SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! This week, we've got a complete look of what will be happening this fall, more on the future of two series that didn't make the cut, news of DVD releases of two sitcoms from the current season, and more. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

• Sometimes, shows become so obscure that we forget about them very quickly, and that seems to have happened with the now cancelled NBC series Sean Saves the World. This week, TVShowsOnDVD.com discovered that Sean Saves the World - Season One is actually on DVD, and has been for over a month, as a MOD offering.
• A much more successful series from the past season (i.e. one that will actually be back in the fall) is the CBS series, The Millers. On August 19, CBS DVD will be releasing The Milers - Season One.

RECENT REVIEWS ON SITCOMSONLINE.COM

• The Andy Griffith Show - Season 1 (Blu-ray): The classic TV series debuts on Blu-ray with the best quality it has ever seen, along with some nice special features.
• I Love Lucy - Ultimate Season 1 (Blu-ray): In what could perhaps be described as one of the best home media releases ever, the queen of comedy returns in a release that is even better than the DVD releases, and includes new special features and even includes every episode with all original commercials.

MAY 20 HOME MEDIA RELEASES

• The Abbott and Costello Show - The Complete Second Season (DVD, $39.98): The classic comedy is the first entry (of many) in DVD re-releases coming up for Tuesday
• The Dick Van Dyke Show - Episodes Only Collection - Season 1 / Season 2 / Season 3 / Season 4 / Season 5 (DVD, $24.98 each): For those who like The Dick Van Dyke Show and want to own it on DVD, but don't particularly care about all of the special features, each season can now be purchased on DVD without the special features in these sets.
• The Facts of Life - Seasons 1 and 2 (DVD, $14.98): You can take the good (the episodes) and the bad (no more special features) in this re-release from Mill Creek.
• Gidget - The Complete Series (DVD, $9.98): Another standard re-release from Mill Creek, at a very nice price.
• Good Times - Seasons 3 and 4 (DVD, $14.98): You should be lucky you've got 'em with this value-priced re-release from Mill Creek.
• Happy Days - The Fifth Season (DVD, $39.98): The Fonz returns to DVD after a long hiatus in this release, and this is also one of the only completely new releases this week on DVD.
• The Jeffersons - Seasons 1 and 2 (DVD, $14.98): Mill Creek "moves on up" with George and Weezy in this value-priced re-release.

Who to Follow: John Mulaney (Twitter), "I am a nice, 30 year old comedian. My new album and DVD NEW IN TOWN is available on iTunes and Amazon."

Claim to Fame: The 31 year old (he hasn't updated his Twitter info in a while, obviously) comedian is probably not a common household name, but he is hoping that he will become one. So far, he is best known as a stand-up comedian and a writer for Saturday Night Live (for which he created the recurring Bill Hader character Stefon for Weekend Update). Now, this fall, he is hoping to find success in his own sitcom, Mulaney, which was picked up for the Sunday night lineup on Fox.

Pick of the Tweets: "the west coast just said goodbye to @sethmeyers on "Update." seth, you are the best big brother and boss any of us could have asked for." (February 2, 2014)

Late last week NBC announced it has pulled (and canceled) both of its remaining freshman Thursday comedies on the schedule. Sean Saves the World and The Michael J. Fox Show will not be returning after the Winter Olympics as planned, instead NBC will now air new episodes of Hollywood Game Night on Thursday nights in the 9pm hour (following Community and Parks & Recreation) starting February 27. Sean Saves the World already had its episode cut from 18 to 15, and now the remaining two episodes are unscheduled. 13 of the 15 episodes have aired. As for The Michael J. Fox Show, 22 episodes were ordered and only 15 have aired, with seven episodes still left to air. No word on if and when NBC will burn-off either of the show's remaining episodes. If it happens, it might be on a Saturday night, in the summer or just placed on nbc.com. Both really struggled in the ratings, with The Michael J. Fox Show on Jan. 16 doing less then 2 million total viewers (1.992 million) and just a 0.59 18-49 rating, both historic lows for NBC Thursday originals. We'll let you know if they schedule these remaining episodes. Stay with us.

Production has begun on TV Land's newest sitcom pilot, Younger, starring Tony® Award winner Sutton Foster (Bunheads) Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire), Debi Mazar (Entourage) and Miriam Shor (GCB). The single-camera project, which is written, executive produced and directed by Darren Star (Sex and the City), is based on the novel Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran. Patricia Field, who worked with Star on Sex and the City, will be a costume consultant on the production. The Younger pilot follows 40-year-old Liza (Foster), a suddenly single mother who tries to get back into the working world, only to find out it’s nearly impossible to start at the bottom at her age. When a chance encounter with a 20-something guy at a bar convinces her she looks younger than she is, Liza tries to pass herself off as 26 – with the help of a makeover, courtesy of her best friend Maggie (Mazar). Armed with new confidence, she lands a job as an assistant to the temperamental Diana (Shor) and teams up with her new co-worker and fellow 20-something Kelsey (Duff) to make it in the career of her dreams.

TV Land also recently announced the series pick-up of another single-camera sitcom, Jennifer Falls, starring Jaime Pressly. The network's current original sitcoms includes hit series Hot in Cleveland, The Exes, The Soul Man and Kirstie, all multi-camera sitcoms starring pop culture icons and fan favorites including Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves, Kristen Johnston, Donald Faison, Wayne Knight, David Alan Basche, Kelly Stables, Cedric "The Entertainer," Niecy Nash, Wesley Jonathan, Kirstie Alley, Michael Richards, Rhea Perlman and Eric Petersen. We will let you know if and when Younger will get a series pick-up, but for now, this is just a pilot order. Stay tuned.

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! It's the weekend of the "big game," but we've got some big stuff here this weekend as well, as we've got one of our busiest news weeks in a while. So let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

HOME MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

• It has been more than five years since we last saw a release of Happy Days on DVD, but it looks like that is about to change on May 20, as CBS prepares to release Happy Days - The Fifth Season. The set comes at a $39.98 MSRP.
• Happy Days isn't the only series that is headed to DVD in May. According to TVShowsOnDVD.com, one of the spinoffs, Laverne & Shirley, will be finishing up with the final season on DVD on May 6. It isn't available to pre-order just yet.
• It seems that several studios have used the TV Guide name to sell DVDs, but now Mill Creek will use it for one of the most ambitious DVD projects ever from any studio, as they prepare to put together their new TV Guide Spotlight Series. The series puts together collections of 20 episode sets (at least for sitcoms) of multiple series that they have (or will) released on DVD, such as The Jeffersons, Good Times, Bewitched, Maude, Newsradio, That '70s Show, and much more. Of particular interest to us are Groundbreaking Sitcoms of the '70s, Great Comedies of the '90s, and Leading Ladies of Classic Comedy. They will all be released on March 18 and come at a $9.98 MSRP.
• We don't cover a whole lot of cartoons here, but another release from Mill Creek caught our attention this week, since it is an '80s cartoon that had featured a character who'd also appeared in a classic '50s sitcom (and above all else, his own comic strip)... they'll be releasing the animated series Dennis the Menace on DVD! They will begin with Dennis the Menace - Volume 1, which will contain the first 33 episodes of the animated series. It comes March 18, and at a $12.98 MSRP.
• If tax day has you a bit angry this year, you can get some Anger Management courtesy of Lionsgate, as they release Anger Management - Volume 3 on DVD and Blu-ray on that day (April 15, by the way).

RECENT HOME MEDIA REVIEWS ON SITCOMSONLINE

• Joanie Loves Chachi - The Complete Series: The short-lived Happy Days spinoff starring Scott Baio and Erin Moran arrives on DVD, although as expected, there are a few musical edits.
• Laverne & Shirley - The Seventh Season: The most successful of the Happy Days spinoffs arrives on DVD for another season, also with a few musical edits.

• The Ellen Show - The Complete Series (DVD, $9.98): Mill Creek puts together a re-release of Ellen DeGeneres CBS sitcom, which lasted for one season.
• Family Matters - The Complete Fourth Season (DVD, $29.98): Urkel and the gang return for another season of this fan-favorite sitcom staple that aired on ABC's TGIF lineup.
• Joanie Loves Chachi - The Complete Series (DVD,  $29.98): The complete series of the Happy Days spinoff finally arrives on DVD.
• Laverne & Shirley - The Seventh Season (DVD, $39.98): The classic Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams sitcom returns to DVD for another season.

Who to Follow: John Stamos (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), "ex teen idol, theater geek and wannabe rock and roll drummer."

Claim to Fame: It's been a big week for the Full House guys (who knew?), and it only seems appropriate to feature the catalyst behind all of this recent hype: the one and only John Stamos. His TV career began in 1984 with a role on General Hospital, followed by two sitcoms that were, by all measures, complete flops, but his third sitcom was big. He wasn't quite 24 when he was cast in the role of Jesse Cochran (changed to Katsopolis in season two) in the series Full House in 1987. Since then, he hasn't had much in terms of regular roles in series, but you still see him everywhere, and that is something that seems to be in the cards for years to come.

Pick of the Tweets: "Behind the scenes look at @bobsaget and I for our "Some like it HOT" peep mag shoot w/ the great Robert Tractenberg pic.twitter.com/CZ8QNQYldp" (December 29, 2013)

ABC was up at the TCA Winter 2014 Press Tour on Friday and we have the full scoop! Paul Lee, president, ABC Entertainment Group, announced premiere dates for the new drama series Black Box on Thursday, April 24 at 10:00 p.m. ET following the conclusion of the season of Scandal on April 17, along with a new season of Dancing with the Stars launching on Monday, March 17 from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET, and the pick-up of an all-new Disney•Pixar holiday special, Toy Story That Time Forgot for the 2014 holiday season, following the recent success of Toy Story OF TERROR! The network also announced a special two-night Bachelor event featuring everyone's favorite Bachelor, Juan Pablo Galavis, on Monday, Feb. 24 and Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET, and new drama Mind Games will now premiere two weeks earlier than planned, now on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 10:00 p.m. ET, following night two of the Bachelor event. Killer Women will end two weeks earlier and no word if the final two episodes will air at a later date. Other previously announced mid-season entries will remain unchanged (Mixology on Wed. Feb. 26 at 9:30pm and Resurrection Sun. March 9 at 9pm). Panels with cast and crew of ABC Family's The Fosters, ABC's Resurrection, Black Box, Suburgatory, Mind Games, Nashville, and Mixology were held.

And finally, NBC was up yesterday (Sunday) to close out the broadcast networks for this year's winter press tour. No real scheduling moves were announced, but The Michael J. Fox Show is coming off a dreadful showing last Thursday at 9:30 so NBC is switching timeslots with Sean Saves the World at 9 for this Thursday (Jan. 23). On the heels of the very successful airing of The Sound of Music Live! in December 2013, NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt announced that the network will present a new television production of the classic musical Peter Pan as a live telecast on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014. Multi-award-winning producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who produced The Sound of Music Live! will again executive produce the production. Casting is currently on a fast track. NBC has given a 10-episode straight-to-series order for Emerald City in 2014-15, a reimagining of the classic Frank L. Baum books that have inspired everything from The Wizard Of Oz to Wicked. NBC is also ordering eight episodes of the miniseries The Slap for 2014-15, based on the critically-acclaimed Australian project of the same name that aired in 2011. And in terms of pilots, NBC announced two pilot orders: State of Affairs (drama starring Katherine Heigl) and Untitled Amy Poehler project (aka Old Soul, comedy starring Natasha Lyonne).

NBC also announced the final guests and first guests for its late night line-up. Jay Leno announced that he will kick-off his last week of guests for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with his heir to the Tonight Show desk, Jimmy Fallon on Monday, Feb. 3. Leno will conclude his incredible 22-year run with a return visit from his first-ever guest, Billy Crystal, who joins Leno on his farewell night, Thursday, Feb. 6. Leno's final show as host will feature both Crystal and music from country superstar Garth Brooks. Crystal visited Leno on the host's first night at the helm of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 25, 1992. Other guests for the week include Betty White, Charles Barkley, Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, Blake Shelton and Lyle Lovett. As for the first guest news, Will Smith and U2 have been booked as the guests for the premiere of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, set for Monday, February 17 from Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center. And finally, Late Night With Seth Meyers premieres Monday, February 24 at 12:35am in new Studio 8G from Rockefeller Center and will feature Amy Poehler as the first guest.


The 20th SAG Awards were held Saturday night on TNT & TBS. Here were the winners from the ceremony:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire, HBO)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, AMC)
Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom, HBO)
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, HBO)
Kevin Spacey (House of Cards, Netflix)
WINNER: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, AMC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Claire Danes (Homeland, Showtime)
Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad, AMC)
Jessica Lange (American Horror Story: Asylum, FX)
Kerry Washington (Scandal, ABC)
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, PBS)
WINNER: Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, PBS)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock, NBC)
Ty Burrell (Modern Family, ABC)
Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, Netflix)
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory, CBS)
Don Cheadle (House of Lies, Showtime)
WINNER: Ty Burrell (Modern Family, ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie, Showtime)
Tina Fey (30 Rock, NBC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep, HBO)
Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory, CBS)
Julie Bowen (Modern Family, ABC)
WINNER: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep, HBO)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Downton Abbey (PBS)
Homeland (Showtime)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
WINNER: Breaking Bad (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock (NBC)
Arrested Development (Netflix)
Modern Family (ABC)
Veep (HBO)
The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
WINNER: Modern Family (ABC)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Rita Moreno

NBC has extended Sean Saves the World for another five episodes. The Sean Hayes sitcom has struggled in the ratings but NBC has decided to give it five more episodes. It is unlikely it will get the full back nine, but these additional episodes puts the comedy to 18 episodes for the season. The show is the anchor for NBC Thursdays airing at 9pm but has averaged just under a 1.2 18-49 rating so far, though the latest episode went to a 1.4 thanks to a better lead-in. If you don't know, the show is about Sean (Sean P. Hayes, Will & Grace), a divorced gay dad who juggles a lot - his successful but demanding career, offbeat employees, pushy mom Lorna (Linda Lavin, Alice) and weekends with his teenage daughter, Ellie (Sami Isler). So when she moves in full-time, it's a whole new world. Never one to do anything halfway, Sean's intent on being the best dad ever, so he loads up on parenting how-to books and plans Pinterest-worthy family dinners. But it seems his company's new owner has decided Sean and his team should work longer hours, putting a damper on his homemaking plans and throwing a kink in Sean's perfectly constructed work/life balance. Ellie sees this development as a plus. She loves her dad, but he's clearly going overboard. From keeping his boss happy, employees motivated and enduring his mother's tactless "advice" to raising a smart, grounded and healthy kid, it's going to be a growing experience, to say the least. But if anyone can handle it all, it's Sean.

We mentioned last week that Saved by the Bell is now on E! but MTV2 would still air the sitcom. That is all still true, but MTV2 has scaled back on the sitcom. It will no longer air weekday mornings, since E! will air the sitcom weekday mornings. Instead, MTV2 will now only air the series on Saturday mornings from 4am-8am. Replacing Saved by the Bell on weekday mornings will be Family Matters from 9am-11am leading into Boy Meets World. And Family Matters joined the MTV2 schedule back in September as a late night entry, but since then it has been airing weekends from 11am-2pm, and will continue to air in that block as well. Elsewhere on MTV2, we mentioned Family Matters, Boy Meets World on weekdays, but Martin and The Wayans Bros. will continue to air in the late night. Weekends will have more comedies including the aforementioned Saved by the Bell and Family Matters, but we also still have Smart Guy, In Living Color, The PJ's, Martin, and The Wayans Bros.

This season, NBC has two sitcoms on their Thursday night lineup with stars from past hits on their Thursday night lineup. The latest is Sean Saves the World, a sitcom starring Sean Hayes as a divorced father (who also happens to be gay) dealing with raising a teenage daughter, a busy work life, and a meddling mother who just can't stay out of his life.

Cast Details:

Sean Hayes (Sean) is best known for his role as Jack in the series Will & Grace. He also serves as executive producer for the series, and is also as an executive producer of popular series including Grimm, Hot in Cleveland, and The Soul Man.

Linda Lavin (Lorna) is best known for her role as Alice in the popular TV series Alice, which ran from 1976 until 1985 on CBS. She began her career on Broadway, and has appeared in other series including Barney Miller, Conrad Bloom, and Room for Two.

Samantha Isler (Ellie) was born in Tulsa, OK, and has appeared in roles in the films Home Run and No One Knows.

Thomas Lennon (Max) is a comedian and writer who is best known for his role as Lieutenant Jim Dangle in the series Reno 911. He has appeared in cameo appearances in several films.

Megan Hilty (Liz) is a stage and television actress who most recently starred in the series Smash. She has had guest roles in Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Louie, and Eli Stone.

"Pilot" (airs Thursday, October 3, 2013 at 9:00PM ET/PT)

In the pilot episode, we meet Sean (Sean Hayes), a divorced dad who is busy at life with his career and with his constantly interfering mother, Lorna (Linda Lavin). Things get even more complicated now that he has full custody of his daughter, Ellie (Samantha Isler), especially since she has just started high school and is growing up. In the pilot, we get a glimpse into Sean's life, and some of the complications that arise as he tries to juggle all of this, including having to go out of his way to ensure he is spending time with his daughter.

"Busted" (airs Thursday, October 10, 2013 at 9:00 ET/PT)

In the second episode of the series, Sean has to face facts when he realizes that his daughter is growing up, and like many single sitcom fathers before him, he faces the problem that Ellie needs a bra. So this leaves him to have to turn to one of the women in his life: mother Lorna or friend Liz (Megan Hilty). Unfortunately, chaos ensues when he decides to let both of them take part in this experience.

"Date Expectations" (airs Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 9:00 ET/PT)

Sean has been out of the dating pool for quite some time, and now it is time for him to reenter it, when he is set up on a blind date with a periodontist. But if he wasn't already a wreck in preparing for this date, the timing couldn't be worse, as Ellie goes to a party and loses her cell phone along the way (it doesn't help that he is tracking her by GPS) and Lorna barges in on the date over her concern when she can't get in touch with Ellie. Meanwhile, back at the office, some classic commercials featuring Sean and Lorna in bed with one another... literally... cause embarrassment at both work and home for Sean.

It feels like broken relationships have been a huge theme in some of this season's newest sitcoms, whether they be broken engagements, divorces, separations, or (in this case) the child from a marriage that was never meant to be. I don't doubt at all that such an arrangement for a sitcom is not viable. The idea behind this sitcom is very much workable, but for some reason, it just doesn't seem to work here.

Perhaps a lot of my criticism is fueled from the pilot episode. I've watched a lot of pilot episodes where we are slowly and subtly explained what the background is, and why we are where we are... but somehow, this one just felt incredibly forced. It all started father-daughter conversation where both participants in the conversation knew exactly what was going on, but felt the need to just verbally explain it to one another. From that point on, the pilot seemed to drag on and was not at all the most exciting thing to sit through. It didn't help that there really weren't any big laughs in it. About the only redeeming quality was seeing Linda Lavin on TV, but that alone is a novelty that couldn't possibly get a viewer through an entire season.

The second episode, "Busted," did get a little bit better, with the traditional father-daughter moment of a single father trying to get a bra for his daughter (Punky Brewster and Who's the Boss? both did this), but it still didn't seem to be all that well written as some of those series were when they handled the topic.

"Date Expectations" is a dating episode, something that I imagine that this series will try a lot, where Sean goes on a date after being "out of the pool" for quite some time, and of course, in typical sitcom fashion, everything goes wrong. Honestly, this episode wasn't bad and did provide a few laughs, but not enough to compensate for the lack thereof in the previous two.

Finally, the real problem is that this show is pretty much the "odd guy" in the room. NBC has made a reputation for itself in the past decade (particularly when series such as Scrubs and The Office were an integral part of the network) as a network of single-camera sitcoms. I would love to see them get into more multi-camera sitcoms, as this one is, but the problem is that they tend to not fit in at all when they are completely surrounded by single-camera sitcoms. It would take a really good sitcom to break that barrier, and I'm not sure that this one fits that criteria.

There is one positive among all of this, though. The casting of the series is mostly well done, and even Sean Hayes comes off as a character who is likeable in this series.

Can Sean save the world, or even the NBC Thursday night lineup? I don't think so. I really wanted to like this show, especially given that it brings Linda Lavin back to TV in a regular role, but this show feels too "forced" and has the same feeling that a long string of unsuccessful NBC sitcoms of the late 90s had (remember, NBC may have been a powerhouse back then, but the strengths were in a few memorable sitcoms, and the rest is now an afterthought). That being said, this is airing on NBC, after all. I expect them to give it a while to try to make it more enjoyable, and who knows, maybe the fortunes of this series could change. Unfortunately, I don't see it saving anything.

NBC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Sean Saves the World Photo Gallery