SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

• MeTV is having a "A Very Special Sunday" tomorrow with anniversary reunion specials (previously aired decades ago) of Happy Days, The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, and more.
• Catchy Comedy is celebrating a "new year" with a Catchy Binge of Newhart tomorrow.
• Catchy Comedy is also airing Here's Lucy starting Monday, paired with I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show every weekday.
• Antenna TV brings back One Day at a Time and Sanford & Son on Thursday, starting with a marathon of first episodes for all series on the network.
• The final episodes of Stranger Things arrive on Netflix on Wednesday.
• And of course, it is the new year, and that wouldn't be complete without Twilight Zone marathons, which you can find on both Heroes & Icons as well as Syfy later this week.

by Vincent

A few weeks ago, reports came out that NBC wants to reboot The Office. Whether the reboot would feature the original cast or if it would be a refresh (like The Wonder Years or One Day at a Time) is obviously not clear. Still, it's hard for me to see a situation where this Office reboot is a good idea. Simply put, while The Office is a modern classic, the show is both too outdated and too modern to work as a reboot this time.

First off, simply not enough time has passed since The Office ended for it to warrant a reboot. The Office hasn't even been off the air for ten years - it ended 8 years ago, in 2013. It also still remains incredibly popular, so any Office reboot would simply have too many comparisons to the original series, and fans would inevitably be unhappy at any changes made. At the same time, The Office was also very much a show of its time, and many of the inappropriate boss reactions that made the show work so well might play differently in today's cultural environment. Let's enjoy the original Office and if its creators want to make new content, come up with new, original series instead.

Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Norm Macdonald, who starred as Norm Henderson on The Norm Show (aka Norm), has died. He died on September 14 from acute leukemia at a hospital in Pasadena, California. He had been diagnosed nine years prior, though he disclosed his diagnosis to only a few close friends and family members. Mr. Macdonald was 61.

Macdonald's early television appearances included a 1990 episode of Star Search as a stand-up comedy competitor and a 1991 episode of the HBO stand-up series One Night Stand. He worked as a writer for The Dennis Miller Show in 1992. He worked as a story editor on four episodes and wrote two episodes of Roseanne in 1992 and 1993. In 1993, he guest starred on an episode of The Jackie Thomas Show.

He was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1993. He spent a total of five seasons on the show until 1998. He was the anchor of the Weekend Update segment starting in 1994 for three and a half seasons. Some of his impressions included Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole. He returned to host the October 23, 1999, show. He reappeared as Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy! on the May 16, 2009, show.

Macdonald starred as Norm Henderson on the 1999-2001 ABC sitcom The Norm Show (later shortened to Norm). Norm Henderson is a former NHL hockey player who is banned for life from the league because of gambling and tax evasion. He avoided jail time by agreeing to five years of community service as a full-time social worker. The first season aired as The Norm Show before they shortened the title to Norm in season two to avoid a legal conflict with Michael Jantze's comic strip The Norm. Macdonald also worked as a producer for the series, which aired for 3 seasons and 54 episodes. The cast included Laurie Metcalf, Ian Gomez, Amy Wilson (season 1), Bruce Jarchow (season 1), Max Wright, Faith Ford (seasons 2-3), Artie Lange (seasons 2-3) and Nikki Cox (recurring).

He next starred as Stan Hooper on the short-lived 2003 Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper. Stan Hooper is a famous newspaper columnist turned television commentator. He moves his family from their New York home to a small Wisconsin town, Waterford Falls, where he hopes to better get in touch with Middle America in an attempt to make his weekly minute-long television commentaries more appealing to a larger audience. Macdonald also worked as an executive producer for the series. They produced 13 episodes, although only 6 episodes were aired. The cast included Penelope Ann Miller, Brian Howe, Eric Lively, Reagan Dale Neis, Garret Dillahunt, Daniel Roebuck and Fred Willard.

Macdonald had a recurring role as Orville "Rusty" Heck, Mike's (Neil Flynn) irresponsible, dim-witted but well meaning brother, on ten episodes of the ABC sitcom The Middle from 2010 to 2018. Some of his other sitcom guest appearances included The Larry Sanders Show, The Drew Carey Show (2 episodes), NewsRadio, Oliver Beene, My Name Is Earl (2 episodes), Real Rob and Girlboss (3 episodes). He worked as a consultin producer on Roseanne in 2018.

He was also known for his voice work. He voiced the character of Lucky the Dog in Dr. Dolittle (1998), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006), Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief (2008) and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts (2009). He provided the voice of Pigeon on Mike Tyson Mysteries from 2014 to 2020. He voiced Glumshanks on Skylanders Academy from 2016 to 2018. Macdonald was the voice of Lieutenant Yaphit, an amorphous, gelatinous, shapeshifting engineer on The Orville from 2017 to 2019. His other voice credits included Family Guy (2 episodes) and The Fairly OddParents (2 episodes).

He hosted Sports Show with Norm Macdonald on Comedy Central in 2011. He co-hosted the podcast Norm Macdonald Live with Adam Eget for three seasons from 2013 to 2017. They worked again on Netflix's Norm Macdonald Has a Show in 2018.

Macdonald co-wrote and starred as Mitch Weaver in the 1998 film Dirty Work. Some of his other film credits included Billy Madison (1995), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Man on the Moon (1999) and Screwed (2000). He made cameos in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), The Animal (2001), Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), Funny People (2009), Grown Ups (2010), Jack & Jill (2011) and The Ridiculous Six (2015).

Mr. Macdonald was a true comedy genius. He was a master with his quick wit and deadpan delivery. His late night talk show appearances were always funny. He was very good on The Norm Show/Norm. The underrated sitcom should be re-released on DVD. We thank him for the many laughs and entertainment he brought us during his career. He will be greatly missed.

Share your memories on our The Norm Show/Norm message board. View photos in our galleries.

HBO Max has secured exclusive U.S. SVOD streaming rights to all nine seasons of the acclaimed family comedy The Middle, with a total of 215 episodes available to stream now. Two-time Emmy® winner Patricia Heaton stars in this warm and witty single-camera comedy about raising a family and lowering your expectations. Middle-aged, middle class, and living in the middle of the country in Orson, Indiana, Frankie Heck (Heaton) is a harried wife and mother of three who uses her wry wit and sense of humor to get her family through each day intact. Frankie works as a dental assistant, and her unflappable husband Mike is manager at the local quarry and her sardonic partner in the daily grind that is raising their average — yes, most definitely average — family. Between juggling shifts and picking up fast food to be eaten in front of the TV, Frankie and Mike raise their kids — popular slacker Axl; optimistic, awkward Sue; odd, eccentric Brick — with love, humor and solid midwestern pragmatism. Year after year, their struggles continue, but through all the madness shines a loving family — and together, the Hecks put The Middle on the map.

Debuting in 2009 on ABC, the series won the esteemed HUMANITAS Prize in 2016 and was also nominated for multiple Critics Choice Awards throughout its run.

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone will star in God's Favorite Idiot, a Netflix comedy series about Clark Thompson (Falcone), a mid-level tech support employee who finds love with co-worker Amily Luck (McCarthy) at exactly the same time he becomes the unwitting messenger of God. The series is created by Falcone, who will also EP alongside McCarthy. Netflix has ordered 16 episodes of this comedy, with a premiere date to be announced. More info to certainly come, such as additional casting and if this series is a single-camera comedy or multi-camera comedy. Stay tuned.

As one of America's favorite families, The Hecks, prepares to say goodbye tonight (May 22), Freeform celebrates the ABC comedy series The Middle with a mini-marathon of the casts' favorite episodes. Freeform's The Middle mini-marathon will air today (Tuesday, May 22) from 1:00 - 6:00 p.m. EDT/PDT, to get fans ready for the one-hour series finale airing later tonight from 8:30-9:30 p.m. EDT/PDT on ABC. For those who don't want to say farewell, fans of the show can relive The Hecks' hilarious ups and downs weekdays Mon-Fri on Freeform.

The Middle Cast Favorite Mini-Marathon Schedule is as follows:
1:00 - 1:30 p.m. - Episode 1001, "Pilot," picked by Patricia Heaton
1:30 - 2:00 p.m. - Episode 1003, "The Block Party," picked by Atticus Shaffer
2:00 - 2:30 p.m. - Episode 1019, "TV or Not TV," picked by Atticus Shaffer
2:30 - 3:00 p.m. - Episode 2006, "Foreign Exchange," picked by Patricia Heaton
3:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Episode 3013, "The Map," picked by Neil Finn
3:30 - 4:00 p.m. - Episode 4011, "Life Skills," picked by Charlie McDermott
4:00 - 4:30 p.m. - Episode 4015, "Valentine's Day IV," picked by Charlie McDermott
4:30 - 5:00 p.m. - Episode 5011, "War of the Hecks," picked by Eden Sher
5:00 - 5:30 p.m. - Episode 6021, "Two of a Kind," picked by Neil Finn
5:30 - 6:00 p.m. - Episode 8022, "The Final Final," picked by Eden Sher

Two-time Emmy(R) winner Patricia Heaton stars in this warm and witty single-camera comedy about raising a family and lowering your expectations. Middle-aged, middle class and living in the middle of the country in Orson, Indiana, Frankie Heck is a harried wife and mother of three who uses her wry wit and sense of humor to get her family through each day intact. Frankie works as a dental assistant, and her unflappable husband, Mike, is a manager at the local quarry and her sardonic partner in the daily grind that is raising their average - yes, most definitely average - family. The Middle stars Patricia Heaton as Frankie, Neil Flynn as Mike, Charlie McDermott as Axl, Eden Sher as Sue and Atticus Shaffer as Brick. The Middle was created and is executive produced by Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline. The series is from Warner Bros. Television.

For the honor of Grayskull! DreamWorks Animation Television has revealed the cast of the upcoming Netflix original series DreamWorks She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, set to be released globally in 2018. Aimee Carrero (Young & Hungry, Elena of Avalor) stars as Adora/She-Ra; Karen Fukuhara (Suicide Squad) as Glimmer; AJ Michalka (The Goldbergs, Steven Universe) as Catra, Marcus Scribner (black-ish) as Bow; Reshma Shetty (Royal Pains) as Angella; Lorraine Toussaint (Orange is the New Black) as Shadow Weaver; Keston John (The Good Place) as Hordak; Lauren Ash (Superstore) as Scorpia; Christine Woods (Hello Ladies) as Entrapta; Genesis Rodriguez (Time After Time) as Perfuma; Jordan Fisher (Grease Live!) as Seahawk; Vella Lovell (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) as Mermista; Merit Leighton (Alexa & Katie) as Frosta; Sandra Oh (Killing Eve, Grey's Anatomy) as Castaspella; and Krystal Joy Brown (Motown: The Musical) as Netossa.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is the story of an orphan named Adora (Carrero), who leaves behind her former life in the evil Horde when she discovers a magic sword that transforms her into the mythical warrior princess She-Ra. Along the way, she finds a new family in the Rebellion as she unites a group of magical princesses in the ultimate fight against evil. From Eisner Award-winning author and executive producer Noelle Stevenson (Lumberjanes, Nimona) and executive producer Chuck Austen (Dawn of the Croods, Steven Universe) comes a modern take on the '80s girl power icon for a new generation of young fans.

Looks like Last Man Standing is returning to Hallmark next week. We were mistaken about their rights expiring and moving to WGN America, as this now means the sitcom will be airing on local syndication, Freeform, CMT, Hallmark Channel and WGN America come April 30. Back to Hallmark, effective Monday, April 9, the 2-10pm slots will see schedule changes. Full House is moving to 2-6pm, while Last Man Standing will air 6-9pm, then an extra hour of The Middle is added from 9-10pm to expand its airings to 9-11pm. Everything else will remain as it is now, so look for The Golden Girls, Frasier, Cheers and I Love Lucy to remain in their current time periods.

Netflix, the world's leading internet entertainment service, announced that its first Netflix Original Korean variety show Busted! I Know Who You Are will launch on May 4, available exclusively to Netflix members globally. Busted! is a new type of K-variety where 7 main cast members position themselves as sloppy detectives that set out to solve a fun-filled mystery in each of the episodes. The show features an all-star K-variety cast including Yoo Jae-suk, Lee Kwang-soo, and Kim Jong-min. Ahn Jae-wook and Park Min-young took a step out of their acting roles and made their debut in the K-variety scene, while K-pop stars Sehun of Exo and Sejeong of Gugudan took the challenge of bringing the vibrant energy into the group of detectives. The show is also filled with special appearances from guest stars in each of the episodes to help complete the story.

The 10-episode season will be released 2 episodes per week starting on May 4. For the new unscripted show, Netflix teamed up with producers Jang Hyuk-jae, Cho Hyo-jin, and Kim Ju-hyung of Company SangSang, who has had a successful track record in the K-variety scene. Jang, Cho and Kim have took part in producing popular shows including Running Man and X-Man in Korea. Busted! will be available on Netflix globally in over 190 countries on May 4, 2018.

The ABC Television Network has announced midseason premiere dates for the new dramas The Crossing, Deception, For The People and the Grey's Anatomy spinoff, as well as new comedies Alex, Inc. and Splitting Up Together. Additionally, American Idol will air Sundays and Mondays, beginning March 11. Dates have also been set for the premiere of Dancing with the Stars All-Athletes Edition and the return of Quantico. The Grey's Anatomy spinoff joins the TGIT lineup with a special two-hour premiere Thursday, March 22 from 9:00-11:00 p.m. EDT, before assuming its regular timeslot Thursday, March 29 at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The final four episodes of Scandal will air at 10 p.m., Thursdays, beginning March 29. The series finale airs April 19.

As previously announced, Roseanne kicks off with a special one-hour premiere on Tuesday, March 27 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT. Its regular timeslot will be the 8:00 p.m. half-hour, Tuesdays, beginning April 3, followed by The Middle at its new time of 8:30 p.m. EDT. The season finale episodes of Fresh Off the Boat and Speechless will air March 20 and March 21, respectively. Full schedule:

SUNDAY, MARCH 11
8:00-10:00 p.m. American Idol
10:00-11:00 p.m. Deception

MONDAY, MARCH 12
8:00-10:00 p.m. American Idol

TUESDAY, MARCH 13
10:00-11:00 p.m. For The People

THURSDAY, MARCH 22
9:00-11:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy spinoff (two-hour premiere)

TUESDAY, MARCH 27
8:00-9:00 p.m. Roseanne (one-hour premiere)
9:30-10:00 p.m. Splitting Up Together

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28
8:30-9:00 p.m. Alex, Inc.

THURSDAY, MARCH 29
9:00-10:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy spinoff (time-period premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. Scandal (new time)

MONDAY, APRIL 2
10:00-11:00 p.m. The Crossing

TUESDAY, APRIL 3
8:00-8:30 p.m. Roseanne (time-period premiere)
8:30-9:00 p.m. The Middle (new time)

THURSDAY, APRIL 26
10:00-11:00 p.m. Quantico (Season 3 premiere)

MONDAY, APRIL 30
8:00-10:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars All-Athletes Edition

Elsewhere at ABC TCA, Chris Harrison hosts this highly anticipated, four-episode series, complete with the usual dose of tears, drama, romance and laughter, as The Bachelor Winter Games, a global celebration of unity and love, premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 13 from 8:00-10:01 p.m. EST, on The ABC Television Network, streaming and on demand. The series will continue on Thursday, February 15; Tuesday, February 20, and will have its finale on Thursday, February 22. All episodes will air 8:00-10:01 p.m. EST. ABC has announced that it won't be gonging its popular summer series The Gong Show and has renewed it for a second season. Celebrated film and television actor/comedian Mike Myers has finally confirmed the rumor that he is, indeed, the show's host - British comedic legend Tommy Maitland.

This Goldbergs-inspired special event picks up where the Goldberg family leaves off at William Penn Academy in the 1990s as former teacher and now Head of School John Glascott leads a faculty of teachers with wildly different views on how to mentor students and recruits his tough-as-nails-sister Lucy to join his staff and enroll her teenage daughters Felicia and Gigi as new students. Lucy is desperate to ensure they avoid the social pitfalls of high school and finds herself torn between Glascott's nurturing and communicative approach to parenting and Coach Mellor's tough-guy belief that physical competition brings out the best in students. Even Beverly Goldberg comes to visit the school's staff despite all her kids having already graduated and can't help but meddle one last time, on The Goldbergs: 1990-Something, Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 8:00 p.m. EST), on The ABC Television Network, streaming and on demand. The episode stars Tim Meadows as John Glascott, Bryan Callen as Coach Rick Mellor, Nia Long as Lucy Somers, Rachel Crow as Felicia and Summer Parker as Gigi. Guest starring is Wendi McLendon-Covey as Beverly Goldberg, Ana Gasteyer as Miss Cinoman, Missi Pyle as Madame Charbenaux, Kevin Heffernan as Doc, Justin Tinucci as Meathead, William McMullen as Scrawny Kid, Stephen Tobolowsky as Principal Ball, Irene Roseen as Mrs. Cheevers, Michael Bunin as Cranky Customer, Miles Thomas Platt as Frosh Geek, Sean Marquette as Johnny Atkins and Octavia Spencer as voice-over of Felicia.

Comedy Central has acquired the rights to The Office beginning this Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 15, 2018. The comedy will get a launch marathon from 9am-11pm that day. The #1 brand in comedy has acquired all nine seasons of the instant-classic comedy series that ran for nine seasons on NBC from 2005 to 2013. Select episodes will be available to stream on cc.com and the CC App. The Office airs Monday–Thursday from 5p–7p and 12a–1:30a, Fridays from 3p–6p and in Late Night (times vary), Saturdays in Late Night (times vary), and Sundays from 8a–4p and Late Night (times vary). The Office joins the line-up filled with other sitcoms such as Scrubs, That '70s Show and Key & Peele. Reruns of The Office were previously on TBS.

From Deedle-Dee Productions, Reveille and Universal Television, The Office stars Steve Carell as Michael Scott, Ed Helms as Andy Bernard, John Krasinski as Jim Halpert, Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly, BJ Novak as Ryan Howard, Mindy Kaling as Kelly Kapoor, Ellie Kemper as Erin Hannon and Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin, among others. The series presents a hilarious documentary-style look at the humorous, and sometimes poignant, foolishness that plagues the 9-to-5 world. Based on the award-winning BBC hit, The Office is a fly-on-the-wall "docu-reality" parody of modern American office life that delves into the lives of the workers at Dunder Mifflin, a paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Roseanne, the timeless sitcom that broke new ground and dominated ratings in its original run, will return to ABC with all-new episodes, in a special hour-long premiere, Tuesday, March 27 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT. Roseanne will air in its regular time slot, 8:00-8:30 p.m., beginning Tuesday, April 3, followed by the final episodes of The Middle, which will move to 8:30 p.m. Fresh off the Boat will wrap-up its fourth season in late March (if not, it could move to 9:30pm). Production on the highly anticipated revival's nine episodes was slated to wrap Friday in Studio City, California.

Featuring the complete original cast, new series regulars and notable returning guest stars, the revival will explore life, death and everything in between through the relatable, hilarious and brutally honest lens of the Conner household. With the inimitable Roseanne at its epicenter, fresh stories that tackle today's issues and even more laughs from a brilliant cast and crew that haven't missed a beat, audiences old and new will celebrate the homecoming of America's favorite working-class family.

The series stars Roseanne Barr as Roseanne Conner, John Goodman as Dan Conner, Laurie Metcalf as Jackie Harris, Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner-Healy, Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner, Michael Fishman as D.J. Conner, Emma Kenney as Harris Conner-Healy, Ames McNamara as Mark Conner-Healy and Jayden Rey as Mary Conner. Sarah Chalke, who played the character Becky in later seasons, will also appear in another role. Fan-favorite guest stars from Roseanne will reprise their roles in the revival, including Estelle Parsons as Beverly Harris, Sandra Bernhard as Nancy Bartlett, Natalie West as Crystal Anderson, James Pickens, Jr. as Chuck Mitchell and Adilah Barnes as Anne Marie Mitchell.

You want Full House on The Hallmark Channel? You got it dude! Yes, the '80s/90s comedy is coming to Hallmark Channel starting New Year's Day. Following the coverage of The 129th Rose Parade, Hallmark Channel will launch Full House with a New Year's Day marathon from 4pm-6am ET. The sitcom will join the regular schedule beginning Tuesday, Jan. 2 airing Mon-Thurs from 6-9pm, Fridays from 10-11pm, and weekend mornings from 7-9am. The weekday schedule will still feature I Love Lucy from 5-8am, The Golden Girls from 8am-10am, Home & Family from 10am-2pm (encore then new), movies from 2-6pm into Full House from 6-9pm, The Middle from 9-11pm, The Golden Girls from 11pm-1am, Frasier from 1-4am and Cheers from 4-5am. Full House currently airs on cable on Nick at Nite every night from 8-10pm. Will Hallmark's airings affect Nick at Nite? Stay tuned. In Full House, a widowed father Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) asks his friend Joey and his brother-in-law Jesse for their help in raising his three willful daughters.

CBS announced winter 2018 scheduling moves, including the debut of Big Brother's celebrity edition, the series premieres of new comedy Living Biblically and drama Instinct , and the return of The Amazing Race and Survivor. The Network will launch its first celebrity edition of reality hit Big Brother on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 8:00PM, ET/PT. As previously announced, the special winter edition will feature multiple episodes per week during a concentrated run, and include the series' signature Head of Household and Power of Veto competitions and live evictions. Julie Chen will return to host.

Also in February, CBS will premiere the new comedy Living Biblically (f.k.a. By the Book) on Monday, Feb. 26 at 9:30 PM, ET/PT after 9JKL completes its season order. Living Biblically stars Jay R. Ferguson as Chip Curry, a modern-day man at a crossroads in his life who decides to live strictly in accordance with the Bible. As he begins his sincere spiritual journey toward a more moral life with the help of his wife and friends, Chip wonders if he'll be able to take a page - or every page - out of the Good Book, and if the effect will be of Biblical proportions. Lindsey Kraft, Ian Gomez, David Krumholtz, Tony Rock and Camryn Manheim also star. Instinct will premiere Sunday, March 11 at 8:00 PM, ET/PT, two weeks after the season finale of Big Brother. The new drama stars Alan Cumming as Dr. Dylan Reinhart, a gifted author, university professor and former CIA operative who is lured back to his old life by NYPD Detective Lizzie Needham (Bojana Novakovic) to help her stop a serial killer who is using Dylan's first book as a tutorial. Daniel Ings, Naveen Andrews and Sharon Leal also star.

Also, in the second half of the year, the 30th season of the multi-Emmy Award-winning reality series The Amazing Race premieres Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 8:00PM, ET/PT, with two-hour episodes running on Wednesday Jan. 24 (8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT), and Wednesday Feb. 7, Feb. 14 and Feb. 21 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT). The next installment of the Emmy Award-winning Survivor taking place in Fiji debuts with a special two-hour episode on Wednesday, Feb. 28 from 8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT, after The Amazing Race concludes. It moves to its regular Wednesday 8:00PM, ET/PT hour on March 7. The premieres of Code Black, Elementary and Undercover Boss will be announced at a later date.

Cable's biggest programming event of the year is now even bigger. Beginning December 1, Freeform's beloved '25 Days of Christmas' will expand across all Disney|ABC Television Group networks to create the ultimate fan-favorite holiday event. ABC, Freeform, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior will be airing holiday-themed programming and entertainment for the whole family throughout December, leading up to Christmas Day. Viewers can ring in the season with festive specials, classic holiday movies and returning favorites. Freeform will continue to be the home of all your favorite Christmas films with a robust library of holiday favorites including Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Santa Clause, The Polar Express and many more. The network will also debut its first original Christmas movie, Angry Angel, starring Brenda Song and Jason Biggs. Additionally, Freeform will feature The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration, (originally airing on ABC) and premiere Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic, a one-hour holiday special giving viewers an inside look at how holiday magic is created throughout Disney Destinations. Viewers will go behind the scenes as a team of dedicated Disney cast members and Santa's helpers transform Disney theme parks and resorts into a winter wonderland.

ABC will debut new seasons of The Great Christmas Light Fight, a competition series where families transform their homes into festive wonderlands judged by lifestyle expert Carter Oosterhouse and interior designer Taniya Nayak; and The Great American Baking Show, hosted by New York Times best-selling cookbook author Ayesha Curry and former NFL star Anthony "Spice" Adams. ABC is also home to original, holiday-themed episodes of comedies American Housewife, black-ish, Fresh Off the Boat, The Mayor, The Middle and Speechless, plus returning specials Shrek the Halls, The Toy Story That Time Forgot, Disney Prep and Landing, Disney Prep and Landing 2: Naughty vs. Nice, A Charlie Brown Christmas and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown! Weekdays on The Chew, Emmy(R) Award-winning co-hosts Mario Batali, Michael Symon, Clinton Kelly and Carla Hall will deliver a festive daily dose of holiday cheer. This year, viewers will once again experience the holiday magic at Disney Parks with star-studded performances during the Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration.

Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior and Radio Disney will add to the joy with special holiday-themed programming including episodes of hit series Stuck in the Middle, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Mickey and the Roadster Racers and Sofia the First. Disney Channel, in partnership with Disney Parks, will present a holiday telecast, Disney Parks Presents a Disney Channel Holiday Celebration, featuring performances by fan-favorite Disney Channel stars; and Disney Junior will debut The Lion Guard: Timon and Pumbaa's Christmas.

The all new Winsanity, hosted by actor Donald Faison (Scrubs), will return for a second season airing weeknights at 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. CT) starting Monday, November 27. Winsanity, which debuted in June 2016, was watched by nearly 13.5 million viewers during its initial 40-episode run. Changes to the show in season two include a new set, as well as a new format, with two contestants (instead of one) competing against each other for the $10,000 prize. However, the show continues to offer the opportunity for prizes to be won not only by the contestants but also by the studio audience.

In each half hour episode, the two contestants each represents half of the audience, who stand to share in the prize money their contestant wins. The contestants face off against each other, attempting to rank compelling and surprising facts in numerical order (i.e.: Which is greater: the number of marriages each year in the US, or the number of Pope Francis' Twitter followers?). Each correctly stacked fact earns money towards a cash jackpot. In the final round, the contestant with the largest bank will play a final game of timed touch screen stacking without help from the audience. If they correctly put five facts in order, the contestant goes home with $10,000 and their audience section will share in an additional $10,000. If they fail, the contestant and audience section win the amount previously banked.

by Vincent

This week I'll be talking about a show that just started its final season but remains worthy of your attention: The Middle. The Middle is the quiet bedrock of ABC's comedy line-up, an unassuming little show about how hard it can be to be a lower middle class family in contemporary American society. The Middle premiered during the same fall as Modern Family, so it's always unfortunately been a little "in the shadow" of that series. But over its nine seasons, The Middle has distinguished itself as an often hilarious, always painfully real, and consistently great family sitcom that has helped shape ABC's solid family comedy line-up.

The Middle centers around the Heck family, a working class family in the fictional town of Orson, Indiana. It's anchored by an excellent performance from parents Neil Flynn and Patricia Heaton, but like many other ABC sitcoms, it also stars a surprisingly excellent cast of child actors - though at this point they aren't really "children" anymore. While many sitcoms begin running out of ideas as their younger cast members begin to grow older, The Middle has consistently found new ways to tell stories about its young adult cast members that still tie into the series' "down on their luck yet still optimistic" overall vibe. The Middle will be ending its run on ABC this year, and in a way, it's a shame, because it's the type of show I could see running for years and never growing old. It's not afraid to grow and change with its characters, and it's gotten to a point where I look forward to just hanging out with the Heck family. Plus, the series continues to experiment and toy with its formula - last year the show did an extended serialized arc centered around oldest son Axl's feud with his mom, and mostly nailed it.

It's too bad that The Middle hasn't always gotten the recognition it deserves, but luckily the show has one more full season for you to catch up if you've slept on the show, and will undoubtedly live on in syndication for years, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you have plenty of time. But you should do it soon!

On Monday, October 16, 2017, the entire Futurama library - including all four films - will make their long-awaited streaming return, only on Hulu. Matt Groening, the multiple Emmy(R) Award-winning creator and executive producer of The Simpsons, has hatched another outrageous look at the world, Futurama. But we're not in Springfield anymore - we're in New York, a thousand years from now, and it's like no future you ever imagined! FRY (voiced by Billy West), a young Everyman, finds himself accidentally transported 1,000 years in the future. Just like right now, life in the future is a complex mix of the wonderful and horrible, where things are still laughable no matter how wild and crazy they get. And against a backdrop of pesky aliens, exasperating robots and malfunctioning gadgets, people still struggle with the same daily anxieties of life and love... and, of course, traffic is still a nightmare!

Having literally escaped his unfulfilled past, Fry uses his newfound sense of freedom to help his friends in the future escape their regimented lives. His companions include LEELA (voiced by Katey Sagal), a beautiful female alien who can kick some serious butt, and BENDER (voiced by John DiMaggio), a hopelessly neurotic assembly line robot. Working together, Fry and his colleagues buck the system in pursuit of happiness. And with each passing day, the future becomes Fry's home. With his unique satirical humor and distinctive style, Matt Groening has created another unconventional but lovable family. Futurama explores all the joys and disappointments of human existence, as well as some problems we don't have to worry about yet, such as what to do when the cell phone implanted in your thumb dials the wrong number. And while the show has a lot to say about today, more than anything Futurama is a celebration of the future at its wildest.