SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Kirstie Alley (Cheers, Veronica's Closet) has been cast in a series regular role in the upcoming second season of Scream Queens, the comedy-horror series from award-winning executive producers Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. Premiering next Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, on Fox, Season Two of Scream Queens graduates from the college campus and into a hospital, as a terrifyingly funny mystery will begin once again. At the C.U.R.E. Institute, where some of the most fascinating and bizarre medical cases are under observation, Alley will play a brilliant and devious administrator. As previously announced, Golden Globe Award nominee Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, Keke Palmer, Billie Lourd, Glen Powell and Niecy Nash are set to reprise their Season One characters. Joining the Season Two cast are John Stamos, Taylor Lautner and James Earl.

The MeTV Network has announced the new MeTV Music streaming service now playing on MeTV.com. MeTV Music is the free popular music companion to MeTV and will feature a wide and appealing variety of artists playing music spanning many decades and genres. Just as MeTV features many of the greatest TV shows ever made, MeTV Music will showcase the best in timeless and memorable popular music. MeTV Music, launching in association with AccuRadio, America’s fastest growing music webcaster, is the first ever music-streaming companion to MeTV and will be programmed with the same emphasis on enduring quality and timeless appeal. With a library that is thousands of tracks deep, listeners will be treated to top hits, hummable favorites and many songs that traditional music outlets have long forgotten about. As a dedicated streaming music player designed for all day listening at work and home, MeTV Music will allow listeners to log on from the MeTV.com homepage and enjoy music on their personal computer or laptop. Listeners can skip or pause songs, rate tracks and get detailed information on each song as it plays. And unlike traditional radio, MeTV Music will stream songs with limited commercial interruptions.

MeTV Music has a format all its own, with an easy to listen to vibe and a seemingly endless stream of songs that will treat listeners to musical memories. The wide collection of musical artists and eras showcases artists such as Billy Joel, Carole King, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, The Carpenters, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Simon and Garfunkel, Chicago, Hall and Oates, The Four Seasons, The Eagles and hundreds more. It's a broad and appealing playlist not based on over-researched corporate algorithms. MeTV Music is a national streaming feature now available on MeTV.com. Its one-of-a-kind music format is based on the successful launch and operation of 87.7 MeTV FM, a Chicago-based station that debuted the MeTV Music format in March, 2015. Since then, 87.7 MeTV FM has risen to among the top of Chicago radio stations in time spent listening and reaches 684,000 listeners a week in Persons 6+. Importantly, listener feedback to the 87.7 MeTV FM format is similar to that of MeTV viewers, with responses expressing appreciation and thanks for a thoughtful high-quality music format that brings back fond memories and encourages extended listening to discover what song will play next.

TV Guide Network has added another sitcom and also two dramas! As of yesterday, they quietly added Caroline in the City to the schedule. The sitcom has not been on cable since it aired on Lifetime and Lifetime Real Women on and off from about 2003-06. The Lea Thompson 1995-99 sitcom is airing on TV Guide Network weekdays from 4-5pm and encores 7-8pm. Also joining the TV Guide Network are family dramas Early Edition and The Guardian, with Early Edition airing weekdays at 11am with an encore at 1am and The Guardian weekdays at 12 noon with an encore at 12am. So with these three new additions, will everything else remain on the schedule? No, two series will be removed from the line-up. TV Guide will not be airing Veronica's Closet and Cybill anymore, but everything else remains on the schedule and with some new timings: Designing Women (weekdays from 10-11am and 5-6pm), Ugly Betty (weekdays at 1pm and 2pm), Samantha Who? (weekdays at 3pm), Ned and Stacey (weekdays at 3:30pm), Dharma & Greg (weekdays from 6-7pm), Curb Your Enthusiasm (weekdays at 4am), and Weeds (weekdays at 5am). Movies air in primetime from 8pm-12am.
Stay with us for any further updates and if Cybill and Veronica's Closet pop up again on TV Guide we will definitely let you know! For now enjoy the new additions of Caroline in the City, Early Edition, and The Guardian!

Bounce TV, the nation's first-ever over-the-air broadcast television network for African-Americans, will launch its first-ever original series Family Time - a half hour situation comedy created by Bentley Kyle Evans (The Jamie Foxx Show, Martin, Love That Girl) and produced by Evans and partner Trenten Gumbs - this summer. Family Time will be seen on Bounce TV Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. with the series premiere set for Monday, June 18, 2012. Family Time centers around the life and times of The Stallworths, a working class African American family who scratches off a lottery ticket and jumps to middle class overnight. They're an authentic picture of an African American family working to live the dream. This family-next-door consists of two loving parents: Anthony (Omar Gooding, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper) and Lisa (Angell Conwell, Dave's World) Stallworth and their children Ebony (Jayla Calhoun) and Devin (Bentley Kyle Evans, Jr.) The Stallworths move to a middle class community in sunny southern California and both Anthony and Lisa bring baggage and other family members into their relationship that makes for great comedy - and occasional drama.
Now Bounce TV currently does not air any sitcoms on the schedule, so it will be interesting if they acquire any reruns of older comedies to air alongside this original sitcom. Currently Bounce TV only airs movies, Soul Train and Judge Hatchett daily and Fat Albert on Tuesday nights. We will have much more to come on this show and the potential of sitcoms joining Bounce TV! Hoping for some What's Happening!!, Diff'rent Strokes, Benson and Gimme a Break! Anyway, watch a preview of Family Time.

Whitney - Thursdays 9:30PM ET/PT on NBC
Premieres Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 9:30PM ET/PT

Whitney is a hilarious look at modern-day love, which centers around Whitney (Whitney Cummings, Chelsea Lately) and Alex (Chris D'Elia, Glory Daze), a happily unmarried couple. Together for three years, the duo is in no rush to get hitched, which seems to get a mixed response from their friends.

Whitney's close circle of opinionated girlfriends include Lily (Zoe Lister-Jones) who is sweet, upbeat, and ready to get married, and Roxanne (Rhea Seehorn, The Starter Wife) a divorcee who is not afraid to speak her mind, but has not given up on love completely. When they get together, they often discuss their varying relationships and how to deal with everyday life and seemingly have fun at the same time.

Completing their close-knit group is Neal (Maulik Pancholy, 30 Rock) a real contemporary renaissance man—sensitive, cool, and knows a little bit about everything – and happens to be dating Lily. On the other end of the spectrum is Whitney and Alex's next-door neighbor Mark (Dan O'Brien, How I Met Your Mother), a police officer and total bachelor who claims to be the ultimate player but likes to talk a good game.

At the end of the day, Whitney and Alex realize that while their relationship might not be perfect on paper, they really do love each other – and that works for them.


Cast Details:

• Whitney Cummings as Whitney Cummings
• Chris D'Elia as Alex Miller
• Maulik Pancholy as Neal
• Rhea Seehorn as Roxanne
• Zoe Lister-Jones as Lilly
• Daniel G. O'Brien as Mark
• Jane Kaczmarek as Patti Morris, Whitney's mother (recurring guest star)


Whitney Cummings (Whitney) is the title star and executive producer of Whitney. A Los Angeles-based comedian, actor, writer and producer, Cummings also co-created and co-wrote, along with Michael Patrick King, the comedy Two Broke Girls, starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs. Last year, Cummings' hour-long Comedy Central stand-up special, Money Shot, was nominated for an American Comedy Award. As a comedian, Cummings appears regularly on E!'s Chelsea Lately and Comedy Central's Comedy Central Roasts. She got her start starring on MTV's Punk'd.

Comedian Chris D'Elia, (Alex Miller) East Coast-born and West Coast-raised, found himself in Los Angeles, performing every night of the week and quickly becoming a regular at all the Hollywood clubs. His silly, physical humor is what sets him apart from other comedians. D'Elia was recently a series regular in the TBS hour-long series Glory Daze, where he played a college frat-boy burnout. He also has been featured on Lopez Tonight and Showtime's Live Nude Comedy. In addition, D'Elia can be seen in the 2011 half-hour comedy showcase, Comedy Central Presents.

Zoe Lister-Jones (Lily) is a Brooklyn-born actor, writer and producer. Her film Breaking Upwards, which she co-wrote, produced and starred in with director Daryl Wein, was released theatrically by IFC in 2010. For television, Lister-Jones reprised her role as Kim on the live-action Adult Swim series Delocated for Seasons 1 and 2 and guest starred on HBO's Bored to Death and The Good Wife. On Broadway, Lister-Jones received excellent reviews for The Little Dog Laughed.

Maulik Pancholy (Neal) has established himself as one of Hollywood's most distinctive, versatile and impressive performers. Pancholy is best known for his recurring role on the critically acclaimed, Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winning NBC comedy "30 Rock." Pancholy stars as Jonathan, the loyal assistant to Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). In 2009, Pancholy shared the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He also shared the SAG Award nomination with the cast for this same category in 2008 and in 2011.

Daniel G. O'Brien (Mark) has worked extensively in theater in New York City with The Atlantic Theater Company, MCC, The Present Company, The Flea Theater and The Vineyard Theater, among others. In the UK, O'Brien has performed at the Camden People's Theater in London and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, garnering a Scotsman Fringe First Award for his work. With his wife and playwright-in-residence, Julie Shavers, he has directed and produced four plays, most recently Silver Bullet Trailer, which was developed with the Royal Court Theater and Present Company and performed at The Ohio Theater in New York.

Rhea Seehorn (Roxanne) grew up in Virginia and graduated from college with a degree in drama and visual arts. Theatrically trained, she further developed her craft in Washington D.C., performing on many stages including Arena Stage and the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, where she is a member of the acting company. Seehorn then moved to Manhattan, performing with Playwrights Horizons. She made her Broadway debut as an understudy in Neil Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway. Shortly thereafter, she was cast as a series regular on I'm with Her opposite Teri Polo, David Sutcliffe and Danny Comden. Since relocating to Los Angeles, she has had series regular and recurring roles in The Starter Wife, Head Cases, Trust Me, The Dollhouse, Burn Notice and a supporting role in the Disney feature Shaggy Dog opposite Tim Allen.


Pilot Plot:

"Pilot" - When Whitney and Alex, a happily unmarried couple, attend one of their friends' weddings, Whitney realizes that she and Alex are dangerously close to relationship boredom after three years together. Determined not to let that happen, Whitney consults her close circle of opinionated girlfriends Lily and Roxanne. Snapping into action she tries to seduce Alex in a sexy costume, but someone winds up in the emergency room.

Written by Whitney Cummings
Directed by Andy Ackerman


Analysis:

Whitney is a multi-camera sitcom, one of the few to debut in recent years. Television seems to be moving more toward single-camera comedy, and while many of them are funny, it's nice to see an old-fashioned multi-camera one. The show is co-produced and created by star Whitney Cummings, who gained fame as a regular on Punk'd and a frequent panelist on Chelsea Lately. As the host of that show, Chelsea Handler, often chose comedians that shared her type of comedy, a lot of parallels can be drawn between her and Whitney Cummings. Cummings' brash comedy tends to focus on relationships, sex, and the differences between men and women.

Romance, relationships, and sex are the main topics of the show, with women in all sorts of different relationships depicted. Whitney and her boyfriend Alex are not married, and happy to be in that situation. Whitney's friend Lily is desperate to get married, and her other friend Roxanne is recently divorced but not giving up yet. Her mother, Patti, has been divorced three times and has completely given up on men. The plot of the pilot episode is believable, though the wedding scene seemed to do nothing for the plot except introduce all of the characters. Cummings humor is quite brash at times, and while some may find that a turn-off, I honestly found it quite funny. She knows how to do sex jokes without them being distasteful. Whitney and Alex are the main subjects of the show as they deal with the crazy relationships around them.

In the pilot, after attending a friend's wedding (and making a fool of herself by eating wedding cupcakes before the bride and groom "cut" the cupcake-cake), she decides her relationship with Alex is growing stale. So after enlisting advice from her friends, she ends up at a sex shop, and buys a nurse outfit to surprise Alex on their third anniversary. Things go horribly wrong, and Alex ends up hitting his head on the kitchen counter, giving himself a concussion... making Whitney realize how much she really does love him. I liked the plot and thought it had definite funny moments, but the cast somehow feels a bit too large. I realize that they're trying to show relationships from all angles, but I found myself having a hard time keeping up with who's who. The mother character played by the always-hilarious Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle) was only in one scene, and I felt like she should have been used more in the pilot. I understand her role was originally played by Beverly D'Angelo, and all her scenes were reshot.


Conclusion:

Whitney Cummings is a funny comedian, and her take on relationships and sex is quite funny. There aren't a lot of shows on the air right now that have women in such brash, leading roles. Whitney is placed in the middle of NBC's Thursday night comedy lineup, but I'm not sure that is exactly the right place for it. While it is a very funny show, I'm not sure it's "Must-See TV," and I'm not sure how well it will fit in with the other shows that are (and three single-camera series). Hopefully, being scheduled after The Office will help in the ratings. For now, the show will be reaired the following night at 8:30PM for a few weeks, so maybe that will bring in some extra eyes as well.

I still feel like the cast is too large and it's hard to keep up with the characters. Ladies' man Mark isn't a very likeable character, but perhaps that's what they are going for, and I feel like Jane Kaczmarek should be given more of a starring role in the show. Nonetheless, I hope the show does well, and I hope people like the over-the-top strong comedy of Whitney Cummings.

Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):

Watchability: 4/5
Funniness: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5

-- Reviewed by Greg Brobeck on 09/21/11

Discuss the show after you watch it on Thursday, September 21 on our message board.

Related Links:

NBC.com Official Site

TV.com

epguides.com

Internet Movie Database

Wikipedia

Whitney Photo Gallery


Preview:

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More sitcoms are coming to the TV Guide Network this Fall! We can call this TV Guide Fall 2011 schedule part two! We already told you that Ned & Stacey, Veronica's Closet and Samantha Who? have joined the network, but now three more sitcoms are being added -- and these are more long-running series! Effective Monday, October 3, 2011, Designing Women, Cybill and Dharma & Greg will join the weekday line-up. Designing Women will air weekdays at 1:00pm & 1:30pm, followed by Cybill at 2:00pm & 2:30pm. Ugly Betty will move again, this time to 3pm & 4pm, leading into an hour of Dharma & Greg at 5pm. The 6-8pm line-up of shorter-lived sitcoms we mentioned already, will remain on the schedule. However, the 11am-1pm encores will no longer be airing, as TV Guide Network has acquired the cable rights to new first-run syndicated talk show Last Shot with Judge Gunn and will be airing weekdays in the 12 noon hour. The encores of Samantha Who, Ned & Stacey and Veronica's Closet (in this order) will now air 12am-2am.
Like the shorter-lived sitcoms, these comedies also star women such as Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Cybill Shepherd, and Jenna Elfman. Designing Women will get a two-hour block on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 3-5pm to kick things off, with the first four episodes airing, so tune in for that! Georgia on my mind!
Discuss these new additions to the TV Guide Network Fall 2011 schedule.

TV Guide Network has released their fall 2011 schedule and they will bring in some sitcoms! And they are short-lived ones, too! Starting Monday, Sept. 12, TV Guide Network will add the 1995-97 Fox sitcom Ned & Stacey starring Thomas Haden Church and Debra Messing, airing weekdays weekdays at 6pm and an encore weekdays at 11am starting Tuesday, Sept. 13. Then the three-season sitcom Veronica's Closet, which aired from 1997-2000 on NBC starring Kirstie Alley, will air weeknights at 6:30pm & 7pm and an encore weekdays at 11:30am & 12pm starting Tuesday, Sept. 13. Then a more recent comedy will air weeknights at 7:30pm and an encore at 12:30pm, the ABC 2007-09 comedy Samantha Who? starring Christina Applegate makes its off-network debut. All four comedies will air on Saturdays as well, from 6-8pm only and will be encores rather than continuation of the rotation. Samantha Who? has never aired out of its network run, but Ned & Stacey and Veronica's Closet had short runs on USA Network in the late 90s/early 2000s.
These are the new additions to the line-up. Curb Your Enthusiasm will no longer air weekdays from 11am-12pm as a result of these changes. The comedy will now only air Saturdays 11pm-12am and Sunday nights from 1-2am. Other changes include Ugly Betty moving its time slots to 1pm & 2pm, instead of 2pm & 3pm. The Hills will air weekdays from 4-6pm, but Nail Files will air instead from time to time. Weeds will now air Wednesday nights from 1-2am and Saturday nights from 12-2am. And Punk'd will air late nights in the 1-2am hour on some nights, like Tuesday nights and Fridays nights. It seems Spin City is no longer airing on the network, but they will continue to air movies in primetime (usually Tues-Fri and Sunday nights).
Discuss the TV Guide Network Fall 2011 schedule. Stay with us for any further updates, but adding a sitcom block is always good!

MeTV Network continues to add major markets with key media groups, most recently Hubbard Broadcasting, Journal Communications and Landmark Television. The network has a clearance level reaching 60% of the country as these network affiliated stations join the MeTV Network line-up. MeTV's newest affiliates to join the network include the following media groups, stations and markets:
Hubbard Broadcasting KSTP/ABC Minneapolis/St. Paul; Journal Communications WSYM/Fox Lansing, Michigan; Journal Communications WGBA/NBC Green Bay; Midwest Broadcasting KFMB/CBS San Diego; Landmark Television KLAS/CBS Las Vegas; Roberts Broadcasting WRBU/MyNetwork St. Louis; and Southwest Media KCSG/Me-TV Salt Lake City.
Many of the nation's top broadcast groups are now part of the MeTV family, including Journal, Hearst, Raycom, Gray, Hubbard, Landmark, Midwest, Media General, Newport, Cox, Bahakel, Titan, Quincy, New Age, London, Nexstar, Bonten, Southwest and many more.
Stay with us for further updates on MeTV as we hope to bring you their Fall 2011 schedule very soon that will feature new additions such as Batman, Star Trek, Lost in Space, and Mission: Impossible. Hopefully some sitcoms will be added as well. Stay with us.