Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Paramount+ Celebrates the Holidays with Sitcom Classics; HBO Max Gets in Holiday Spirit as Well with Christmas Comedy Series

Paramount+ is celebrating the holidays with a seasonal spectacular that includes new festive titles and episodes for kids, plus a curated selection of classics for the whole family. The service will also be streaming new live and on-demand holiday movies from CBS, as well as must-watch specials such as One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. For kids, Paramount+ has rounded up a sleigh-load of festive programming, including A Loud House Christmas, an original live-action holiday movie based on Nickelodeon's Emmy Award-winning animated series, premiering on Nov. 26, and an all-new special Rugrats episode that debuts on Dec. 2. The episode features guest stars Raini Rodriguez as Gabi, Swoosie Kurtz as Minka, Henry Winkler as Boris, and Tata Vega as Tia Esperanza. This new episode joins Rugrats' growing slate of holiday episodes on the service, which includes "A Rugrats Kwanzaa," "Rugrats Chanukah" and "The Santa Experience." This season, pint-sized viewers will also jingle all the way to SpongeBob's Winter Wonderland selection, which includes beloved episodes from the hit-animated series such as "Patchy the Pirate Presents the SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas Special," "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" and "Frozen Faceoff." The streaming service's family-friendly offering is rounded out with a collection from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. that includes holiday episodes from hit kids' series, such as Bubble Guppies ("Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish"), iCarly ("iChristmas"), Dora the Explorer ("A Present for Santa"), Henry Danger ("Holiday Punch"), PAW Patrol ("Pups Save Christmas"), Peppa Pig ("Santa's Grotto/Santa's Visit") and The Fairly OddParents ("Merry Wishmas"), as well as specials such as Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas, All Star Nickmas Spectacular, Top Elf and Sonic the Christmas Blast.
Also sliding down subscribers' chimneys this holiday season are Christmas classics films such as A Christmas Carol, Bridget Jones's Diary, Happy Christmas, Serendipity and Surviving Christmas, plus fan-favorite episodes from iconic series such as Beverly Hills, 90210 ("Christmas Comes This Time Each Year"), Cheers ("Christmas Cheers"), Everybody Hates Chris ("Everybody Hates Kwanzaa"), Frasier ("Frasier Grinch"), Happy Days ("Guess Who's Coming to Christmas"), Taxi ("A Full House for Christmas") and The Brady Bunch ("The Voice of Christmas").
In addition, Paramount+ will be the streaming home for new live and on-demand holiday movies from CBS, including A Christmas Proposal, which follows a down-on-her-luck chef, Maria Winters (Jessica Camacho), as she agrees to pose as the girlfriend of a hotshot Seattle attorney, Julian Diaz (Adam Rodriguez), for the holidays; and Christmas Takes Flight, a holiday battle of wills between pilot Jenny Beckett (Katie Lowes) and Matt Hansen (Evan Williams), a number-crunching CEO who purchases Jenny's family-owned, regional airline. Additional can't-miss events streaming on the platform include: One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, a new live concert special honoring the musical legacy and enduring friendship between the two musical icons, and New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash, a star-studded special featuring country music's hottest superstars ringing in the new year from downtown Nashville.
HBO Max has released the official trailer, key art and first look images from the upcoming Max Original adult stop-motion animated series Santa Inc. from Lionsgate Television and Point Grey Pictures. All eight episodes of the series debuts Thursday, December 2. In this series from Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman, intrepid elf Candy Smalls (Silverman) will do anything to be named as the first female Santa - even if she has to fight like a man to get it. Stars Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogen, Leslie Grossman, Gabourey Sidibe, Craig Robinson, Nicholas Braun, Maria Bamford and Joel Kim Booster.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Remembering Jerry Stiller of Seinfeld and The King of Queens; HBO Max Announces Santa Inc.

Actor and comedian Jerry Stiller, who was best known for his roles as Frank Costanza in Seinfeld and as Arthur Spooner in The King of Queens, has died. He died from natural causes at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on May 11. Mr. Stiller was 92.
Stiller married Anne Meara in 1954. The comedy duo Stiller and Meara was successful in the 1960s and 1970s. They made numerous appearances on variety and talk shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. They played Barney and Grace Dickerson, Howie Dickerson's (John Calvin) parents, in four episodes of The Paul Lynde Show in 1972-1973. Some of their other sitcom guest appearances together included The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Love, American Style, Rhoda, Archie Bunker's Place and The Love Boat. They hosted HBO Sneak Previews from 1979 to 1982. They had a sitcom pilot called The Stiller & Meara Show in 1986. In 2010, they had a Yahoo! web series called Stiller & Meara.
He starred as Gus Duzik in the short-lived 1975-1976 CBS sitcom Joe and Sons. He was the best friend of Joe Vitale (Richard Casellano) and worked with him at the Hobooken Sheet and Tube Company. The series also starred Florence Stanley, Bobbi Jordan, Barry Miller and Jimmy Baio.
Stiller played Sid Wilbur, the loyal maitre d' at a posh Manhattan restaurant, in the 1988-1989 comedy-drama Tattingers. The cast included Stephen Collins, Blythe Danner, Patrice Colihan, Chay Lentin, Jessica Prunell, Mary Beth Hurt, Roderick Cook, Zach Grenier, Rob Morrow, Sue Francis Pai, Yusef Bulos, Robert Clohessy, Simon Jones, Chris Elliott and Anna Levine.
He appeared as the cantankerous Frank Costanza, the father of George Costanza (Jason Alexander) and husband of Estelle Costanza (Estelle Harris), in 26 episodes of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld from 1993 to 1998. Frank Costanza was a former cook in the Army and learned to speak Korean in while serving in the Korean War. He invented the holiday Festivus as a reaction to the cultural commercialism of Christmas. Stiller received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1997 and won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series in 1998 for the role. The series also starred Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards.
He starred as the eccentric Arthur Spooner in the 1998-2007 CBS sitcom The King of Queens. Arthur Spooner was the widowed father of Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini) and father-in-law of Doug Heffernan (Kevin James). He lived in the basement of their Rego Park, Queens, New York house. His fourth marriage was to Spence's (Patton Oswalt) mother Veronica Olcin (Anne Meara) in the final season. The series also starred Victor Williams, Larry Romano (1998-2001), Lisa Rieffel (1998), Gary Valentine (1999-2007) and Nicole Sullivan (2001-2005).
Some of his sitcom guest appearances included Phyllis, Private Benjamin, Alice, Amanda's, The Larry Sanders Show and Sex and the City.
He provided the voice of Uncle Max for The Lion King 1½ and Harvey for Planes: Fire and Rescue. Some of his other voice credits included Linus! The Lion Hearted, Teacher's Pet, Fish Hooks and Foodfight!.
Stiller appeared with his actor son Ben Stiller in films such as Zoolander, Heavyweights, Hot Pursuit, The Heartbreak Kid and Zoolander 2. Some of his other film credits included The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Ritz, Nadine, Hairspray (1988), A Fish in the Bathtub and My 5 Wives.
He was interviewed for The Interviews: An Oral History of Television on December 12, 2005.
Survivors include his son Ben, daughter Amy (an actress) and two grandchildren. Anne Meara, his wife of over 60 years, died in 2015.
Mr. Stiller was a true comedic legend. He was perfectly cast as Frank Costanza and Arthur Spooner. He made everything he appeared in funnier. We thank him for the many laughs and entertainment he brought us during his long career. He will be greatly missed.
Share your memories on our Seinfeld and The King of Queens message boards. View photos in our galleries.
DECADES TV Network will honor the life and career of late comedian and actor Jerry Stiller with two back-to-back episodes of The Dick Cavett Show featuring the icon and his wife Anne Meara. Airing Wednesday, May 13 at 9p ET, viewers can relive a 1995 interview where Stiller discusses Seinfeld and his days on The Ed Sullivan Show. Following at 9:30p ET, the DECADES network will present a 1995 interview with Anne Meara.
HBO Max announced it has ordered the adult animated series Santa Inc. from global content leader Lionsgate featuring voice performances by leads Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. The 8 episode, half-hour series will be written by showrunner Alexandra Rushfield (Shrill) and will be produced by Rogen's Point Grey Pictures as part of their multiplatform partnership with Lionsgate. Santa Inc. is the story of Candy Smalls (Silverman), the highest-ranking female elf in the North Pole. When the successor to Santa Claus (Rogen) is poached by Amazon on Christmas Eve, Candy goes for her ultimate dream— to become the first woman Santa Claus in the history of Christmas.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Monday, September 8
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the Sting" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Calvin and Marty send Courtney on a mission to find out information about Fuse Box’s impressive new rival. Meanwhile, Malcolm attends an event for his creative writing program at USC, where he scores a meeting with a book agent, Lisa (Angelique Cabral).
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to Your Own Medicine" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
After Dave’s disastrous attempt to dunk a basketball, Calvin takes care of his injured neighbor. Also, Gemma befriends a cool mom group while babysitting Daphne.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of September 8)
Monday, September 8
- Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel (Family Tree/Morton & Hayes), Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins (Laverne & Shirley), Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls (The Simpsons) and Rob Reiner as Marty DiBergi (All in the Family/Morton & Hayes) - Watch Spinal Tap on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Fred Armisen (Los Espookys/Forever/Final Space) - Fred appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Langston Kerman (English Teacher/Bust Down/South Side/Bless This Mess) - Langston is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building) and Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building/Mulaney/I'm a Big Girl Now/The Associates) - Steve and Martin are guests on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Charlie Sheen (Anger Management/Two and a Half Men) - ABC's Good Morning America has part two of Michael Strahan's interview with Charlie sometime between 7-9am.
- Marilu Henner (Evening Shade/Taxi) - Marilu talks about A Husband to Die For: The Lisa Aguilar Story on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Katie Lowes (How We Roll) - Katie and Jamie Ray Newman talk about the summer's most talked about show The Hunting Wives on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
- Rainn Wilson (The Office) - Rainn talks about Code 3 on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
- Drew Barrymore (Santa Clarita Diet) - Drew will be on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Oscar Nuñez (The Paper/The Office), Alex Edelman (The Paper) and Gbemisola Ikumelo (The Paper) - Oscar, Alex and Gbemisola talk about Peacock's The Paper on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
- Holly Robinson Peete (Hangin' with Mr. Cooper/For Your Love/Like Family/Love, Inc.) - NBC's Today catches up with Holly in the 9am hour.
- Malin Akerman (Dollface/Sin City Saints/Trophy Wife/Childrens Hospital) - Malin talks about Netflix's The Hunting Wives on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/One Day at a Time) - Valerie appears on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Halle Berry (Living Dolls) - Halle is celebrating aging helping a viewer over 50 achieve a glow up look on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
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