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

A few weeks ago, reports came out that NBC wants to reboot The Office. Whether the reboot would feature the original cast or if it would be a refresh (like The Wonder Years or One Day at a Time) is obviously not clear. Still, it's hard for me to see a situation where this Office reboot is a good idea. Simply put, while The Office is a modern classic, the show is both too outdated and too modern to work as a reboot this time.

First off, simply not enough time has passed since The Office ended for it to warrant a reboot. The Office hasn't even been off the air for ten years - it ended 8 years ago, in 2013. It also still remains incredibly popular, so any Office reboot would simply have too many comparisons to the original series, and fans would inevitably be unhappy at any changes made. At the same time, The Office was also very much a show of its time, and many of the inappropriate boss reactions that made the show work so well might play differently in today's cultural environment. Let's enjoy the original Office and if its creators want to make new content, come up with new, original series instead.

Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Norm Macdonald, who starred as Norm Henderson on The Norm Show (aka Norm), has died. He died on September 14 from acute leukemia at a hospital in Pasadena, California. He had been diagnosed nine years prior, though he disclosed his diagnosis to only a few close friends and family members. Mr. Macdonald was 61.

Macdonald's early television appearances included a 1990 episode of Star Search as a stand-up comedy competitor and a 1991 episode of the HBO stand-up series One Night Stand. He worked as a writer for The Dennis Miller Show in 1992. He worked as a story editor on four episodes and wrote two episodes of Roseanne in 1992 and 1993. In 1993, he guest starred on an episode of The Jackie Thomas Show.

He was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1993. He spent a total of five seasons on the show until 1998. He was the anchor of the Weekend Update segment starting in 1994 for three and a half seasons. Some of his impressions included Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole. He returned to host the October 23, 1999, show. He reappeared as Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy! on the May 16, 2009, show.

Macdonald starred as Norm Henderson on the 1999-2001 ABC sitcom The Norm Show (later shortened to Norm). Norm Henderson is a former NHL hockey player who is banned for life from the league because of gambling and tax evasion. He avoided jail time by agreeing to five years of community service as a full-time social worker. The first season aired as The Norm Show before they shortened the title to Norm in season two to avoid a legal conflict with Michael Jantze's comic strip The Norm. Macdonald also worked as a producer for the series, which aired for 3 seasons and 54 episodes. The cast included Laurie Metcalf, Ian Gomez, Amy Wilson (season 1), Bruce Jarchow (season 1), Max Wright, Faith Ford (seasons 2-3), Artie Lange (seasons 2-3) and Nikki Cox (recurring).

He next starred as Stan Hooper on the short-lived 2003 Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper. Stan Hooper is a famous newspaper columnist turned television commentator. He moves his family from their New York home to a small Wisconsin town, Waterford Falls, where he hopes to better get in touch with Middle America in an attempt to make his weekly minute-long television commentaries more appealing to a larger audience. Macdonald also worked as an executive producer for the series. They produced 13 episodes, although only 6 episodes were aired. The cast included Penelope Ann Miller, Brian Howe, Eric Lively, Reagan Dale Neis, Garret Dillahunt, Daniel Roebuck and Fred Willard.

Macdonald had a recurring role as Orville "Rusty" Heck, Mike's (Neil Flynn) irresponsible, dim-witted but well meaning brother, on ten episodes of the ABC sitcom The Middle from 2010 to 2018. Some of his other sitcom guest appearances included The Larry Sanders Show, The Drew Carey Show (2 episodes), NewsRadio, Oliver Beene, My Name Is Earl (2 episodes), Real Rob and Girlboss (3 episodes). He worked as a consultin producer on Roseanne in 2018.

He was also known for his voice work. He voiced the character of Lucky the Dog in Dr. Dolittle (1998), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006), Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief (2008) and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (2009). He provided the voice of Pigeon on Mike Tyson Mysteries from 2014 to 2020. He voiced Glumshanks on Skylanders Academy from 2016 to 2018. Macdonald was the voice of Lieutenant Yaphit, an amorphous, gelatinous, shapeshifting engineer on The Orville from 2017 to 2019. His other voice credits included Family Guy (2 episodes) and The Fairly OddParents (2 episodes).

He hosted Sports Show with Norm Macdonald on Comedy Central in 2011. He co-hosted the podcast Norm Macdonald Live with Adam Eget for three seasons from 2013 to 2017. They worked again on Netflix's Norm Macdonald Has a Show in 2018.

Macdonald co-wrote and starred as Mitch Weaver in the 1998 film Dirty Work. Some of his other film credits included Billy Madison (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Man on the Moon (1999) and Screwed (2000). He made cameos in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), The Animal (2001), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), Funny People (2009), Grown Ups (2010), Jack & Jill (2011) and The Ridiculous Six (2015).

Mr. Macdonald was a true comedy genius. He was a master with his quick wit and deadpan delivery. His late night talk show appearances were always funny. He was very good on The Norm Show/Norm. The underrated sitcom should be re-released on DVD. We thank him for the many laughs and entertainment he brought us during his career. He will be greatly missed.

Share your memories on our The Norm Show/Norm message board. View photos in our galleries.

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 week, CBS announced that the upcoming season of The Big Bang Theory will be its last. The show, entering its 12th season, will bow out in spring of 2019 after spending nearly the entirety of the 2010s as a ratings dominant sitcom not seen on television since, arguably, the likes of Friends and Seinfeld in the 1990s. It's not a huge surprise that Big Bang is ending - 12 seasons is a long time for a sitcom, and the amount of shows that have surpassed that mark are extremely small. Despite the fact that it continues to enjoy high ratings (it's still the highest-rated sitcom and TV, give or take a Roseanne reboot, and one of the few shows still capable of drawing in over 10 million live viewers weekly) it does create an interesting question for sitcom fans - will The Big Bang Theory be the last "huge" sitcom of our time?

Truthfully, there hasn't been a real heir apparent to Big Bang's throne as sitcom megahit. That's not to say there haven't been hit sitcoms - there have been plenty, from ABC's stable of solid family sitcoms to CBS's consistently strong pieces like Mom and Life in Pieces and even to strong cable and streamer hits like Broad City and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - but The Big Bang Theory's pure ratings could actually stand up to shows like Friends, Seinfeld and Cheers at their peak, particularly when taking into account the decline of live viewing. Whether or not you feel Big Bang's cultural impact matches those shows, there's no doubt it was a massive, massive hit, and there's going to be quite a gap in CBS's sitcom line-up and network television in general after it leaves. The Roseanne reboot obviously seemed to have potential to fill its shoes, but that's gone now and there's no telling if The Conners will see similarly big ratings. Some might peg the Big Bang spin-off Young Sheldon as a possible strong follow-up - it had a really big debut season - but it'll be interesting to see if it can hold up with its mothership off the air. And even though Big Bang enjoyed huge ratings, one could even argue that its cultural impact has been outshined by less huge but buzzier shows this decade like Parks and Recreation or Modern Family. Nevertheless, Big Bang ending feels like a big moment for sitcoms, and we'll just have to see if anything's capable of taking over its dominance.

Norm Macdonald Has a Show features host Norm Macdonald along with his trusty sidekick, Adam Eget, as they dive into hilarious and unexpected conversations with celebrity guests. The premiere season of the talk series welcomes Drew Barrymore, David Spade, Judge Judy, David Letterman, Jane Fonda, Chevy Chase, M. Night Shyamalan, Michael Keaton, Billy Joe Shaver and Lorne Michaels. Norm Macdonald Has a Show premieres Friday, September 14 on Netflix. David Letterman serves as location scout. Filmed on location at Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles, Norm Macdonald Has a Show is produced under Norm's production banner, Anchor Spud Productions, along with Pygmy Wolf Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. 10 half-hour episodes have been ordered and all episodes debut all at once.