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Nickelodeon is preparing for the return of The Midnight Society with the all-new Are You Afraid of the Dark? three-part limited series event. Based on the '90s kids' cult classic, and reimagined for a new generation, part one of Are You Afraid of the Dark? will debut on Friday, Oct. 11, at 7:00 p.m. (ET/PT), with parts two and three to follow Oct. 18, and Oct. 25, respectively.

Across the three hour-long episodes, Are You Afraid of the Dark? will follow members of an entirely new Midnight Society, who tell a terrifying tale of the Carnival of Doom and its evil ringmaster Mr. Tophat, only to witness the shocking story come frightfully to life. In the just-released trailer, viewers meet the new members of the Midnight Society, get a glimpse at the uncertainty that awaits and prepare for an adventure beyond their wildest nightmares. The new members of the Midnight Society are: Rachel, played by Lyliana Wray (Top Gun: Maverick); Gavin, played by Sam Ashe Arnold (Best.Worst.Weekend.Ever.); Akiko, played by Miya Cech (Rim of the World, Always Be My Maybe); Graham, played by Jeremy Taylor (IT: Chapter Two, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween); and Louise, played by Tamara Smart (Artemis Fowl, The Worst Witch). The Carnival of Doom's ringmaster, Mr. Tophat, is played by Rafael Casal (Blindspotting).

Season One of the Spectrum Originals hit drama L.A.'s Finest starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba has locked up over 3 million viewers to date. During the week of its release (May 13, 2019 week of broadcast finales), the Sony Pictures Television-produced series debuted as a top-rated TV drama, becoming the #1 drama among broadcast series and #2 drama overall second only to Game of Thrones in Spectrum homes, beating all broadcast and SVOD dramas. The unstoppable series continues to add viewership through its 16th week (per Nielsen live+35 ratings, LAF 35 day reach, May-September 2019). All thirteen episodes of the hit drama's first season are available to binge free and on-demand, exclusively to Spectrum's subscribers. L.A.'s Finest goes back into production for Season Two today (September 16) and will premiere in 2020.

Season One followed Syd Burnett (Gabrielle Union), and her LAPD partner Nancy McKenna (Jessica Alba), taking on the most dangerous criminals in Los Angeles while skirting the rules, and speed limits. Syd and Nancy became a force to be reckoned with - on the streets, and in each other's lives. Season Two finds Syd and McKenna forced to rely on each other more than ever before in both their personal and professional lives as they take on a new and deadly adversary threatening to unleash chaos on the streets of Los Angeles

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

Fox is last up in our check-in of returning sitcom slates. Fox is...well, certainly in a transitional state. The network is still rebuilding its image after Disney's merger with 20th Century Fox, which drastically altered the network's original content. So, needless to say, the sitcom slate has been a bit light recently, and that continues this season. Gone are the days of the mid-2010s, when you could make an argument that Fox had the best sitcom roster of all of network TV with shows like New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Last Man on Earth, and The Mindy Project, as well as short-lived but beloved series like Enlisted and The Mick.

Returning sitcoms: The only returning sitcoms that made Fox's fall schedule were its animated slate. The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers and Family Guy are all back, with the interesting caveat that Bob's later-seasons ratings spike has convinced Fox to move it to the 9pm anchor slot, while the declining Family Guy moves to the lead-out role at 9:30. Still, the block as a whole continues to provide solid and consistent numbers for Fox. The caveat, though, is that they're all 20th Century Fox properties - which, remember, is no longer run by the same company as the Fox network, but by Disney. It's possible Disney sees the value in moving them to a Disney property, so whether or not they're long for the Fox world remains to be seen. Shoved to mid-season is Fox's only returning live action comedy, Last Man Standing. Last Man did very well on Fridays last season, but well...it's also a 20th Century Fox property.

New sitcoms: There's only one new sitcom on Fox's fall schedule, and it's an animated comedy entitled Bless the Harts. The series follows a lower-class family living in the South and could make a good companion to The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers.

The bottom line: Fox is definitely in a transitional state right now, and that transition emphasizes reality series and sports and less scripted content, so aside from the solid block of animated comedies, sitcoms seem to be a second thought on the new Fox. We'll see if that continues going forward, but as of now, the days of FOX being a comedy haven are certainly long gone.

The Buchmans are back! Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt reprise their roles in the Sony Pictures Television-produced limited event series Mad About You on Wednesday, November 20 when the first six episodes drop ad-free exclusively on Spectrum's On Demand platform. The final six episodes will release on Wednesday, December 18. The series will explore the fertile ground of modern marriage through the eyes of the Buchmans as newly minted empty-nesters after dropping their unpredictable, hard-to-control daughter Mabel (Abby Quinn) off at college. The original sitcom ran for seven seasons from 1992-1999 and won multiple Emmy(R) and Golden Globe(R) awards. All 164 original episodes are now available free on-demand for Spectrum subscribers.

Mad About You is produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with Comedy Dynamics. Peter Tolan serves as showrunner, executive producer and writer. Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser executive produce alongside Brian Volk-Weiss, Michael Pelmont and Matthew Ochacher. Danny Jacobson, who co-created the show with Reiser will serve as an executive consultant. Additional cast includes: Original cast members John Pankow and Richard Kind as Ira Buchman and Dr. Mark Devanow, and Abby Quinn as Mabel Buchman.

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

The past few weeks have brought news that Friends and The Office will be leaving Netflix within the next few years. This is a big deal for many people, as Friends and The Office are reportedly the two most-streamed sitcoms in our current era. But while both of these shows deserve titles as classics in their respective decades, there's no reason your search for great comedy needs to end there. If you're someone who has spent all of your time at Dunder Mifflin or at Central Perk, consider giving these similar comedies a try:

Parks and Recreation (streaming on Netflix): Parks and Recreation is another popular mockumentary comedy similar to The Office - in fact, helmed by longtime Office writer Michael Schur and co-created by Office exec Greg Daniels, the series is in some ways a little sister to the show. It's a warm, sunny series about the workers of the Pawnee parks department that, like The Office, puts big stock in its characters and cares deeply about them under its silly exterior.

30 Rock (streaming on Hulu): 30 Rock and The Office were timeslot partners for much of each of their lives, and it makes sense why: both are fast-paced, smart and well-crafted comedies that demonstrate the single-camera, 21st century sitcom at its finest. 30 Rock, like The Office, follows a workplace that seems too ridiculous to be true much of the time. If you like the fly-on-your-seats humor of The Office, you'll love 30 Rock.

New Girl (streaming on Netflix): New Girl follows the relationship/friendship model of Friends very closely - there are definitely parallels between Jess/Nick and Ross/Rachel - and is set up, in many ways, like Friends, following a group of young professionals in the big city (except this big city is LA, not New York). However, New Girl has the humor stylings more in line with The Office or 30 Rock - the characters are all incredibly funny and silly people, who make you laugh, cringe, and cry. The humor is also fast-paced and bizarre in a way similar to The Office, so if you're looking for a show that melds the best of the two worlds, New Girl is a great choice.

Happy Endings (streaming on Hulu): You've probably heard of the other shows on this list, but you may not have heard of Happy Endings. Although the series was cut short after three seasons, its legacy has lived on via internet memes by its most ardent supporters. In many ways, Happy Endings can be thought of as a millennial Friends. The set up is very similar - six friends living near each other in Chicago - but the humor is over-the-top, ridiculous and cutting, in a way that feels very appropriate for our current era. If you love Friends but want something that's a bit more reflective of our times, check out Happy Endings.

Better Off Ted (streaming on Hulu): Another short-lived series (cut down after just 2 seasons), this show is like an even more satirical version of The Office that takes a real look at how the workplace runs. I won't give too much away, but it's the sort of comedy where you can't believe what's happening much of the time, much like the cringiest episodes of The Office. If you like that side of the show, you'll love Better Off Ted.

Winner of a coveted Peabody and a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series, Mad About You aired its final episode in May 1999. Now, 20 years later, Spectrum Originals reunites stars Paul Reiser and Emmy(R) Award winner Helen Hunt for a new limited series, debuting for the Holidays in late 2019. To set the stage for this comedic return, Spectrum will make all 164 episodes of the original series available free on-demand, exclusively for Spectrum subscribers beginning August 1. Over seven seasons of the beloved original series, Reiser and Hunt played Paul and Jamie Buchman, a married couple in New York City who mine the gentle humor in domesticity and life's everyday situations. For its limited-series return, Mad About You will explore the fertile ground of modern marriage through the eyes of the Buchmans as empty-nesters. Spectrum Originals is a premier destination for premium original series available exclusively to Spectrum video subscribers on-demand and ad-free. This free service launched with the Sony and Bruckheimer-produced drama L.A.'s Finest, starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba.

Netflix has ordered Prank Encounters, an epic hidden-camera prank show hosted by 16 year old Gaten Matarazzo (Stranger Things). Each episode of this terrifying and hilarious prank show takes two complete strangers who each think they're starting their first day at a new job. It's business as usual until their paths collide and these part-time jobs turn into full-time nightmares. Prank Encounters launches later this year and eight episodes have been ordered from executive producers Gaten Matarazzo, Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens, and Kevin Healey for Propagate; Rob Hyde (Terrence Howard's Fright Club, Troy). Anthony Gonzalez (Dance Moms, Undercover Boss) directs.

Following a break-out premiere season, Spectrum Originals has greenlit a second season for their debut series, L.A.'s Finest. The announcement was made by series stars and executive producers Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba at Opening Night of the 59th Monte Carlo Television Festival. All thirteen episodes of the Sony Pictures Television-produced hit drama will be available to binge free and on-demand, exclusively to Spectrum's subscribers when season one finales after tonight (Monday, June 17). From the universe of the Jerry Bruckheimer Bad Boys franchise, L.A.'s Finest stars and is executive produced by Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba. Season One followed Syd Burnett (Union), who was last seen in Miami taking down a drug cartel and left her complicated past to become an LAPD detective. Paired with a new partner, Nancy McKenna (Alba), a working mom with an equally complex history, Syd was forced to confront how her unapologetic lifestyle was masking a greater personal secret. Taking on the most dangerous criminals in Los Angeles while skirting the rules, and speed limits, Syd and Nancy became a force to be reckoned with - on the streets, and in each other's lives.

Charter Communications' premium content initiative, Spectrum Originals, has picked up the limited series Mad About You. The Sony Pictures Television- produced series will include original cast, as Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt will reprise their roles as Paul and Jamie Buchman. Peter Tolan is tapped to be the showrunner, and Helen Hunt will direct the first episode. Danny Jacobson, who co-created the show with Reiser will serve as an executive consultant. The series is scheduled to launch in late 2019. Mad About You is produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with Comedy Dynamics. Peter Tolan will serve as showrunner as well as executive producer and writer for the series. Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser executive produce alongside Brian Volk-Weiss, Michael Pelmont, and Matthew Ochacher for Comedy Dynamics. Danny Jacobson, who co-created the show with Reiser will serve as an executive consultant.

Debuting in 2019, Spectrum Originals is a premier destination for premium original series available exclusively to Spectrum video subscribers on-demand and ad-free. This free service will launch with the Sony and Bruckheimer-produced drama L.A.'s Finest, starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba. Additional projects include the high-octane street race drama Curfew, co-produced with Sky UK, and the Lionsgate series Manhunt. An initiative of Charter Communications, Spectrum Originals is the latest expansion of Charter's market-leading video offerings, which include regional sports networks and its award-winning Spectrum News services.

No Good Nick, a new live-action multicam dramedy series starring Melissa Joan Hart (Melissa & Joey, Clarissa Explains It All, Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Sean Astin (Stranger Things, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Goonies), Siena Agudong (Star Falls, Alex & Me), Lauren Lindsey Donzis (Liv & Maddie) and Kalama Epstein (The Fosters) will launch on Netflix April 15, 2019. No Good Nick follows 13-year-old Nick, short for Nicole, who infiltrates a family with the intention to get revenge on them for unknowingly ruining her life. As she gets to know the family, she will find compassion for them and will struggle with whether or not she can ultimately go through with the plan. No Good Nick is executive produced and created by David H. Steinberg and Keetgi Kogan, and directed by Andy Fickman (She's The Man, The Game Plan). The original series is produced by Netflix.