SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

TV One gears up for the holiday season with a programming slate full of original movies, specials and marathons. Kicking off the festive season is a back-to-back marathon of the popular sitcom, Family Matters, airing on Thursday, November 28, Thanksgiving Day from 6 a.m. ET through Saturday, November 30 until 6 a.m. ET. Throughout the "Turkel" marathon, TV One will commemorate the 30th anniversary of Family Matters by airing a cast reunion. This TV One original content will replay during the Family Matters marathon airing on Christmas Eve and can be found at www.tvone.tv.

Just in time for Christmas, TV One will air a marathon of fan-favorite, Christmas-themed sitcom specials from The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, Good Times, What's Happening, What's Happening Now, Family Matters, Living Single, Girlfriends, Eve and All of Us. The marathon will begin on Sunday, December 22 at 6 a.m. ET until Monday, December 23 at 3 a.m. ET. The love and laughter continues throughout the day on Christmas Eve with a back-to-back marathon of Family Matters, which airs Tuesday, December 24 starting at 6 a.m. ET until Wednesday, December 25 6 a.m. ET. The holiday slate will wrap with a round-up of your favorite TV One holiday films on Christmas Day starting Wednesday, December 25 at 6 a.m. through Thursday, December 26 at 2 a.m. ET.

Disney Channel has ordered a third season of its popular live-action comedy Sydney to the Max ahead of its season two premiere, scheduled for 2020. The endearing daughter/father comedy, set in the present day with flashbacks to the 1990s, follows middle schooler Sydney Reynolds who lives with her single dad, Max, and her unconventional grandmother, Judy. As Sydney navigates becoming a teenager alongside her bestie Olive, Max's flashbacks of his childhood with his best friend Leo parallel her adventures, illustrating how life's "growing pains" never change. The series stars Ruth Righi, Ian Reed Kesler, Caroline Rhea, Jackson Dollinger, Ava Kolker and Christian J. Simon. Created and executive produced by Mark Reisman (Frasier, Wings, The Exes), the show is currently in production on season two.

Summertime means yard work. But why toil outside? Stay in and watch two city folk work the soil. As of yesterday (May 27), Green Acres has now moved to a new time, five days a week - weeknights at 9:30PM replacing WKRP in Cincinnati. That is not the only fresh crop arriving in The Summer of Me. Two rarely aired pieces of television history are coming to MeTV this coming weekend -- the 1985 iteration of The Twilight Zone (Saturdays at 12:30am and Sundays 12am, replacing the original Twilight Zone) and the 90-minutes episodes of Wagon Train every weekday at 3:30pm (essentially replacing an airing of The Rifleman). Then, on Saturdays, MeTV presents The Three Stooges at 6PM | 5C (replacing The Wild, Wild West), with two thematically tied shorts presented in full, unedited and without commercial interruption.

More details on Stooges: On Saturday, June 1, legendary comedy troupe and masters of mirth The Three Stooges will join MeTV's lineup of memorable entertainment television. Over 13 weeks, these specially selected and themed broadcasts will present full-length, unedited shorts without commercial interruption, packaged into an hour-long presentation that highlights the many "best of" moments from the beloved comedians. Airing Saturdays at 6PM | 5C, weekly themes include "Crème de la Curly," "Just Say Moe," "Pie...I Oughta!" and "Shemp Cocktail," featuring the classic combo of the Stooge trio -- laidback Larry, hotheaded Moe, man-child Curly, along with dimwitted Shemp.

Disney Channel has picked up a second season of the popular live-action daughter/father comedy Sydney to the Max, starring 13-year-old actress/musical artist Ruth Righi in the title role of Sydney. Geared for kids ages 6-14 and families, the series is set in the present day with flashbacks to the 1990s and follows outgoing middle schooler Sydney Reynolds, who lives with her single dad Max (Ian Reed Kesler, Suits), in the house he grew up in, along with her progressive grandmother Judy (Caroline Rhea, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Disney's Phineas and Ferb). As Sydney's preteen pursuits begin to expand, Max's flashbacks of his childhood help him gain a better perspective of his daughter's experiences. Created and executive produced by Mark Reisman (Frasier, Wings, The Exes), production on season two will commence later this summer.

New episodes from season one will return on Tuesday, June 18 from 8:00-8:30 p.m. EDT on Disney Channel and in the DisneyNOW app. Also starring are Jackson Dollinger as young Max, Ava Kolker as Sydney's best friend Olive, and Christian J. Simon as young Max's best friend Leo.

Comcast Corporation announced it has selected two new African American majority owned independent networks to be broadly distributed on Comcast Cable systems beginning in January 2019. After a thorough evaluation of dozens of proposals, Comcast selected AFRO and CLEO TV, both of which will provide quality entertainment that highlights and features TV and movie content about African American and black communities. AFRO, a channel from Afrotainment, is a 24-hour polycultural black network mainly broadcasting top-rated Nollywood and black movies, dramas, sitcoms, music, talk, and late night comedy shows. CLEO TV is a lifestyle and entertainment network targeting Millennial and Gen X women of color. Derived from the name Cleopatra, one of the most powerful, trendsetting, rule-breaking and iconic women in history, CLEO TV will offer quality content that defies negative and cultural stereotypes of today’s modern women. The network promises a unique and diverse offering of short-form and long-form content including travel, home design, cooking, talk shows, movies, docu-series, sitcoms and much more.

AFRO and CLEO TV will join over 100 diverse networks available across Xfinity platforms, which offered over 14,000 hours of diverse on demand and online programming in 2017. In 2011, as part of Comcast’s commitments made in connection with the NBCUniversal transaction, Comcast agreed to launch 10 new independently owned and operated networks by 2019, including eight that are minority-owned or -operated. Six minority-owned networks have already launched, including BabyFirst Americas (2012), El Rey (2013), Kids Central (2017), and Primo TV (2017) which are primarily Hispanic American owned and operated; and ASPiRE (2012) and REVOLT (2013) which are majority African American owned. AFRO and CLEO TV will be the next two networks to launch as part of this commitment.

Sydney to the Max, a sitcom introducing 13-year-old actress/musical artist Ruth Righi (Broadway's School of Rock The Musical) in her first leading role, is set to premiere Friday, Jan. 25 at 8:300 p.m. EST/PST, on Disney Channel and DisneyNOW. Created by Mark Reisman (Frasier, Wings, The Exes), the series is geared for kids ages 6-14 and families. It also stars Ian Reed Kesler (Suits), Caroline Rhea (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Phineas and Ferb), Jackson Dollinger (Puppy Dog Pals), Ava Kolker (Girl Meets World) and Christian J. Simon (The Amazing World of Gumball).

Set in the present day with flashbacks to the 1990s, the comedy revolves around outgoing middle schooler Sydney Reynolds who lives with her single dad Max in the house he grew up in, along with her progressive grandmother Judy - three generations under one roof. As Sydney's preteen pursuits begin to expand with unexpected and funny twists, Max tries to get a better sense of the guidance, perspective and support she needs. Grandma, full of both parental wisdom and wisecracks, has a razor-sharp memory that proves Max's own teenage antics parallel Sydney's. Flashback scenes to a young Max and his best friend Leo juxtapose the funny predicaments invented by Sydney and her vivacious friend Olive. Caroline Rhea plays Judy in both eras. Ian Reed Kesler is adult Max, Jackson Dollinger is young Max, Ava Kolker is Olive and Christian J. Simon is Leo.

NBC is adding five episodes to its original 13-episode order for the award-winning comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, bringing the total to 18 episodes for the 2018-19 season. The sixth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will premiere on NBC in midseason. NBC acquired Brooklyn Nine-Nine in May during the Upfront. The comedy stars Andy Samberg as Det. Jake Peralta; Andre Braugher as Capt. Ray Holt; Terry Crews as Sgt. Terry Jeffords; Melissa Fumero as Det. Amy Santiago; Joe Lo Truglio as Det. Charles Boyle; Chelsea Peretti as Gina Linetti; Stephanie Beatriz as Det. Rosa Diaz; Dirk Blocker as Det. Hitchcock; Joel McKinnon Miller as Det. Scully Executive producers are Michael Schur, Dan Goor, David Miner and Luke Del Tredici.

Production has begun on Sydney to the Max, a daughter/father comedy series created by Emmy(R) Award-nominated writer, showrunner and executive producer Mark Reisman (Frasier, The Exes, Wings). The multi-camera series is scheduled to premiere in early 2019 on Disney Channel. A heartwarming and sentimental comedy, Sydney to the Max centers around the experiences of a sociable, goodhearted middle schooler named Sydney Reynolds and her protective, doting - and sometimes clueless! - single dad Max as they navigate the challenges of growing up. Set during two timeframes, decades apart, flashback scenes to young Max and his best friend Leo in the 1990s parallel many of the funny predicaments Sydney and her BFF Olive get themselves into. VHS camcorders, bleached skater hair and other '90s-defining "relics" aside, Sydney and Max come to realize, aided by Sydney's kicky grandmother Judy, who's well-versed in Max's childhood antics, that they have more in common than either realizes.

Thirteen-year-old actress Ruth Righi (School of Rock) leads the cast as title character Sydney. Adult Max is played by Ian Reed Kesler (Suits, Kickin' It), while young Max is played by newcomer Jackson Dollinger (Puppy Dog Pals). Caroline Rhea (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Phineas and Ferb) is Ruth's grandma Judy, seen in both decades. Ruth's best friend Olive is played by Ava Kolker (Girl Meets World), while young Max's best friend Leo is played by Christian J. Simon (The Amazing World of Gumball).