SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! Once again, we're in that mid-spring "too early for the new season, too late for the current season" mode where there isn't much news, but we are starting to hear of some cancellations, a reunion of the cast of a popular teen sitcom from the 90s, and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

You can't handle the Bluth. Netflix has announced that Part 2 of Season 5 of Arrested Development will launch on Friday, March 15. Eight episodes from the second half of the season will be available for streaming. In these upcoming episodes, pressures mount on the Bluth family as Buster heads toward a murder trial. The Bluth company is on the hook to build a ’smart’ border wall that puts them in debt and risks exposing a software hoax perpetrated by George-Michael. Soon the gay mafia is involved and it appears that even Michael can’t save the family this time. And Tobias becomes a Golden Girl.

The first half of Season 5 premiered on May 29, 2018. The series stars Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi, David Cross and Alia Shawkat.

Netflix's most delicious original comedy, Santa Clarita Diet, returns Friday, March 29 with its third season. Watch as The Hammonds battle with the prospect of "forever" in our date announcement here. In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction...but in a good way.

NBC has ordered two new comedies and picked-up A.P. Bio for a second season so far in pre-upfront news. From the producers of The Good Place comes a hilariously aspirational new comedy titled Abby's, about the best bar in San Diego, home to good prices, great company and, of course, Abby. This unlicensed, makeshift bar nestled in her backyard is the opposite of everything annoying about today's party scene. There are rules at Abby's: no cell phones (not even to "look something up"), earning a seat at the bar takes time and losing a challenge means drinking a limey, sugary "not-beer" drink. As the oddball cast of regulars will tell you, hanging out at Abby's is a coveted honor. But once you're in, you're family. The cast for this traditional multi-camera sitcom has Natalie Morales, Nelson Franklin, Kimia Behpoornia, Jessica Chaffin, Leonard Ouzts and Neil Flynn.

Next, they have ordered single-camera comedy I Feel Bad. Emet is the perfect mom, boss, wife, friend and daughter. OK, she's not perfect. In fact, she's just figuring it out like the rest of us. Sure, she feels bad when she has a sexy dream about someone other than her husband, or when she pretends not to know her kids when they misbehave in public, or when she uses her staff to help solve personal problems. But that's OK, right? Nobody can have it all and do it perfectly. From executive producer Amy Poehler comes a modern comedy about being perfectly OK with being imperfect. The cast includes Sarayu Blue, Paul Adelstein, Aisling Bea, Zach Cherry, Johnny Pemberton and James Buckley. NBC has also picked-up a second season of A.P. Bio. The comedy stars Glenn Howerton, Patton Oswalt, Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Jean Villepique, Tom Bennett, Paula Pell, Charlie McCrackin, Jacob McCarthy, Aparna Brielle, Nick Peine, Allisyn Ashley Arm, Eddie Leavy, Jacob Houston, Sari Arambulo, Tucker Albrizzi and Spence Moore II also star.

Netflix announced that the bloody good Santa Clarita Diet has been renewed for a third season. The comedy series is slated to return in 2019 with ten all-new episodes. In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction...but in a good way. Starring: Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson, Skyler Gisondo

Next month, HBO launches the late-night docu-series Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas, which follows the Emmy(R) and WGA Award-winning comedian and writer as he explores America's most pressing issues. Kicking off its ten-episode season Friday, April 13 (11:30 p.m.-midnight ET/PT), the show is the latest addition to the network's slate of late-night talk/comedy series, joining Real Time with Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Cenac, a longtime correspondent for The Daily Show, examines a wide range of social and cultural problems facing Americans in the show, which will feature documentary-style field reports that serve as the focal point of each episode. These segments will take him around the country, from suburban Minneapolis to downtown Cincinnati to rural Texas, as he investigates systemic issues from his unique perspective. Cenac will also tackle more benign problems facing Americans, offering comedic solutions to everyday inconveniences. In addition, Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas will feature in-studio commentary on current events, addressing issues and engaging the audience to keep the conversation going through social media.


Welcome back to the sprawling Southern California suburb of Santa Clarita, where the weather is good and the undead are... still adjusting to life among the living. Watch Sheila, Joel and Abby Hammond continue to navigate the murky waters of zombie-ism in this all-new trailer below for Santa Clarita Diet Season 2, launching Friday, March 23 globally on Netflix.

In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction...but in a good way. Picking up right where we left off, Season 2 of Santa Clarita Diet finds the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila's now-advanced undead state -- even though she's desperately working to hold on to her suburban lifestyle and not be defined as just another monster. Unfortunately -- while the family has become markedly better at murder -- the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it's no longer going unnoticed. Meanwhile, the Hammonds are chasing the source of the virus so they can stop it from spreading and save humanity -- which seems important. Through it all, Sheila and Joel are grounded by their unconditional love for one another. Sure, being undead -- or loving someone who is -- isn't always easy, but don't all relationships have their challenges?

Decades has acquired the rights to Newhart beginning in March. Newhart was last seen on Antenna TV up until end of 2017. Decades will begin a regular weekday schedule starting Monday, March 5 with shows from sister network MeTV being added. Back-to-back sitcom episodes will air from 9am-8pm. Sitcoms airing are I Love Lucy, Our Miss Brooks, I Married Joan, The Donna Reed Show, Family Affair, Petticoat Junction, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart, Ed Sullivan, and Laugh-In. In the overnight, after movies there will be other series such as The Loretta Young Show, Honey West, Mr. Lucky and more. Weekends will still be the Decades Weekend Binge with all-day marathons for two days, as this past weekend was The Facts of Life, next weekend will bring The Mod Squad. The weekend of March 3-4 will be The Mary Tyler Moore Show, followed by The Doris Day Show on the weekend of March 10-11. View the full Decades schedule that begins March 5. Keep it right here for continued updates on all things Decades.

Netflix unveiled some delicious casting news and a first look at the much-anticipated second season of comedy Santa Clarita Diet, launching this spring. Joel McHale and Maggie Lawson guest star as Chris and Christa, married realtors in Santa Clarita -- and a more successful, more aggressive version of Sheila and Joel. Gerald McRaney guest stars as Ed Thune, a retired army colonel who Joel finds very intimidating. Zachary Knighton guest stars as Paul, the chill descendent of Serbian ancestors who has been tasked with pursuing the truth of the undead, no matter who or what stands in his way. In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction...but in a good way.

Picking up right where we left off, Season 2 of Santa Clarita Diet finds the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila's now-advanced undead state -- even though she's desperately working to hold on to her suburban lifestyle and not be defined as just another monster. Unfortunately -- while the family has become markedly better at murder -- the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it's no longer going unnoticed. Meanwhile, the Hammonds are chasing the source of the virus so they can stop it from spreading and save humanity -- which seems important. Through it all, Sheila and Joel are grounded by their unconditional love for one another. Sure, being undead -- or loving someone who is -- isn't always easy, but don't all relationships have their challenges?

Hulu has renewed The Mindy Project for its sixth and final season to premiere September 2017 on Hulu. Season five just completed airing on Hulu on March 28. The Mindy Project first premiered in 2012 and has since aired 107 episodes. In 2013, The Mindy Project was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for New Series. In 2014, Kaling and The Mindy Project earned nominations from the Television Critics Association for Individual Achievement in Comedy and Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Kaling also earned a Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy and an NAACP Image Award nomination for her performance on the show in 2014. In 2016, the show earned a Gracie Award for Best Ensemble Cast. The series stars Mindy Kaling (Mindy Lahiri), Ed Weeks (Jeremy Reed), Ike Barinholtz (Morgan Tookers), Beth Grant (Beverly), Xosha Roquemore (Tamra Webb) and Fortune Feimster (Colette Kimball-Kinney).


Your favorite suburban couple, the Hammond's, are hungry for more. Netflix has announced a second season of the original comedy Santa Clarita Diet, starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. Production on the second season will begin this summer. Enjoy the tasty announcement video below to hold you over...



Santa Clarita Diet premiered only on Netflix, worldwide, on February 3, 2017. In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant, Justified) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore, Blended) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction...but in a good way. Santa Clarita Diet stars Drew Barrymore as Sheila Hammond, Timothy Olyphant as Joel Hammond, Liv Hewson as Abby Hammond and Skylar Gisondo as Eric Bemis. The series comes from showrunner Victor Fresco.

Take a trip to the lovely suburb of Santa Clarita. The all new featurette from the Netflix Original series Santa Clarita Diet, gives a peak inside the lives of the Hammonds - a mild mannered family on a collision course down a road of death and destruction. The featurette includes interviews with series stars Drew Barrymore ("Sheila Hammond"), Timothy Olyphant ("Joel Hammond") and Liv Hewson ("Abby Hammond") and showrunner Victor Fresco. In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant, Justified) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore, Blended) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction...but in a good way. Santa Clarita Diet stars Drew Barrymore as Sheila Hammond, Timothy Olyphant as Joel Hammond, Liv Hewson as Abby Hammond and Skylar Gisondo as Eric Bemis. Watch the featurette:

TNT has renewed its hit fantasy-adventure series The Librarians for a fourth season. The show's third season recently aired its finale on January 22, 2017 and is currently available on TNT On Demand and TNT's digital and mobile platforms. The fourth season is slated to begin later this year. The Librarians launched in late 2014 and joined TNT's The Last Ship as cable's Top 2 new series of the year. In 2015 and 2016, it ranked among basic cable's Top 20 original drama series with adults 18-49. The Librarians has reached 5.4 million viewers per episode in its third season, drawing an audience that's six years younger than the average for TNT originals. It also boasts a strong following in social media, with nearly half a million fans on Facebook.

Based on TNT's hit movie franchise, The Librarians centers on an ancient organization dedicated to protecting an unknowing world from the secret, magical reality hidden all around. Rebecca Romijn, Christian Kane, Lindy Booth and John Harlan Kim star in the series as protectors of the world's mystical treasures, with Emmy(R) winner John Larroquette as their reluctant caretaker. As well, reprising the role that helped originate the franchise in TNT's hit movie trilogy, Noah Wyle has recurred as Flynn Carsen, one of the longest surviving librarians in the series' mythology.

Fox is flipping some burgers on Sunday nights starting Sunday, April 3. Animated comedy Bob's Burgers and live-action comedy Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life will be switching timeslots on Sundays. Bob's Burgers will move to 8:30pm following The Simpsons, while Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life will move to 7:30pm following new episodes of Bordertown at 7pm. Bob's Burgers will air a special extra episode on Sunday, April 3 only at 9pm as well, in lieu of a Family Guy rerun. This is not good news for Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life, as it has struggled in the ratings. The recent move of Bordertown from 9:30pm to 7pm was also not good news for Bordertown. In Cooper, the series follows the charming misadventures of Cooper Barrett (Jack Cutmore-Scott) and his friends as they struggle through messy, terrible and hilarious disasters - a night in jail, crazy ex-girlfriends, going broke - giving us guidance so we can avoid the same mistakes. And Bordertown is a satirical look at the cultural shifts taking place in America, the series explores family, politics and everything in between. The comedy centers on two very different families living in a fictional Southwest desert town on the U.S. - Mexico border and stars the voices of Hank Azaria, Alex Borstein, Judah Friedlander, Nicholas Gonzalez and Missi Pyle.

Netflix, the world's leading Internet TV network, will exclusively launch worldwide in 2017 the new comedy series Santa Clarita Diet, from writer Victor Fresco (Better Off Ted, Andy Richter Controls the Universe). In the single-camera series, Joel (Timothy Olyphant, Justified) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore, Blended) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita, until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending both their lives down a road of death and destruction...but in a good way. More info will come soon on this so stay tuned, but it will premiere sometime in 2017 only on Netflix.