SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Tracy Morgan is making his much-anticipated return to stand-up with Staying Alive, an all-new comedy special exclusively for Netflix, the world's leading Internet TV network. The stand-up special, shot before a packed house at New Jersey's landmark Count Basie Theatre, will launch globally on Netflix Tuesday, May 16, 2017. Tracy Morgan's Staying Alive finds the comedy icon exploring his fresh take on life, career and mortality in the wake of surviving a devastating near-fatal traffic collision in 2014. From coping with a traumatic brain injury and learning to walk again to "falling for" his physical therapist and deciding that maybe getting older isn't such a bad thing, Morgan is back in true form and tackles the most trying time of his life with grace, strength and the jaw-droppingly hilarious point of view fans have grown to love.

CBS has pulled new series Doubt off of its schedule effective immediately. Instead, the second season of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders will premiere Wednesday, March 8 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT, joining the two-hour spring premiere of Survivor, on the CBS Television Network. Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders will replace Doubt in the time period, and the series was awaiting a premiere date, but now will premiere earlier than planned. A rebroadcast of Bull will be broadcast this Wednesday, March 1 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT. Here is a recap:

Wednesday, March 1
8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT Hunted (Season Finale)
9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT Criminal Minds (New)
10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT Bull (R)

Wednesday, March 8
8:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT Survivor (34th Season Premiere)
10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2nd Season Premiere)

Wednesday, Effective March 15
8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT Survivor
9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT Criminal Minds
10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders

TBS's stable of original comedies continues to grow with the straight-to-series pick-up of a new series from comedy superstar and multiple Emmy® nominee Tracy Morgan (30 Rock). The untitled series is being created and executive-produced by Jordan Peele (Key & Peele) and John Carcieri (Vice Principals). Morgan will also serve as executive producer, along with Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men) and Joel Zadak of Principato Young (Key & Peele). The series is produced by Studio T, TBS & TNT's in-house production studio. After being released on good behavior from a 15-year prison stint, Tracy is shocked to see just how much the world has changed in his absence. Returning to his newly gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood, Tracy discovers that his former girlfriend has married an affable, successful white man, who is helping raise his twin sons he never knew existed. Wanting nothing more than to connect with his kids, but having neither the money to support them nor himself, Tracy falls back on the skills he learned in prison to make ends meet while treading on unfamiliar territory. TBS has ordered 10 episodes of this single-camera comedy series, which looks to capture the rawness of Tracy's stand up persona while also commenting on race relations, the Gen X/Millennial gap and the American penal system.

This announcements mark the latest phase in TBS's programming and brand evolution, which began in January with the premiere of Angie Tribeca and continued with the debuts of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee in February, The Detour in April and Wrecked in June. All four shows are certified hits, ranking among cable's Top 10 new comedies of 2016. They will soon be joined by the other-worldly comedy People of Earth, starring Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show) and premiering on Halloween, and Search Party, a dark comedy starring Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) and premiering Nov. 21. In 2017, The Guest Book, a new comedy from Greg Garcia (The Millers), will make its debut.

CBS has given full season orders to three new series, including the #1 and #2 new series in total viewers, drama Bull and sitcom Kevin Can Wait, and Friday's new series, MacGyver. The three shows, along with the Network's returning hit programs, have helped CBS win the first three weeks of the season for the eighth consecutive year. In addition, all three have improved their time period, compared to a year ago. Bull stars Michael Weatherly, Freddy Rodriguez, Geneva Carr, Jaime Lee Kirschner, Annabelle Attanasio and Chris Jackson. Kevin Can Wait stars Kevin James, Erinn Hayes, Taylor Spreitler, Mary-Charles Jones, James DiGiacomo, Ryan Cartwright, Lenny Venito, Gary Valentine and Leonard Earl Howze. On Oct. 24, Kevin Can Wait moves to its new regular time period on Mondays at 8:00PM ET/PT, leading into the series premiere of Man with a Plan at 8:30PM ET/PT. MacGyver stars Lucas Till, George Eads, Sandrine Holt, Justin Hires and Tristan Mays.

All month long TV One will feature music-centric episodes of its sitcoms on Tuesday nights in primetime (with an immediate encore following). The block will air Tuesdays from 8pm-11pm and encore from 11pm-2am. The music-centic episodes launches tomorrow night (Tuesday, Jan. 7) with back-to-back What's Happening!! episodes centered around Stevie Wonder and The Doobie Brothers. Episodes of The Rick Smiley Show, A Different World and The Tracy Morgan Show follow from 9-11pm on Jan. 7 which center around Gladys Knight, Snoop Dogg and others. On Jan. 14 we get another hour of What's Happening!! (with more Doobie Brothers action and music acts on The Gong Show), another episode of The Rick Smiley Show followed by a triple shot of A Different World, which will have Lena Horne guest starring. Tuesday, Jan. 21 will feature two episodes of Living Single, an episode of Everybody Hates Chris, back-to-back A Different World and another Living Single. Music talent guest starring on this night includes Heavy D & The Boyz. And on Tuesday, Jan. 28 we get another hour of Living Single, followed by The Rick Smiley Show at 9, then an episode of A Different World and an hour of Love That Girl from 10-11pm. TV One airs original series centered around music like R&B Divas and Unsung.

Moving on, TV One will officially launch Everybody Hates Chris (which they previewed on New Year's Day) on Friday, Jan. 17 with a marathon from 8pm-2am. The sitcom will then air every Friday night from 8-9pm and encores will be seen later that night from 11pm-12am. As we mentioned, Chris can also be seen on UP Mon-Thurs from 11pm-12am and Saturday afternoons. I think we now officially covered all the details on Chris on TV One and UP! Enjoy!

Dedicated to expanding its network and channel brands and content across multiple platforms and devices, Disney/ABC Television Group announced that the new "WATCH ABC Family" authenticated service will launch today (Monday, January 6, 2014). Similar to DATG's WATCH ABC and suite of WATCH DISNEY services, the new WATCH ABC Family offering will allow viewers with participating TV subscription services access to 24/7 live viewing of the network, as well as continued on demand access to such popular series as Pretty Little Liars, Switched at Birth, The Fosters, Baby Daddy and Melissa & Joey at home and on the go via a wide array of devices. At launch today, the WATCH ABC Family app will be available on iOS and Kindle Fire devices, as well as select Android tablets, including Samsung Galaxy devices. Select Android phones, as well as Blackberry and Windows 8 devices, will be able to access the WATCH ABC Family service later this month. Viewers can also access WATCH ABC Family online at WATCHABCFamily.com.

Also, in support of DATG's growing authenticated WATCH initiative, the availability of free streaming episodes from ABC and ABC Family will change beginning January 6. To watch the most current episodes of ABC and ABC Family shows the day after they air, viewers will log in to the WATCH ABC and WATCH ABC Family apps, WATCHABC.com, WATCHABCFamily.com and hulu.com with their subscription TV account usernames and passwords. Following an advantaged viewing window for subscription TV customers, on demand episodes will be unlocked for all WATCH ABC users eight days after their initial broadcast. On demand episodes of ABC Family series will only be available to verified customers of participating subscription TV providers.

Happy Birthday Antenna TV! This January, Antenna TV, Tribune Broadcasting's digital multicast channel, enters its third season on air with clearances on 70 television stations across the country, reaching 61% of TV households, as it turns two years old on Jan. 1. When Antenna TV launched on January 1, 2011, the network made its debut with The Three Stooges. Sticking to that tradition, Antenna TV now airs a Three Stooges Marathon each year on New Year's Day to commemorate the anniversary. This January 1, the marathon will air from 7am-3am ET on New Year's Day.
Whatchoo talkin' bout? The very next day, (Wednesday, January 2, 2013) Antenna TV will add the classic '80s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes to its regular lineup! We hinted that a new show would be coming in January, now it is official! The Gary Coleman sitcom will be airing Mondays & Wednesdays from 9-11pm ET and also on Sunday nights from 10-11pm ET. In addition, current Sunday night staples, WKRP in Cincinnati and Barney Miller, will be moving to weeknights this January! Antenna TV will also add Antenna TV Theater, a Saturday night primetime movie block. We will have more on the actual schedule for January next month, so stay with us!

Antenna TV's 2013 lineup includes classic favorites such as: Leave it to Beaver, Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best, Adam-12, Dragnet, The Partridge Family, Good Times, Sanford and Son, Maude, Hazel, Benson, All in the Family, Diff'rent Strokes, WKRP in Cincinnati, Barney Miller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Jack Benny Presets, Gidget, The Flying Nun, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The Monkees, S.W.A.T, Bachelor Father, McHale's Navy and It Takes a Thief. There are a few current shows missing from this list, but that doesn't mean anything until we see the schedule itself, as this is just a select list of shows. One show we know that will be "resting" for a bit starting in January will be Three's Company as it has aired the most on the network for the last two years. We hope it will rest up and be back later in 2013, but of course you can still watch it right now until the end of December (Mon-Thurs 7-8pm and 11pm-12am ET).

In addition to Tribune and Local TV, since its launch in 2011, Antenna TV has partnered with several broadcast groups including Cox, Gannett, LIN, Media General, Capitol Broadcasting, Hubbard, Gray, Raycom, Sarkes Tarzian, Journal Broadcast Group, Intermountain West, Morris Multimedia, Block Communications, Woods Communications Corp and Paxton Media Group.
Stay with us for the FULL Antenna TV January 2013 schedule as soon as we can announce it. Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum...

MTV2 has picked up two more sitcoms for its line-up, but this time two short-lived series. Short-lived comedies The Tracy Morgan Show and The PJs have been added to the schedule, both airing once a week in late night blocks. They were actually added to the schedule last week. The Tracy Morgan Show will primarily air Wednesday nights (early Thursday mornings) from 2-4am ET and The PJs will primarily air Thursday nights (early Friday mornings) from 2-4am ET. Both comedies were last seen on cable network TV One. In fact, Tracy Morgan Show still airs on TV One on Saturday mornings. These comedies won't air daily like the other MTV2 sitcoms like Saved by the Bell, Boy Meets World, Martin and The Wayans Bros., but it is good that they are at least airing them once a week. MTV2 also started airing That '70s Show from time to time in the late night, since MTV stopped airing it. The Tracy Morgan Show and The PJs will be airing more than Malcolm & Eddie and In Living Color, as those two only air from time to time now on MTV2.
The Tracy Morgan Show is about a family man who lives in a small Brooklyn apartment with his wife and two kids deals with the daily headaches of working at an auto garage while dreaming of expanding the business. The PJs is an animated comedy that follows the adventures of the Subbs and their friends, while taking a satirical view of the ups and downs of life in a big-city housing project. The series comes from Eddie Murphy.