinnati, Family Matters and The Drew Carey Show. He had done a lot of TV voice work such as SpongeBob SquarePants. Mr. Reilly will be missed. He was 76.