SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Digital Digest: CSI: Miami - The Ninth Season DVD Review; The Greatest American Heroine/Return of Hunter/Jake Lassiter/The Great Pretender DVD Review

Welcome to Digital Digest, where you can get your weekly fill of all things digital in the world of sitcoms! It's a slow week and things are back to normal, but we have some DVD news and more Netflix news for you! Also this week, we have reviews of CSI: Miami - The Ninth Season and a collection of four movies from Stephen J. Cannell, The Greatest American Heroine/Return of Hunter/Jake Lassiter/The Great Pretender. Let's get going!

DIGITAL NEWS

Netflix has been busy lately with new content. Just last week, as we mentioned, they added The Wonder Years. Since we didn't get an opportunity to really check it out before last week's Digital Digest, we'll talk a little bit more about it now. The episodes have been somewhat edited with a cover version of the theme song (so it isn't the Joe Cocker original) and some music has been replaced, but almost every episode is there. There is one clip show that is missing, but for some reason, that episode IS available for Amazon.com Prime subscribers, which, by the way, added the series as well this week. Also new to Netflix are the series Malcolm in the Middle and Ally McBeal. Hopefully we'll see more Fox series on there in the coming months, particularly classic series!

We aren't done with Netflix, though. They also have made some more new deals this week, including extending a deal with NBC Universal, meaning that 30 Rock and The Office aren't going anywhere anytime soon on the service. It also brings, for the first time ever, the series Parenthood to the service. And a new deal with AMC Networks will bring series such as The Walking Dead and other AMC series to the service over the upcoming years.

In DVD news, Shout! Factory has been very steadily releasing the classic sitcom Dennis the Menace on DVD, and after less than a year, now comes the announcement of the final season already! On January 10, look for Dennis the Menace - The Final Season on DVD. It is great to have the series completed so quickly!

But that isn't all for Shout! Factory. They have another release of another classic series on January 31 with Leave it to Beaver - 20 Timeless Episodes. The two disc set will contain 20 classic episodes of the series.

UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

We've had a few busy weeks with releases over the past two months, but things are back to normal this week with only one sitcom release, that being Mill Creek's release of That '70s Show - Holiday Edition: 10 Festive Episodes. We hope to have a review of this DVD soon.

DVD Review: CSI: Miami - The Ninth Season (CBS DVD/Paramount Home Video, $62.99)
by Todd Fuller

In its ninth killer season, the Miami team loses one of its own and Horatio Caine has the ultimate showdown with the man who killed his wife. This edgy crime series stars Golden Globe winner David Caruso, Emily Procter, Adam Rodriguez, Rex Linn, Jonathan Tigo, Eva La Rue and Omar Miller as the city's unstoppable force. A madman at large, a blind man as a sole witness to murder, humans being used as prey...every one-of-a-kind case tests the team commitment to justice, and each other. And proves that every day, this Emmy and People's Choice Award-winning series can take the heat.

This 6-disc set contains all 22 sizzling episodes from the tenth (2010-11) season of the widely popular crime drama. The episodes are presented in anamorphic widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Surround and Spanish Stereo audio available. It has a total running time of approximately 15 hours, 30 minutes. The attractive packaging has a photo of David Caruso in his trademark sunglasses holding a gun. Some palm trees and building are in the background. There is an embossed CSI: Miami logo in the center of the box. As with Season 8, they use a cardboard box that holds a clear plastic (Viva) snapcase. There are 11 small photos of the cast from the episodes on the back of the box and case. A short synopsis of the set, a listing of the special features and the DVD specs are provided. There is a clear plastic snapcase that slides out from th right of the outer cardboard box. The snapcase has the same cover art, photos and information as the cardboard box. Opening up the snapcase, there is a content locator which lists the episodes and the special features by disc on the inside cover. Some additional photos of the cast are at the bottom. Discs 1 and 6 are held in embedded holders in the front and back of the case, while Discs 2-5 are held in back-to-back in plastic trays. The discs have the CSI logo on them and just a plain silver background. Episode titles and the special features are listed on the discs.

The menus are stylish and easy to navigate. There are no previews on this release, so it jumps right to the main menus. The main menu opens with some views of Miami that lead to a montage of video clips from the show. A pulsating instrumenal cue plays in the background and then loops. Options for Episode Selection, Set Up and Special Features are available at the bottom of the screen. Episode titles are listed vertically in blue/teal boxes on the Episode Selection menu. The Set Up menu has a nice shot of Miami's beaches in the background. You can choose English 5.1 or Español audio. English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing are available. Some options and special featuers are not rated any may not be subtitled. As you would expect from such a recent show, the video and audio quality is outstanding. CSI: Miami has always had the best look of any of the CSI franchise shows. All of the original music appears to be intact. Episodes are presented in their original broadcast order and numbered by the production number. The broadcast and production ordered differed for episodes 5-9 this season. Running times are between 40-44 minutes in length. Hopefully we'll see some seasons released on Blu-Ray in the U.S. at some point.

Here is the episode breakdown by disc, including the runtimes:

Disc 1
Episode 901 "Fallen" (42:55)
Episode 902 "Sudden Death" (41:03)
Episode 903 "See No Evil" (42:04)
Episode 904 "Manhunt" (41:52)

Disc 2
Episode 906 "Sleepless in Miami" (43:51)
Episode 905 "Reality Kills" (42:45)
Episode 908 "On the Hook" (43:01)

Disc 3
Episode 909 "Happy Birthday" (42:25)
Episode 907 "Blood Sugar" (41:17)
Episode 910 "Match Made in Hell" (41:56)
Episode 911 "F-T-F" (42:15)

Disc 4
Episode 912 "Wheels Up" (42:35)
Episode 913 "Last Stand" (43:22)
Episode 914 "Stoned Cold" (43:08)
Episode 915 "Blood Lust" (41:29)

Disc 5
Episode 916 "Hunting Ground" (41:56)
Episode 917 "Special Delivery" (43:49)
Episode 918 "About Face" (41:21)
Episode 919 "Caged" (41:35)

Disc 6
Episode 920 "Paint it Black" (43:49)
Episode 921 "G.O." (40:25)
Episode 922 "Mayday" (43:56)

A nice amount and mixture of special features are spread out over the 6 discs. Four featurettes and deleted scenes for seven episodes are included. Once again, there are only two audio commentaries on this set. This has been the norm with all of the CSI franchise releases recently. Here is the breakdown by disc:

Disc 1
Deleted Scene for "Fallen" (1:11) - A somber scene from the season premiere. The video effects are missing.

Deleted Scene for "See No Evil" (:27) - A short scene at the lab with Calleigh and Walter.

Disc 2
Audio Commentary by Jonathan Tigo, Rex Linn, Writer Brian Davidson, Director Sam Hill and Visual Effects Supervisor Larry Detwiler on "Sleepless in Miami"

Deleted Scene for "On the Hook" (1:39) - A scene with Horatio, Brad Webb and a civil process server at the lab.

A Miami Milestone: The 200th Episode (8:08) - The cast and crew celebrate the 200th episode of the series. They talk briefly about the storyline of this gritty episode. Some footage of the 200th episode cake and celebration at CBS is shown. Interviews include Adam Rodriguez, Emily Procter, Producer Don Tardino, Jonathan Tigo, Producer/Director Sam Hill, Eva La Rue, Omar Miller, Rex Linn, Claudia Yarmy, Executive Producer Barry O'Brien, President of CBS Nina Tassler President of CBS Paramount of Television David Stapf, and Executive Producer Ann Donahue.

Disc 3
Audio Commentary by Rex Linn, Director Sam Hill, Co-Writer Barry O'Brien and Producer Don Tardino on "Happy Birthday"

Deleted Scene for "Blood Sugar" (:47) - A scene with Roger Cavanaugh, Christie Cavanaugh and Luis.

Deleted Scene for "Made in Hell" (2:48) - An extended deleted scene with Kate and Horatio.

Disc 4
Deleted Scene for "Stoned Cold" (1:19) - A scene at the lab with Calleigh and Benton. The video effects and inserts are missing.

Deleted Scene for "Blood Lust" (5:21) - A series of deleted scenes at the lab with Frank, Delko, Horatio, Natalia and Michelle.

Disc 5
Behind the Scenes with Adam Rodriguez (17:59) - This featurette is on the episode ("Hunting Humans") that Adam Rodriguez wrote and directed. He was a first time director and did an excellent job with the episode. Behind the scenes footage of the production meeting and shooting of the episode is shown. Interviews include Adam Rodriguez, Jonathan Tigo, Producer/Director Sam Hill, Executive Producer Barry O'Brien, Executive Producer Marc Dube, Producer Don Tardino, Eva La Rue, Omar Miller, Script Supervisor Claudia Yarmy, Rex Linn, and Editor James D. Wilcox.

Disc 6
The Whole Nine Years (25:21) - This featurette focuses on the volatile ninth season. Season nine featured more action and often put the main characters in peril. The intensity and amount of running and foot chases was increased. They discuss the major storylines and their favorite episodes of the season. Interviews include Executive Producer Barry O'Brien, Executive Producer Marc Dube, Producer Don Tardino, Adam Rodriguez, Jonathan Tigo, Rex Linn, Eva La Rue, Omar Miller, Producer/Director Sam Hill and Emily Procter.

To Be Continued... The Season Finale (7:19) - This featurette focuses on the ninth season finale and the major cliffhanger. In the episode "Mayday," killer Jack Toller escapes and becomes a fugitive. Natalia deals with Randy North (Ethan Embry). Interviews include Executive Producer Barry O'Brien, Executive Producer Marc Dube, Jonathan Tigo, Rex Linn, and Eva La Rue.

CSI: Miami's ninth season was action-packed and gritty. They really ramped up the amount of running and explosions this season. It's great that they have kept the show fresh and exciting. Memorable ninth season episodes included "See No Evil," "Sleepless in Miami," "Happy Birthday," "Hunting Ground," "About Face" and "Mayday." They celebrated their 200th episode this season. Only about 75 shows have reached that milestone, so that's quite an ccomplishment these days. CSI reached that number in April 2009. CSI: New York will reach 200 next season if they are renewed.

This is another solid release. It has all of the detailed special features and interviews that you've come to expect. Unfortunately, David Caruso rarely participates in the interviews and special features. It just seems odd that the major star of the show doesn't discuss the episodes and season. Although they've taken a bit of a ratings hit because of the move to Sunday nights, it seems like they have enough gas in the tank for at least a few more seasons.

(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
CSI: Miami CBS.com Official Site
CSI: Miami TV.com Page

DVD Review: The Greatest American Heroine/Return of Hunter/Jake Lassiter/The Great Pretender (Mill Creek, $9.98)

by skees53

We never really review movies here, because they are often out of the scope of our focus on television. But this week, we make an exception for Mill Creek's release of four movies from the 80s and 90s from Stephen J. Cannell productions. The iconic producer was the creative force behind many popular action drama series of the 80s, including The A-Team, Hunter, 21 Jump Street, and more. In this latest release from Mill Creek, we get to see four movies (well, technically three movies and one failed spinoff pilot) from the iconic producer. We will mainly focus on The Greatest American Heroine and The Return of Hunter in this review. However, the set also includes two other made-for-TV movies produced in the 90s.

As mentioned, the first "movie" in this collection is not really a movie, but actually a failed spinoff of The Greatest American Hero. The Greatest American Heroine was actually an episode of the original series that provides a conclusion to the original series along with setting up a new series. In this episode, Ralph (William Katt) is visited by aliens who gave him the suit that gave him the powers that he has, and they want the suit back. The only way to maintain the powers is to hand the suit over to another person. Enter Holly Hathaway (Mary Ellen Stewart), who is poised to become The Greatest American Heroine.

The second movie included is The Return of Hunter. In this movie, the iconic series of the 80s is back, with Hunter (Fred Dryer) returning to Los Angeles just after the murder of his fiancee. But remember, this is Hunter, and he'll stop at nothing to get justice, even when it means going up against a media-hungry serial killer. This movie features also Brian Keith in one of his final roles before his death.

The other two movies on the set aren't exactly TV series related, but we'll briefly mention them. The first is Jake Lassiter, a story about an ex-football player (Gerald McRaney) turned top defense attorney who is hired to defend a surgeon (James B. Sikking) charged with malpractice. But in finding the facts, the case quickly turns into a sordid tale of illicit activity on the bayou in New Orleans. In The Great Pretender, Earl Brattigan (Bruce Greenwold) wins a court battle to get reinstated at his old job at a newspaper, but the new assignment turns out to not be as exciting as the old one... or is it?

The runtimes for the movies are as follows:

The Greatest American Heroine (46:12)

The Return of Hunter (1:28:31)

Jake Lassiter (1:32:01)

The Great Pretender (1:32:56)

The packaging is just a standard DVD case with two trays (no paper sleeves, fortunately!). There are only two discs in the set, with each one containing a single double-sided disc. There is a movie on each side of each disc. On the cover, there are four "covers" from each of the movies, and on the back, there is a brief description of each movie included on the set.

The menus on the set are very plain, and when I say very plain, I mean that literally. Unlike most Mill Creek sets, which usually contain very nice menus, these almost look like they were created with a very basic computer program, and the menus just contain the movie title in a very plain font and options of Play Movie and Select Scene. There are chapters placed throughout each movie.

The video and audio quality on the set is basically fine. To me, some of it looked a bit better than what we usually see on Mill Creek releases, perhaps because there weren't quite so many episodes compressed on each disc. Unfortunately, there is no closed-captioning or subtitles on the episodes.

There are no special features on the set at all.

This is definitely a very plain and no-frills set, but it is a very reasonable priced collection of movies, and worth the cost even for just one of the movies (the one I was most interested in was The Return of Hunter). Perhaps it would have been better for Mill Creek to package the TV movies with their respective TV series, but in any event, you can now see them. As a side note, I did watch Jake Lassiter as well, and it was a great movie too, and had all of the elements of a classic Cannell crime drama series... even if it doesn't fit within the scope of our site. In short, I'd say that if you are interested in even one of the features on here, pick this up... and you might even enjoy some (or even all) of the other ones as well.

(4/5 stars)

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Friday, October 07, 2011

NBC Cancels Free Agents, While CW Pulls H8R; Sitcom Stars On Talk Shows (Week of October 10, 2011)

As we predicted they would after Wednesday night, NBC has officially canceled new comedy Free Agents after four episodes. The series matched its low of a 1.0 18-49 rating this week, but I'm sure NBC made its decision the week before when it did the 1.0 the first time. NBC will now air repeats of Whitney for the next three Wednesdays (October 12, 19 and 26) at 8:30pm following new episodes of Up All Night, which has done decently in NBC terms. Then starting November 2, just in time for November sweep, NBC will air repeats of Up All Night at 8:30pm following original episodes until further notice. View more on these changes and view our full NBC fall day-by-day schedule.

Also after four weeks, The CW has canceled the reality series H8R, hosted by Mario Lopez. The CW series hit a series low on Wednesday night doing just a 0.4 18-49 rating. Repeats of the Tuesday drama Ringer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, will now air Wednesday nights at 8:00pm for now. The series was about celebrities going head-to-head with civilians who hate them to win their "haters" over. Among the celebrities featured were Eva Longoria, Snooki, Jake Pavelka, Kim Kardashian, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Future episodes had Charles Barkley, Levi Johnston, and Janice Dickenson scheduled. No word if The CW will burn any of the remaining episodes off, but I think they will either in December or in the summer. It's certain no more episodes will be made past its initial episode order. This marks the third cancelation of the new season, but the first non-NBC series. View our updated The CW day-by-day schedule, which includes some holiday specials and movies airing during the holiday season.

It's Friday, so it is time for "Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows" for the coming week. This is where we list what sitcom stars are appearing on talk shows for the coming week, the stars are both current and past sitcom stars, so this is for all sitcom fans of all eras!
For the week of October 10-14, 2011, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! All times listed are Eastern. So get your DVR's (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Tracy Morgan (30 Rock) - Watch Tracy on The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
Betty White (Hot in Cleveland/The Golden Girls/The Mary Tyler Moore Show) - Catch Betty on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
Ty Burrell (Modern Family) - The recent Emmy winner Ty stops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Tim Allen (Last Man Standing/Home Improvement) - Tim visits ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am ET/PT and later chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT. Last Man Standing premieres on ABC on October 11 at 8:00pm.
Cheryl Hines (Suburgatory/Curb Your Enthusiasm) - Cheryl is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire) - Hilary drops by Good Morning America on ABC between 7-9am ET/PT.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Julie Bowen (Modern Family) - Catch the gorgeous Emmy winner on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
Don Rickles (C.P.O. Sharkey/Daddy Dearest) - Mr. Warmth appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12am on ABC.
Will Arnett (Up All Night/Arrested Development) - Will stops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Malcolm Jamal-Warner (The Cosby Show/Malcolm & Eddie) - Malcolm visits The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) - Watch the adorkable Zooey on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) - The two-time Emmy winner drops by the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Zachary Levi (Less Than Perfect) - Catch Zachary on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC. Chuck may not be too far off.
John Goodman (Roseanne) - John is a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 12am on ABC.
Cedric the Entertainer (The Steve Harvey Show) - Cedric visits Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) - Tune in to see Simon on Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Jerry O'Connell (My Secret Identity/Carpoolers) - Jerry guest co-hosts LIVE! with Regis & Kelly, so check your listings.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Adam Pally (Happy Endings) - Watch Adam on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
Mark Feuerstein (Good Morning, Miami) - Mark guest co-hosts LIVE! with Regis & Kelly, so check your listings.

Leave us comments on our message board or Tweet/Facebook us to let us know what you think of this Friday feature! We do listen!

Thursday, October 06, 2011

The 90s Are All That Moves to 10PM; Network Notes: CBS Picks Up 2 Broke Girls, Delays Rules of Engagement, ABC Schedules Game Show

Over a week ago we mentioned Hey Dude is coming to TeenNick and was supposed to start on Oct. 3 (and it hasn't), but now there is a bit of change...but it's good news! TeenNick super-serves '90s Nick fans with even more of what they want as "The '90s Are All That" programming block moves into primetime, seven days a week, with an updated lineup to include the much-requested Hey Dude! As we broke last week, the block also features a brand-new Friday night interactive segment, "UPick with Stick," hosted by the most famous popsicle stick from the '90s ever, Stick Stickly.
The rotating block of iconic Nickelodeon '90s shows will kick off its new 10pm-12am (all times Eastern) time slot THIS Friday (that's tomorrow, Oct. 7), with the inaugural viewer-voted "UPick with Stick" lineup. Every Friday night, "UPick with Stick" will be hosted by Stick Stickly, featuring the original voice actor in the role, Paul Christie. "UPick with Stick" will feature '90s Nickelodeon episodes chosen by viewers via Facebook and www.90sAreAllThat.com. As for the daily schedule, Hey Dude joins "The '90s Are All That" block on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 11pm (encores at 1am), along with All That, Kenan & Kel and Doug, with the replays now 12-2 a.m. on TeenNick (2-4am encores are now gone since the block starts at 10pm now). This line-up will air six nights a week (All That, Kenan & Kel, Hey Dude, Doug is the order from 10p-12a), except on Fridays since that is viewer's choice night.
"The '90s Are All That" on TeenNick has scored huge gains for the net, posting double-digit increases over last year with A18-34 (+50%) in the time period. Hey Dude aired from 1989 to 1991 and was one of Nickelodeon's first original live-action series. As of now, the planned Amanda Show and Are You Afraid of the Dark two-week runs are on hold, but they could pop-up on Friday nights if you pick them! Stay with us for further updates.

No surprise, CBS has given a full season order to new comedy 2 Broke Girls. As of three airings, 2 Broke Girls is the top new series in both viewers (14.18 million viewers, live+same day) and adults 18-49 (5.4 rating, live+same day), winning its regular Monday 8:30 PM time period in key demographics the past two weeks. The first airing aired after the highly-promoted Two and a Half Men season premiere with Ashton Kutcher which did a 10.7 18-49 rating, giving 2 Broke Girls huge sampling with a 7.1 18-49 rating for its premiere. The sitcom has settled for a solid 4.6 and 4.5 18-49 rating in its regular time period since, putting it neck and neck with Fox's new Tuesday comedy New Girl for top honors. 2 Broke Girls stars Kat Dennings, Beth Behrs, Matthew Moy, Jonathan Kite and Garrett Morris. Michael Patrick King is executive producer and Whitney Cummings is executive consultant for Warner Bros. Television. The series was co-created by King and Cummings.

As we first broke on Twitter, the season premiere of CBS sitcom Rules of Engagement has moved to Saturday, Oct. 15 at 8:00 PM ET/PT, one week later than previously announced (which was actually this coming Saturday). Instead, a repeat of Mike & Molly will air in the time period on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 8:00 PM ET/PT. A repeat of 2 Broke Girls follows at 8:30 PM. So why the change? Perhaps CBS is waiting to see how new Thursday comedy How To Be A Gentleman does in week two tonight after underperforming for its premiere last week. If it does poorly, CBS could have a short leash and pull the comedy and move Rules of Engagement back to Thursdays as early as next week (Oct. 13) and still call it a season premiere. If that happens, perhaps Gentleman will take the Saturday 8pm slot. Stay tuned for any further updates, but for now view our day-by-day schedule for CBS.

In another exclusive, we broke the news that ABC will burn-off the game show Million Dollar Mind Game on Sunday afternoons at 4pm ET/2pm PT starting Sunday, Oct. 23. The game show was in contention to air last season or summer on ABC, but never made it to air. ABC has 6 episodes to air and they will air it in six consecutive weeks from October 23 to November 27. In Million Dollar Mind Game, six teammates work together using smarts and logic to answer complex questions. The more questions they answer correctly, the more money they can win. The series is hosted by British host Vernon Kay (Skating with the Stars). Encores of Dancing with the Stars: The Results will follow at 5pm ET/2pm PT on these six Sunday afternoons. ABC has been airing encores of reality series on many weekend afternoons for some time now, but this will be the first time brand new episodes of a series will air (even a burn-off is still new).
In other ABC scheduling news, they have announced that the perennial classic It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown will air on the first night of November sweep on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 8pm. Charlie's Angels was already planned to be preempted on this night before it premiered. Look for the Angels to return the following week, ratings pending of course. Hello, Angels! View our day-by-day schedule for ABC.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

IFC Acquires Malcolm in the Middle; NBC Cancels Playboy Club, Picks Up Up All Night, Whitney

IFC has acquired another sitcom, this time it is the family comedy Malcolm in the Middle starring Frankie Muniz. The sitcom actually started last week (Sept. 26) and it airs weeknights back-to-back starting at 6pm and 11:30pm. The series also is airing Tuesday nights from 7-10pm. The deal is not exclusive as TeenNick has been airing the series weeknights 10-11pm and 4-5am and will continue to do so. The series also was on FX but they removed it a few months ago, as they lost rights. The comedy also stars critically acclaimed actors Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston, who has made it big on Breaking Bad.
Malcolm in the Middle joins other comedies on IFC such as Arrested Development and other series such as Freaks & Geeks, Mr. Show with Bob and David and Undeclared, which is being relegated to a few airings in early mornings. FC has announced the season two renewal of Portlandia, created by and starring Fred Armisen (SNL) and Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney). IFC has ordered 10 episodes of its original series Portlandia, up from season one's six episodes. Production began this summer with the debut scheduled for January 2012. And The Onion News Network returned last night for its second season airing Tuesday nights at 10pm after Malcolm in the Middle.
Created and executive produced by Emmy Award-winning writer Linwood Boomer, Malcolm in the Middle is an inventive half-hour series that is seen through the eyes of Malcolm, a regular kid trying to navigate his way through life despite the various obstacles thrown in his way--a complete misunderstanding of girls, an eclectic group of classmates and the constant burden of masterminding plans to get himself and his brothers either into or out of trouble.

The first cancelation of the new TV season is... NBC's The Playboy Club. After just three weeks, NBC has pulled the struggling drama from its schedule. It was more than likely determined after week two but NBC went ahead and aired episode three anyway and the ratings dropped again. NBC will now air repeats of Prime Suspect instead, which is struggling itself on Thursday nights. Repeats will air for three weeks (Oct. 10-24) in the Monday at 10pm timeslot, then starting Monday, Oct. 31 (which is the first Monday of November sweeps), NBC will launch a new news-magazine titled Rock Center with Brian Williams to be the replacement for at least three months (Oct. 31-Jan. 30). While that might be an improvement to Playboy Club's ratings, does NBC honestly believe it will do that well? Not sure what they are expecting here, but I don't think it will be that much.
Led by Brian Williams, the newsmagazine will feature Harry Smith, Kate Snow and other award-winning correspondents and anchors of NBC News, including Meredith Vieira, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Richard Engel, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry. Broadcast live from the historic Studio 3B in Rockefeller Center, the weekly, hour-long newsmagazine will be built around the week’s most provocative events, compelling coverage, and newsmaker interviews. In this new venue, Williams and NBC's trusted global news division will take viewers deeper into the world's most talked-about stories -- and raise the curtain on stories begging to be told.

NBC has picked up the new comedies Up All Night and Whitney for the remainder of the 2011-12 season, which means at least 22 episodes, joining Fox's New Girl (which will air 24 episodes actually). Up All Night has aired three episodes so far, with the fourth one airing tonight. Despite the ratings dropping each week, it has performed decently for NBC. As for Whitney, the series has only aired twice and saw a decent size drop in week two, making this early pick-up a bit surprising. Nevertheless, Whitney airs episode three tomorrow night. The jury is still out on new comedy Free Agents, which airs tonight, possibly for the last time ever as it has done poorly from the get go.
On Up all Night, Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?) stars as Reagan Brinkley: loving wife, successful career woman, life of the party and, most recently, mom. Determined not to compromise her career or cool reputation to the clichés of motherhood, Reagan adjusts to life with a baby and returns to work with the support of her stay-at-home husband, Chris (Will Arnett, Arrested Development). As Reagan and Chris figure out their new life, self-doubt, sleep deprivation and the pressure of today's parenting protocols rattle their confidence. What's more, the endless needs of Reagan's boss, ambitious but vulnerable talk-show host Ava (Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live), threaten to throw Reagan off balance.
NBC's new multi-camera comedy Whitney is a 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.
I expect full season pick-ups in the next week or two for 2 Broke Girls, Revenge, Suburgatory, Ringer, Pan Am, and likely Unforgettable. The CW's Secret Circle and Hart of Dixie are iffy. Fox's Terra Nova is only producing 13 episodes due to cost, so if there is a pick-up, it will be for a second season for next year. And Fox's The X Factor will air through mid-December, as previously announced, so no pick-up is needed, unless it is for next fall. Joining Free Agents on the "got to be nervous list" are A Gifted Man, Charlie's Angels, How To Be A Gentleman, H8R, and Prime Suspect. Will some of these go the same way as Playboy Club? Still yet to premiere are ABC's Last Man Standing, Man Up!, Once Upon a Time, NBC's Grimm and Fox's I Hate My Teenage Daughter. I expect two of those to do somewhat well (Last Man Standing and Once Upon a Time) and the rest, well you can probably tell. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Nick at Nite Changes Its Primetime Schedule; Reimagine That! with Chris Mann Launches With Guest Star Joyce DeWitt

Last week Nick at Nite changed its primetime line-up a bit with the biggest change being Friends getting a two-hour block from 11pm-1am, now starting this week they changed the schedule a bit more. The 8-11pm block which was My Wife & Kids, George Lopez and That '70s Show will be reshuffled. Instead of that order, That '70s Show will now lead off, moving from 10pm to 8pm. George Lopez moves back to its 10pm home of many years, as My Wife & Kids moves to the 9pm hour. Primetime will lead into Friends from 11pm-1am, followed by the late night block which will remain intact. From 1-2am is That '70s Show, followed by Everybody Hates Chris at 2am, My Wife & Kids at 3am, and George Lopez at 4am. Family Matters will remain at 5am, but as of last week, the 6am hour is now back to more Family Matters, replacing The Nanny, which is off the schedule again. The Nanny is now only on sister network TV Land.
As of now these are all the changes, but if anything else changes, we will let you know. We'll be there for you! (Friends theme song pun intended!)

Our buddy Chris Mann of Retroality.TV has now launched an online podcast series! It's a behind-the-scenes podcast called "Reimagine That! with Chris Mann." The first episode has gone live and has a very special guest star--Joyce DeWitt! We also interviewed Joyce a few months ago, so if you missed that, please read it! As for Chris' show, it's Retro pop meets forward thought as Retroality.TV editor, author and host Chris Mann interviews Three's Company star Joyce DeWitt about the late, great John Ritter, Priscilla Barnes, Suzanne Somers' and Charlie Sheen's acrimonious series exits, James Franco, Richard Kline, late Three's Company executive Don Taffner Sr. and more. Joyce gives her candid views on Hollywood's obse$$ion with "reimagining" TV and movie hits, offers her light-hearted take on her current off-Broadway play Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage and tells how she reimagined her own life at age 35 when she embarked on a transformative spiritual odyssey when Three's Company ended. This is only part 1 of Chris' two-part interview with Joyce, as episode two will post in mid-October! So as they say in the TV world, to be continued...
ALSO on the premiere episode podcast: Retroality's story behind the story of controversy surrounding The Farrah Fawcett Foundation and its president, Alana Stewart. And, in the first of a recurring "dream weaver" segment, reimagine your own reality with dream interpreter Yvonne Ryba.
The new program is hosted by our buddy Chris Mann and the announcer is also a buddy of ours, Linda Kay (PerfectStrangers.tv). The program is also created by Chris Mann and produced by Linda Kay and Chris Mann. Congrats to both Chris and Linda on this new podcast and we cannot wait to see what else they have in store!
Listen to episode one and stay with us for more news on "Reimagine That! with Chris Mann."

Monday, October 03, 2011

Centric Fall 2011 Schedule: Wayans Bros. and 227; AmericanLife TV Now YouToo Social TV, Adds Batman, X-Files, Green Hornet

Centric has announced its fall 2011 schedule and they will be adding two new additions to its line-up. First, The Wayans Bros. will join the schedule starting today! The '90s comedy is being borrowed from another Viacom-owned network, MTV2, so it is really not a new acquisition. The comedy will air weekdays at 1:00pm & 1:30pm, along with a late night airing at 11:00pm & 11:30pm. The new acquisition will be veteran '80s comedy 227 starring Marla Gibbs. The sitcom will air weekdays at 11:00am & 11:30am starting Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011. The Wayans Bros. and 227 will air on an impressive schedule with lots of classic series. Kicking the weekday schedule off will be Homicide: Life on the Street at 6am, followed by The A-Team at 7am and Miami Vice at 8am. Then after a music break from 9am-11am, 227 will air in the 11am hour. Sister, Sister will air in the hour until 227 launches. Airing in the noon hour will still be Sister, Sister. As we mentioned, The Wayans Bros. will air at 1pm, followed by The Jamie Foxx Show at 2pm. At 3pm, the afternoon movie will air, before sitcoms return in early evening. Back-to-back episodes of Girlfriends will air at 5pm, followed by an hour of The Steve Harvey Show at 6 and The Jamie Foxx Show at 7pm. In primetime, The Cosby Show remains at 8pm, but the 9pm hour will now have Girlfriends. At 10pm, In Living Color will air leading into the late night block of The Wayans Bros. at 11pm, The A-Team at 12am and The Cosby Show at 1am. At 2am will be the late movie leading into Sister, Sister at 4am and The Unit at 5am.
Weekends will have marathons, as this coming weekend (Oct. 8-9) will have a marathon of classic Soul Train on Saturday from 12pm-6pm. But that's not the big gun this weekend, as Centric will air non-stop The Cosby Show starting at 7pm on Saturday through 6pm Sunday! From 6-8pm on Sunday they will air the 2002 reunion, The Cosby Show: A Look Back. This is not a weekend, but on Columbus Day (which is next Monday, Oct. 10), Centric will present a Columbus Day marathon of The Proud Family from 9am-9pm. And finally on Saturday, Oct. 15, Centric will air a marathon of Sister, Sister from 11am-6pm.
So there you have it, the Centric Fall 2011 schedule at last. We were just waiting for 227 to be scheduled, as we knew it was acquired, but now it has a timeslot. 227 also airs on cable on GMC (weeknights at 11pm), so it will be a shared deal.

The AmericanLife TV Network has re-branded itself again. Now they are known as YouToo Social TV, as of last week. They have added a few series from 20th Century Fox to its line-up. The court series Texas Justice airs weekdays at 7am and 12pm. The classic '60s Batman is now airing on YouToo airing weekdays for an hour at 1pm, 4pm and 11pm. Fellow '60s series The Green Hornet airs weekdays 2-2:45pm, 5-5:45pm, and 10:15-11pm. Perhaps their biggest series airing is The X-Files, which is airing weekdays 2:45-4pm, 5:45-7pm, and 9pm-10:15pm. The X-Files also is on weekends: 2pm-3:15pm, 8:30-9:45pm and 10:45pm-12am. It's an episode each in these blocks, so the weird airtimes doesn't mean it is unedited, but they have some time for social TV. Airing during these reruns, they will ask viewers to submit videos responding to questions during breaks produced by Mark Burnett and hosted by X-Files' Lone Gunman Dean Haglund, onetime American Idol contestant Mikalah Gordon and others, reports USA Today. So now you can get yourself on TV by submitting answers via video during these programs. Let's hope they add more classics to the schedule, as a sitcom would be nice to have viewers submit videos and answer questions.
Stay with us for further updates on YouToo Social TV (formerly known as AmericanLife TV).

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Week 2 TV Ratings and Analysis; How the Sitcoms Did

2011-12 Week 2 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thu):

Households: N/A.
Total Viewers: N/A.
Adults 18-49: N/A.

Week 2 (Sept. 26-Oct. 2) Analysis: Week 2 is nearly over! It looks like another TV season is just going to fly by. We don't have final network first four nights averages, but we can project CBS first in HH/viewers, followed by ABC and Fox, and NBC way behind in fourth. Among 18-49, it looks like CBS or Fox could be first place with ABC in third. NBC looks to be way back here as well. I expect CBS to take the week in everything, especially with an NFL overrun tonight. More on my prediction later on. As for last week, week 1, Fox went by CBS in 18-49 thanks to the NFL overrun on Sunday night. CBS prevailed in HH/total viewers. ABC was second in HH/viewers, with Fox third and ABC third in 18-49. NBC was fourth across the board even with an NFL primetime game being included to boost its numbers.

Monday has CBS on top in 18-49 and ABC in total viewers for the second straight week. Starting with ABC, Dancing with the Stars won the total viewer race with 16.23 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, down a lot from previous week. Hopefully this will be the lowest it goes on Monday nights. Things were better for Castle at 10pm with a first place 11.67 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating, down only a tenth from previous week. For CBS, it was part of the season premiere with Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men, but first How I Met Your Mother started it off with 10.5 million and a 4.5 18-49 rating, down some from previous week. This is up a good amount from last season. It'll be interesting to see if it can keep this up. 2 Broke Girls followed at its normal time with 11.75 million and a 4.7 18-49 rating, down from previous week's Mother in the time period and obviously from its series premiere at 9:30. Then it was part two of the season premiere of Two and a Half Men, with new star Ashton Kutcher, doing 20.52 million and a 7.4 18-49 rating, down nearly 8 million from previous week but still very good. I predict it will be below 17 million and a 6.0 18-49 rating this week, which is back to normal and still great. The season premiere of Mike & Molly certainly benefited from the huge lead-in and did a great 13.86 million and a 4.8 18-49 rating, for a series high. An all-new Hawaii Five-0 was next doing 11.26 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating, down a tad from previous week. Fox was next with the two-hour series premiere of Terra Nova doing 9.22 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating, which is up from previous week's Hell's Kitchen, finale but a bit of a disappointment given the promotion and cost. House will premiere tomorrow night at a new time of 9pm. NBC followed with the two-hour The Sing-Off doing only 4.45 million and a 1.7 18-49 rating, down from previous week and like I thought being lost in the competitive mix when there is actually competition, unlike when it airs in December. The second episode of The Playboy Club was next at 10pm and was lost doing only 3.97 million and a 1.3 18-49 rating, as I predict tomorrow will be its last airing ever. The CW had the season premiere of Gossip Girl doing just 1.37 million and a 0.7 18-49 rating, ouch, followed by the series premiere of Hart of Dixie doing only 1.88 million and a 0.8 18-49 rating. Bad night for The CW, like NBC.

On Tuesday, once again Fox nipped by CBS in 18-49, while CBS took care of total viewers. CBS had the always reliable NCIS opening the night off with 19.51 million and a 4.2 18-49 rating, down a tad from previous week's premiere. Then NCIS: Los Angeles was next and did 16.26 million and 3.6 18-49 rating, on par with previous week's premiere. And finally week two of new series Unforgettable did 12.43 million and a 2.5 18-49 rating, down from previous week's launch but still solid. ABC was next with the a special Dancing with the Stars: The Encore Performance leading the night off doing 9.49 million and a 1.9 18-49 rating, off some from previous week's special. The regular live Results Show followed at 9pm and did 14.39 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating, on par with previous week as we shockingly said goodbye Elisabetta Canalis. An all-new Body of Proof followed and did a decent 9.19 million and a 1.8 18-49 rating, but off from its season premiere the previous week. I think this series will go up and down for a while until it finds it groove like Castle did. Fox started off slower than usual with Glee doing 8.6 million and a 3.7 18-49 rating, down some from previous week's premiere. Quietly this show is not what it used to be and it has happened quickly. At 9pm, week two of new comedy New Girl did a high 9.28 million and a 4.5 18-49 rating, down some from its premiere and it still built on its lead-in. This is a hit! An all-new Raising Hope at its new time did 6.14 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating, down some from previous week. I guess this show will never become a big hit. NBC was next with the two-hour The Biggest Loser doing 5.87 million and a 2.3 18-49 rating, on par with its season premiere the previous week, followed by an all-new Parenthood at just 5.53 million but a better 2.2 18-49 rating, up some from previous week. This series goes up and down it seems. The CW aired a new 90210 with just 1.58 million and a 0.8 18-49 rating, up some from previous week. Then an all-new episode of the Sarah Michelle Gellar drama Ringer did 1.98 million and a 0.9 18-49 rating, on par with previous week.

Wednesday again it was a face-off between Fox and ABC, with CBS in the total viewers race. CBS started the night off on top with week three of Survivor: South Pacific at 10.71 million and a 3.2 18-49 rating, on par with previous week. Veteran drama Criminal Minds did 12.58 million and a solid 3.6 A18-49 rating, down from previous week's premiere. At 10pm, CSI did a decent 11.76 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating, off a tenth from its premiere the previous week. ABC started off with its Laugh On comedy block with The Middle doing 8.68 million and solid 2.6 18-49 rating. The series premiere of new sitcom Suburgatory followed with a great 9.81 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating. At 9pm, the mega hit Modern Family did 13.45 million and a 5.7 18-49 rating, off some from the series highs the previous week. The season premiere of Happy Endings was next with 7.25 million and a series high 3.1 18-49 rating. This series deserves to be sampled! At 10pm week two of my favorite fall series Revenge did a solid 8.54 million and a 2.7 18-49 rating, down some from previous week but still a vast improvement over The Whole Truth and anything in recent years. Hopefully some growth this week. Addicting and payback has never been prettier! Fox aired a two-hour The X Factor with Simon Cowell to solid numbers doing 11.86 million and a 4.1 18-49 rating, but down some from previous week's premiere. It certainly helped Fox over last year's Wednesday, but I'm sure Fox still expected more from this series. NBC opened the night with week three of Up All Night dropping to 5.32 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, which good for an NBC comedy. At 8:30pm, the news wasn't as good, with week three of new comedy Free Agents doing only 3.07 million and an embarrassing 1.0 18-49 rating. One more week and it's gone I think. At 9pm, Harry's Law did nothing, doing just a 1.2 18-49 rating again and 7.63 million viewers. An all-new Law & Order: SVU at 10pm did only 7.24 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating for last place. The CW had a new H8R at 1.37 million and a 0.6 18-49 rating, up from previous week actually followed by the declining fast America's Next Top Model with 1.76 million and a 0.8 18-49 rating, up a tenth from previous week.

Thursday it was Fox with the win, but ABC and CBS were close behind. ABC opened the night with week two of Charlie's Angels doing 7.11 million but only a 1.5 18-49 rating, both still up from My Generation last year...but down from previous week. Total viewers is still OK, but 18-49 needs to go up. At 9pm, Grey's Anatomy followed with 10.2 million and a 3.6 A18-49 rating, down some from previous week's two-hour premiere. The season premiere of Private Practice, with Benjamin Bratt joining the cast, opened with a solid 7.79 million and a first place 2.8 18-49 rating. CBS opened with The Big Bang Theory at 14.74 million and a 4.9 A18-49 rating, on par with previous week. The series premiere of How To Be A Gentleman did 8.98 million and a 2.7 18-49 rating, which could have been better. Week two of Person of Interest followed with 12.51 million and a 2.7 18-49 rating, down from its premiere the previous week and skewing older than anyone thought. That is not encouraging for CBS. A new episode of The Mentalist followed and did 12.92 million and a 2.6 18-49 rating, down some from previous week. Fox aired another two-hour The X Factor doing a solid 12.17 million and a 3.9 18-49 rating, down some from previous week. It has gone down some on both nights in week two from the already disappointing week one. NBC was in the familiar fourth place with the should-be-not leading-off Community doing 3.98 million and a 1.8 18-49 rating only, but actually up a tenth from previous week, followed by Parks and Recreation at only 4.33 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, on par with previous week. At 9pm The Office jumped to 6.7 million and a 3.5 18-49 rating, but down from previous week's premiere. Week two of Whitney closed the comedy block with 5.4 million and a 2.5 18-49 rating, this looks like it is headed towards being a bust. NBC has another drama bust with a new episode Prime Suspect closing the night with only 5.69 million and a 1.5 18-49 rating, down from the premiere the previous week. The CW's big gun Vampire Diaries did 2.74 million, and a 1.3 18-49 rating, up some from previous week, followed by a new The Secret Circle at 2.12 million and a 1.0 18-49 rating, up a tenth from previous week.

Now, final numbers for Friday and Saturday are not available, but CBS won Friday with their dramas but the new A Gifted Man dropped and so did Blue Bloods, but still was the highest rated series of the night. ABC was in repeats again from 8-10pm and NBC's Dateline again did solid from 9-11pm. Fox had a good showing from Kitchen Nightmares but Fringe dropped the ball. The latter was third in its time period though but fourth in total viewers, losing to an encore of the Pan Am pilot on ABC.
Saturday numbers had CBS win the night with SEC in Primetime winning over ABC Saturday Night Football. Encores on Fox and NBC did nothing.

Tonight ABC Sunday is all-new (with the season premiere of AFV followed by all-new, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives, and Pan Am). Pan Am should continue to do well. NBC will win the night with the NFL with the Jets vs. Ravens. CBS has an NFL overrun, so expect delays for 60 Minutes, Amazing Race, The Good Wife and CSI: Miami, which were all off to slow starts in week one. Fox is all-new with its animation block from 8-10pm, with repeats from 7-8pm.

As for the week (week 2), CBS will win in HH, viewers and 18-49. They have the NFL overrun and they also did big with SEC Primetime on Saturday. Look for ABC to remain second in HH/viewers and Fox in 18-49. NBC will likely be fourth across the board unless NFL can carry them to third. As for the coming week (week 3), there are no series premieres this week, but it will be interesting how the season premiere of House does and week two of Terra Nova. Look for Suburgatory to do well in week 2 and How To Be A Gentleman to fall. I'm betting Revenge goes up from week two. It's off to a good start.

Week 2 How the Sitcoms Did

Last Sunday Sitcoms (counts for Week 1 -- Sept. 19-25)

The Simpsons (Fox) - The season premiere delivered 8.09 million viewers and a 3.9 18-49 rating following NFL action.
The Cleveland Show (Fox) - 6.13 million and a 3.1 18-49 rating for the season premiere.
Family Guy (Fox) - 7.69 million and a 4.1 18-49 rating, for best of the block, for the season premiere.
American Dad! (Fox) - The season premiere did 5.83 million and a 3.0 18-49 rating. Solid, but could be better.

Monday Sitcoms

How I Met Your Mother (CBS) - An all-new episode did 10.5 million and a 4.5 18-49 rating, only down slightly from previous week's season premiere at 8pm. So far so good.
2 Broke Girls (CBS) - The time period premiere did 11.75 million a 4.6 18-49 rating, down a lot from the huge premiere with the huge lead-in...but this is still excellent ratings. I expect it to go under a 4 eventually though, but that is still great.
Two and a Half Men (CBS) - 20.52 million and a 7.4 18-49 rating is excellent, but down big from previous week's huge sampling. We still won't be able to tell for another few weeks, but tomorrow night will another big drop. I guessed high 6s for week 2, so I wasn't too far off from the 7.4. I'm guessing high 5's for tomorrow night, which is still very good and about what it has done in recent seasons.
Mike & Molly (CBS) - The season launcher did 13.86 million and a 4.8 18-49 rating for series highs. Higher lead-in helps, but still good numbers.

Tuesday Sitcoms

New Girl (Fox) - An all-new episode aired after Glee, which did a 3.7 18-49 rating, did very well again. Week 2 did 9.28 million and a 4.5 18-49 rating, building on its lead-in again and down just some from previous week. Like I said last week, I think this series is more of a success than 2 Broke Girls, because that show had a huge lead-in while this series built from its lead-in! Fox renewed the series for a full season plus more (24 total episodes).
Raising Hope (Fox) - A new episode of this comedy did 6.14 million and a 2.9 18-49 rating, a decent showing but down from its season premiere.

Wednesday Sitcoms

The Middle (ABC) - A new episode did 8.68 million and a 2.6 18-49 rating, very solid!
Suburgatory (ABC) - The series premiere did a very good 9.81 million and a 3.3 18-49 rating. If it can stay in the 2.6+ range, ABC has a hit. My fave fall comedy!
Up All Night (NBC) - Three weeks, three drops, now 5.32 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating. But still decent for NBC. Will it drop again this week?
Free Agents (NBC) - Week three of this comedy did terrible with only 3.07 million and a 1.0 18-49 rating. Must be really bad to keep dropping big from its lead-in.
Modern Family (ABC) - An all-new episode did 13.45 million and second all-time best 5.7 18-49 rating. This show gets better and better.
Happy Endings (ABC) - The season premiere of this sitcom did 7.25 million and a series high 3.1 18-49 rating. Let's hope viewers now discover this gem after launching at 10pm last April.

Thursday Sitcoms

The Big Bang Theory (CBS) - A new episode did 14.74 million and a 4.9 18-49 rating, on par with previous week's 8pm premiere.
How To Be A Gentleman (CBS) - The series premiere was not well-liked and did 8.98 million and a 2.7 18-49 rating making $#*! My Dad Says a big hit. OK start but will it go down more?
Community (NBC) - A new showing did 3.98 million and a 1.8 18-49 rating, up a tenth actually from the premiere the previous week.
Parks and Recreation (NBC) - A new episode did 4.33 million and a 2.1 18-49 rating, on par with previous week's premiere.
The Office (NBC) - A new episode did 6.7 million and a 3.5 18-49 rating, down from previous week's premiere. Another drop this week? That's the pattern for this show now.
Whitney (NBC) - Week two did 5.4 million and a 2.5 18-49 rating, dropping almost a full point in 18-49 from its premiere. Not good.

Friday Sitcoms

Modern Family (ABC) - A repeat did OK with a prelim 3.84 million and a prelim 1.1 18-49 rating, basically on par with previous week.
Suburgatory (ABC) - A special repeat of the pilot did a prelim 3.44 million and a prelim 1.0 18-49 rating. More sampling.
Up All Night (NBC) - A repeat did a prelim 2.93 million and a prelim 0.8 A18-49 rating at 8:30. This series will repeat in this slot through mid-October.
Whitney (NBC) - An instant repeat of the episode from the night before did a prelim 2.81 million and a 0.9 18-49 rating. Look for Friday encores through Oct. 14, if you miss it on Thursdays.

Saturday Sitcoms

None

Airing tonight (Sunday) are Fox's animated comedies from 7-10PM, with new airings from 8-10.

Summing it up. Two and a Half Men, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, How I Met Your Mother, Suburgatory, The Office, The Middle were impressive for the week. Everything else was OK (such as Raising Hope, Parks & Recreation, Whitney) or just plain old terrible (such as Free Agents, Community).

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Digital Digest: The Wonder Years on Netflix; Beavis and Butt-Head - Mike Judge's Most Wanted DVD Review; Perry Mason - Season 6, Volume 1 DVD Review

Welcome to Digital Digest, your weekly source of news and reviews of all things digital in the world of sitcoms! The fall season is now in full swing, so we're somewhat back to normal this week... but still busier than normal! This week, we have reviews of Beavis and Butt-Head - Mike Judge's Most Wanted and Perry Mason - Season 6, Volume 1. Let's get going!

DIGITAL NEWS

The world of view-on-demand is getting a bit larger with the latest announcement from Amazon.com. They have announced a new deal that will bring more content to Amazon Prime subscribers, coming from the Fox library. Among the TV series included in this deal are Arrested Development, Ally McBeal, The X-Files, and best of all, The Wonder Years. Rival Netflix announced a similar deal a few months ago (also including The Wonder Years), so this new deal will put the two rivals a bit closer to a level playing field.

While we are mentioning this, The Wonder Years has finally began to stream on Netflix as of today! If you are a Netflix subscriber, you can now watch the series with your Netflix account. We haven't had an opportunity to check this out yet, but it appears that every episode is now streaming live on there! This is great news, indeed.

However, the two rivals could soon be expanding to three, as recently announced by Dish Network. The company recently acquired Blockbuster, and plans to begin a new service that will provide online streaming soon. While the deal for now seems to focus on movies, including a deal providing movies from Starz, the plan is to eventually include a library of TV series rivaling Hulu, according to CEO Jeff Clayton. The service will initially only be available to Dish Network subscribers, but is expected to be rolled out to everybody by the end of the year.

In the DVD world, the early days of television have been in the limelight this week. We've been hearing about The Donna Reed Show - Season Four coming to DVD for a long time, but it appears now that a date has finally been set for this release. The five-disc set will be released on December 20, just in time for Christmas. Supposedly, MPI has the rights to release seasons 4 and 5, but the rights for seasons 6-8 remain with Sony. Hopefully we'll eventually see all of the seasons one way or another.

The really interesting news of the week, though, is this news of an effort to get every episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet on DVD. Sam Nelson, the grandson of Ozzie and Harriet, has recently inherited the master copies of every episode of the series following the death of his uncle, David Nelson, and he wants to get every episode released on DVD--all 435 of them! But there is a problem. The masters for many of the episodes are in terrible shape, and only deteriorating further as the years go on. So, Nelson has started an online fundraiser in an attempt to fund the restoration and digitization of the series. The cost to restore the entire series is nearly $60,000, and over $15,000 of that has already been raised. It would be great to see the entire series released on DVD, but if you want to see the series now, you should check out Mill Creek Entertainment's 2007 release of The Essential Ozzie & Harriet, which contains 100 episodes of the series--but be warned, these episodes are of very rough quality!

Last week, we had news about the short-lived series Mr. Sunshine coming to DVD, but now, that has been updated with more information. Mr. Sunshine - Season One will indeed by a manufacture-on-demand product, and will be released on November 1 (two weeks earlier than previously reported). The two disc set will contain every episode of the series, including four unaired episodes.

UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (October 4) marks the first "back to normal" week for DVDs with most of the 2010-2011 seasons of current shows having been released by now, but it is still a busy week for DVDs. From Lionsgate alone, we have According to Jim - The Complete Fifth Season, Boy Meets World - The Complete Seventh Season, and Meet the Browns - Season Two. Perhaps one of the best releases, though, is MPI's release of Honeymooners: The Lost Episodes (1951-1957) - The Complete Restored Series. We have received a review copy of this set and it is an amazing set. We'll have our review posted soon. Finally, for those looking for something a bit outside of the sitcom world, we have Beavis and Butt-Head - Mike Judge's Most Wanted and Perry Mason - Season 6, Volume 1. We have reviews of both of these sets today in Digital Digest.

BLOG DVD REVIEW

In the 1980s, MTV was the official network for music videos, but they started to make some changes in the 1990s. One of these changes was a new animated series about two high school kids who were complete morons: Beavis and Butt-Head. The series never really had a main idea. It was just a series about two morons making it through life doing some of the stupidest and most idiotic things, with cut-ins of music videos that they made fun of. The series returns to MTV with new episodes in just a few weeks (after a hiatus of well over a decade), but until then, you can enjoy 20 of the classic cartoon shorts in Beavis and Butt-Head - Mike Judge's Most Wanted.

DVD Review - Beavis and Butt-Head - Mike Judge's Most Wanted

by skees53

Beavis and Butt-Head - Mike Judge's Most Wanted (MTV, $14.98) collects 20 of the greatest (as judged by the judge, Mike Judge) cartoon shorts from one of TV's earliest raunchy cartoon comedy series in a single DVD. The series debuted in 1993 on MTV and was unlike anything else that had ever aired before. It is a show about two idiotic heavy metal loving teenagers from the fictional town of Highland, TX getting into schemes and adventures that often seem to have serious consequences for everybody--except for them.

The set includes twenty shorts from the series, with none of the music video interstitials from the original airings intact. In "Lightning Strikes," the boys try to imitate Benjamin Franklin's kite flying experiment, with somewhat serious (but comical) consequences. The boys try to kill a fly in "Die Fly, Die!" In "Stewart is Missing," the kid that the boys bully is missing, and nobody can seem to find him... except somebody knows where he is, if only they'd remember. In "Nose Bleed," Beavis gets a nose bleed, but the attempts to stop it are an even bigger disaster. Beavis and Butt-head want to get some, well, enhancements in "Plastic Surgin'". In "Animation Sucks," the boys have a class assignment to create a cartoon, but you can guess that the one that they create is very tasteless. In "Beaverly Buttbillies," watching an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies inspires Beavis and Butt-head to try to strike oil so they too can be rich, except they end up only striking a sewer line. Prank calls could have serious consequences for Beavis and Butt-head in "Prank Calls," but not necessarily so when they give the man that they are prank calling Stewart's address. A class field trip goes all wrong in "Bus Trip." The set ends with one of the most memorable of the series, "The Great Cornholio," where Beavis eats an insane amount of sugar and transforms into his prophet of doom alter-ego.

Shorts included are as follows:

"Lightning Strikes" (5:37)

"A Very Special Episode" (5:41)

"Die Fly, Die!" (5:41)

"Stewart is Missing" (5:46)

"Close Encounters" (5:23)

"Nose Bleed" (5:26)

"Plastic Surgin'" (4:54)

"Tired" (5:18)

"Candy Sale" (5:40)

"Date Bait" (4:52)

"Animation Sucks" (6:11)

"Impotence" (5:23)

"Beaverly Buttbillies" (5:07)

"Sexual Harassment" (5:20)

"Prank Call" (5:51)

"Substitute" (5:31)

"Follow Me" (5:11)

"Bus Trip" (5:42)

"Safe House" (5:02)

"The Great Cornholio" (7:58)

There is nothing fancy about the packaging here. We just have a standard DVD case (one of those eco-cases, which is in theory a good idea, but makes for an incredibly flimsy package) with a black and white "mug shot" of Beavis and Butt-head on the cover, and a picture of them in a police lineup on the back of the case. There is also a listing of all of the episodes on the back of the case.

The main menu on the set begins with the theme song, along with a series of clips (mostly, well, pretty much all, violent) from the episodes featured on the set. The options on the main menu include Play All, Cartoons, and Special Features.

The menus on the set are just like the previous sets, with the main menu having the same artwork seen on the cover, a Play All option, and a list of all of the episodes on the disc--that is, on the discs that don't have any special features. The discs containing special features have an Episode Selection option and an option for the bonus feature. In the background of the main menu, we have the theme song playing. Chapters are placed throughout each episode.

The video and audio quality of the episodes is about the same as what we are used to seeing. When the series was created, animation was much more crude than it is today, so while you can't expect great picture quality, it is about as good as it can possibly get for the series. Of course, the original unaired pilot looks even worse, and that should be no surprise. I'm hoping that the new series will look and sound much better with the new animation technology out there today. The scenes from the new season featured as a bonus feature looked better than I've ever seen the series, and the animation looks a lot like one of the more recent episodes of Mike Judge's other series that he is well-known for, King of the Hill. Each episode is closed-captioned.

The DVD contains three special features, two of which were previously featured on the previous volume sets. "Scenes from the New Season" (4:49) is the only new feature for this DVD, and it is exactly what it sounds like: scenes from the first episode of the new season. The series will be a little different in that it will make fun of things in pop-culture aside from music videos this time, including making fun of series such as Jersey Shore. "Taint of Greatness: The Journey of Beavis and Butt-Head" (1:04:09) gives a very thorough view of the journey of creating the series, from the creation to the end of the original series, with interviews from the cast and crew. Ironically, in this featurette, Mike Judge talks about how he knew it was time to move on when the show was getting stale... yet he is coming back to do it anyway! Of course, I think the fans are satisfied that it is coming back. The featurette has a 2011 copyright date on it, but it didn't seem that anything was added to it from the previous release of the featurette. Finally, "The Original, Uncut Frog Baseball" (2:39) is just an unedited version of the original pilot cartoon for the series. The animation here is very crude, but it really captures the charm of the early years of the series.

If you just want a taste of the older episodes, then this DVD may be for you, but fans of the older episodes of the series would probably be better off getting the previous volume releases of the series. Every episode and two of the special features (the only one missing is the preview of the new season) contained on this DVD can be found on those sets. I only wish that Mike Judge would recognize that the "other 1/3" of the episodes that have not been released are worthy of a release on DVD, and get those out, but it doesn't look like it'll be happening. I do have hopes for the new series, though. It'll probably be one of the best series to air on MTV since, well, the series left MTV.