SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

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

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.

The 11th and final season of Will & Grace will begin Thursday, Oct. 24 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC replacing Sunnyside, which will be pulled from the linear schedule. The remaining six episodes of the 10-episode Sunnyside order will air weekly on NBC.com and other digital platforms where NBC programming is viewed beginning October 24. They are currently in production on episode nine and will finish production of all 10 episodes.

NBC's fall strategy was to capitalize on the compatibility of both of Mike Schur's The Good Place and Sunnyside. NBC sees huge opportunity for potential on the digital side for Sunnyside and want to move the show exclusivity to digital. Sunnyside has generated substantial increases through digital and linear delayed viewing, which has expanded the 18-49 audience of the show's premiere episode by 150% versus its next-day rating. As for Will & Grace, as of now it is being booked thru January 2, but it will air beyond that to finish up its 18 episode order for its final season.

CBS All Access, CBS' digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, announced that all eight episodes of the third season of its original comedy series No Activity will be available to binge beginning Thursday, Nov. 21. Following last season's disastrous bust, season three finds detectives Nick Cullen and Judd Tolbeck back in uniform with a revolving door of quirky new partners and even quirkier criminals, while robots edge in on Janice and Fatima in dispatch. Co-developer, executive producer, writer and star Patrick Brammall will reprise his role as Detective Nick Cullen, a low-level cop who has spent far too much time in a car with his partner, Detective Judd Tolbeck. Among the new guest stars this season are Beth Behrs, Joe Keery, Keegan-Michael Key, Dylan McDermott and Paula Pell. They will be joined by returning guest stars including Sunita Mani as dispatch operator Fatima, Jason Mantzoukas as an undercover FBI agent, Amy Sedaris as dispatch's mother hen, Janice, and Academy Award® winner J.K. Simmons as Leon, the internal affairs investigator with a fondness for deep sea fishing.

No Activity is produced by CBS Television 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 Trent O'Donnell and Patrick Brammall, alongside executive producers Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Joe Farrell, Mike Farah, Joe Hardesty and Jason Burrows. Nina Pedrad serves as co-executive producer. As in previous seasons, Trent O’Donnell will direct all episodes.

Golden Globe(R) Award-winning actress Katey Sagal is returning to ABC's hit comedy series The Conners for a 10-episode arc in which she will star as Louise, an ex-rock drummer who now manages Casita Bonita. Louise went to high school with Dan Conner (John Goodman) and is catching up on lost time with him while in Lanford, Illinois. She will first appear in third episode of season two. Returning with Sagal are fan-favorite guest stars including Estelle Parsons as Beverly Harris, James Pickens Jr. as Chuck Mitchell and Jay R. Ferguson as Ben. The Conners returns for its second season on Tuesday, Sept. 24 from 8:00-8:30 p.m. EDT on ABC.

Ranking as television's No. 1 new comedy and as ABC's No. 1 comedy last year in Total Viewers (9.5 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.2/10), The Conners debuted with sizable time-period gains, improving its slot for ABC by 34% in Viewers and by 55% in Adults 18-49. The series stars John Goodman as Dan Conner, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris, Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner, Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner-Healy, Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner, Emma Kenney as Harris Conner-Healy, Ames McNamara as Mark Conner-Healy and Jayden Rey as Mary Conner.

CBS All Access announced a number of new guest stars are set to appear in season three of the service's Funny Or Die comedy series No Activity, which will debut later this fall. Among the new guest stars this season are Beth Behrs (The Neighborhood, 2 Broke Girls), Joe Keery (Stranger Things), Keegan-Michael Key (Dolemite Is My Name), Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story, The Practice) and Paula Pell (A.P. Bio). They will be joined by returning guest stars including Jake Johnson as disgraced Detective Haldeman, Sunita Mani as dispatch operator Fatima, Jason Mantzoukas as an undercover FBI agent, Amy Sedaris as dispatch's mother hen Janice and J.K. Simmons as Leon, the internal affairs investigator with a fondness for deep sea fishing. Co-developer Patrick Brammall reprises his role as Detective Cullen. Following last season's disastrous bust, season three finds Detectives Cullen and Tolbeck back in uniform with a revolving door of quirky new partners and even quirkier criminals, while robots edge in on Janice and Fatima in dispatch. The first two seasons of No Activity are currently available to binge exclusively on CBS All Access.

CBS' digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, announced the third season renewal of its original comedy series No Activity. This comedy celebrates the mundane in what should be a high-stakes operation. Its second season found SDPD detectives Cullen and Tolbeck back in car 27, as they stake out the seedy underbelly of a cockfighting ring and the SDPD rocked by a massive corruption scandal. Season two starred Patrick Brammall and Tim Meadows, and included guest stars Jessica Alba, Allison Bell, Harriet Dyer, Chris Gethard, Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson, Joe Manganiello, Sunita Mani, Jason Mantzoukas, Cristin Milioti, Nasim Pedrad, Amy Sedaris and J.K. Simmons. The first two seasons of No Activity are currently available to stream on CBS All Access.

NBC will premiere its top-rated summer series America's Got Talent for its 14th season on Tuesday, May 28 from 8-10 p.m. ET/PT through September 17. The judging panel for the upcoming season consists of new judges Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough, as well as returning judges Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel. Terry Crews, who hosted the recent season of America's Got Talent: The Champions, will host. Encores will air Sundays from 9-11pm beginning June 2. Live episodes will begin on Wednesdays starting August 14 from 8-9pm. The grand finale will air Wednesday, Sept. 18 from 8-10pm. The eighth season of NBC's American Ninja Warrior will launch on Wednesday, May 29 from 8-10 p.m. before moving to its regular timeslot on Monday, June 10 from 8-10 p.m. after two weeks. Encores will air Fridays from 8-10pm starting May 31.

The 2018-19 season just started this week but Fox is thinking about 2019-20 already. Fox has given a straight-to-series order to Bless the Harts, a half-hour animated comedy featuring the voices of Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Saturday Night Live), Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Maya Rudolph (The Good Place, Bridesmaids), Emmy Award nominee Jillian Bell (Saturday Night Live, Eastbound & Down) and Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors, Blockers). Created and executive-produced by Emmy Award winner Emily Spivey (The Last Man on Earth, Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live), 13 episodes of Bless the Harts have been ordered, which will air during the 2019-2020 season.

The animated comedy follows a group of Southerners who are always broke as a joke, and struggling for the American dream of status and wealth. What they don't realize is that they're already rich, in friends, family and laughter.

CBS All Access, CBS' digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, announced that all eight episodes of the second season of its original comedy series No Activity will be available to stream beginning Thursday, Nov. 22. No Activity's second season debut marks the first time CBS All Access has released an entire season of an original series at once. Patrick Brammall and Tim Meadows will reprise their roles as Detectives Nick Cullen and Judd Tolbeck, two low-level cops who have spent far too much time in a car together. They are joined by returning guest stars Jake Johnson as Detective Haldeman, Sunita Mani as SDPD Dispatch's Fatima, Jason Mantzoukas as haphazard criminal Marco, Amy Sedaris as SDPD Dispatch's mother hen, Janice, and Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons as Leon, the internal affairs investigator with a fondness for deep sea fishing.

New guest stars joining them this season include Jessica Alba, Chris Gethard, Max Greenfield, Joe Manganiello, Cristin Milioti and Nasim Pedrad, among others. Season two of No Activity finds us back in Car 27 with Detectives Cullen and Tolbeck on a new stakeout. Meanwhile, the SDPD is rocked by a massive corruption scandal, and the culprit might be close to home. The first season of No Activity is currently available to stream exclusively on CBS All Access.

CBS All Access, CBS' digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, announced the second season renewal of its first original comedy series, No Activity. The eight-episode first season of No Activity is currently available to stream on CBS All Access. No Activity is a comedy series from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. In what should be a high-stakes sting operation, NO ACTIVITY celebrates the mundane. Set against the world of a major drug cartel bust, the series follows two low-level cops who have spent far too much time in a car together; two criminals who are largely kept in the dark; two dispatch workers who haven't really clicked; and two Mexican tunnelers who are in way too small a space considering they've only just met.

The cast of No Activity's first season stars co-developer Patrick Brammall and Tim Meadows, along with guest stars Mark Berry, Arturo Castro, Mackenzie Davis, Bridget Everett, Will Ferrell, Darren Gilshenan, Travis Guba, Jake Johnson, Sunita Mani, Jason Mantzoukas, Adrian Martinez, Jesse Plemons, Fred Pohl, Alex Rodriguez, Amy Sedaris, J.K. Simmons, Courtenay Taylor, Michaela Watkins and Daniel Zolghadri.

SHOWTIME has announced that Judy Greer (Married) has been cast as a series regular in the upcoming SHOWTIME half-hour comedy Kidding. Greer joins Golden Globe(R) winner Jim Carrey, in Carrey's first series regular role in more than two decades, along with Oscar(R), Emmy(R) and Golden Globe nominee Catherine Keener (Get Out) and Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon). Greer will play Jill, Jeff's estranged wife who has recently hit a rebellious streak. In Kidding, Carrey plays Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, an icon of children's television, a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America's impressionable young minds and the parents who grew up with him - who also anchors a multimillion-dollar branding empire. But when this beloved personality's family - wife, two sons, sister and father - begins to implode, Jeff finds no fairy tale or fable or puppet will guide him through this crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: A kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.

CBS All Access, the CBS Television Network's digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service, announced its first original comedy series, No Activity, will premiere on Sunday, November 12, the same night as the chapter one conclusion of Star Trek: Discovery. New episodes of No Activity will be available weekly on Sundays exclusively for CBS All Access subscribers No Activity, a comedy series from executive producers Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Funny Or Die, marks CBS All Access' first original comedy. In what should be a high stakes sting operation, No Activity celebrates the mundane. Set against the world of a major drug cartel bust, the series follows two low-level cops who have spent far too much time in a car together; two criminals who are largely kept in the dark; two dispatch workers who haven't really clicked; and two Mexican tunnelers who are in way too small a space considering they've only just met.

The cast of No Activity includes co-creator Patrick Brammall and Tim Meadows along with guest stars Mark Berry, Arturo Castro, Mackenzie Davis, Bridget Everett, Will Ferrell, Darren Gilshenan, Travis Guba, Jake Johnson, Sunita Mani, Jason Mantzoukas, Adrian Martinez, Jesse Plemons, Fred Pohl, Alex Rodriguez, Amy Sedaris, J.K. Simmons, Courtenay Taylor, Michaela Watkins and Daniel Zolghadri.

SHOWTIME has acquired the BBC series Ill Behaviour, a six-part comedy thriller about the boundaries of friendship and the lengths taken to preserve it. Starring Chris Geere (You're the Worst), Lizzy Caplan (Showtime's Masters of Sex) and Tom Riley (DaVinci's Demons), Ill Behaviour focuses on Joel (Geere) who uses any methods, conventional or otherwise, to save Charlie (Riley) when Charlie announces that he is abandoning chemotherapy treatment for his cancer. Written by Sam Bain (Peep Show) and directed by Steve Bendelack (Friday Night Dinner), Ill Behaviour makes its SHOWTIME debut on Monday, November 13 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. Ill Behaviour is produced by Fudge Park Productions.

In Ill Behaviour, the recently divorced Joel moves in with best friend Charlie, who sets him up on a date with Nadia (Caplan), a doctor who also happens to be a raging alcoholic. Their connection is complicated by the newest revelation about Charlie's condition, sending the trio and mutual friend Tess (Jessica Regan, Doctors) down a reckless path. Tempers flare, temperatures rise, copious amounts of alcohol are consumed, cross-bows are brandished, friends turn into enemies, enemies turn into lovers and life-long relationships bend, stretch - and shatter.

CBS was the first broadcast network to go at the TCA Summer 2017 press tour yesterday. Most of the announcements came from CBS All Access, though. CBS All Access, the CBS Television Network's digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, announced three new additions to its original programming slate: Strange Angel, No Activity, and $1. The series join CBS All Access' existing slate, which includes the critically acclaimed drama The Good Fight and the highly anticipated new Star Trek series, Star Trek: Discovery. All these are dramas besides No Activity, which is a comedy! No Activity, a comedy series from Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Funny Or Die, marks CBS All Access' first original comedy. In what should be a high stakes sting operation, No Activity celebrates the mundane. Set against the world of a major drug cartel bust, the series follows two low-level cops who have spent far too much time in a car together; two criminals who are largely kept in the dark; two dispatch workers who haven't really clicked; and two Mexican tunnelers who are in way too small a space considering they've only just met. No Activity will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Gary Sanchez and Funny Or Die and is based on the Australian series produced by Jungle and broadcast by Stan. Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Patrick Brammall, Trent O'Donnell, Jason Burrows and Joe Farrell will serve as executive producers. No Activity will debut before year's end between the two chapters of Star Trek: Discovery.

Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Audra McDonald has joined the cast of The Good Fight on CBS All Access, the CBS Television Network's subscription video on-demand and live streaming service. The second season of CBS All Access' first original drama series will premiere in early 2018. McDonald will reprise her popular role of Liz Lawrence, the tough United States attorney she played on The Good Wife. Now, in The Good Fight, it's revealed that she is the ex-wife of Adrian Boseman (Delroy Lindo), and over the course of the season the two will have to deal with many of their unresolved issues.

Following its most-watched and highest-rated telecast ever in Live + SD with the Season 4 premiere episode, Younger on TV Land has delivered even higher ratings, scoring season highs across all key demos for the network for the Wednesday, July 26, 2017 episode. In Live + 3, the episode achieved increases versus the very strong season premiere, with a 0.8 (+5%) with Adults 25-54, a 1.2 (+5%) with Women 25-54, a 0.7 (+1%) with Adults 18-49, and a 1.1 (+4%) with Women 18-49. Currently outpacing every previous season to-date in both Live + SD and Live + 3 with Adults 25-54, Season 4 is seeing huge increases in urgency to watch from fans, and is up +26% (Live +3) and +40% (Live + SD) versus season three to-date. In addition, this week's episode garnered 1.2 million average total viewers in Live + 3.

On tonight's episode, Liza (Sutton Foster) is caught majorly off guard when she runs into Macmillan publisher Jay (guest star Aasif Mandvi), whom she met while repping Empirical at a conference. Unfortunately, she runs into him while she's out having dinner with her daughter Caitlin (Tessa Albertson). Plus, Lauren (Molly Bernard) gets back into the dating world and drags Maggie (Debi Mazar) with her, who gets more than she bargained for when she meets a woman at a bar.