SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Welcome to SitcomsOnline Digest! We've got a very quiet week around here as everybody seems to be taking a Christmas break, but we've got a light dosage of holiday news for you. Let's get going!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SITCOMSONLINE.COM AND AROUND THE WEB

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• After Ellen DeGeneres first sitcom on ABC was canceled, she had a second sitcom on CBS called The Ellen Show. It ran for 13 episodes (there were also five additional unaired episodes), and Sony released them all on DVD in 2006. Now, Mill Creek will be re-releasing the series on DVD in February.
• Warner Archive is prepared to wrap up The Courtship of Eddie's Father on January 14 with The Courtship of Eddie's Father - The Complete Third Season.
• Warner Archive will follow up on January 21 with an even more rare sitcom, one that has been available on Warner Archive Instant: a DVD release of The Jimmy Stewart Show - The Complete Series.

• Perry Mason - The Movie Collection, Volume 1 (DVD, $58.99): The three disc set contains all of the first six Perry Mason made-for-TV movies that started in 1985, including "Perry Mason Returns," "The Case of the Notorious Nun," "The Case of the Shooting Star," "The Case of the Lost Love," "The Case of the Sinister Spirit," and "The Case of the Murdered Madam."

Who to Follow: Jaleel White (Twitter), "#DidiDoThat? That's the best tweet you got? Step it up, people, C'mon!"

Claim to Fame: Urkel, of course! But he has done so much more, and in fact, he appears in a movie that debuts tonight (December 28) on Lifetime. We encourage you to check out our interview that we did with him earlier this week for more! It is worth noting that he has appeared in other things as well, such as Dancing with the Stars, Syfy series Total Blackout, and will even be appearing in an upcoming CSI episode.

Pick of the Tweets: "In this day and age it's a rare and beautiful thing when loyalty can survive outside pressures to conform." (September 3, 2013), which was followed up minutes later by "If u saw my last tweet & all u read was its a rare condition in this day & age to read any good news on a newspaper page #uhavecheese4brains" (September 3, 2013)

Everybody Hates Chris is coming to TV One beginning Wednesday, January 1, 2014. The series will launch with a marathon paired with original series Love That Girl. The marathon begins at 12 noon ET with Love That Girl, followed by the pilot episode of Everybody Hates Chris at 12:30pm. The two comedies alternate until 2:00am, with Love That Girl on top of each hour and Everybody Hates Chris at the bottom of each hour. Everybody Hates Chris has been on the Viacom networks since 2009 but now they are losing the rights. It has aired on Viacom's Nick at Nite, TeenNick, MTV2, BET and Centric but now it will be moving to TV One and one other network that we will have info on next week. TV One and that network will have a shared deal for Everybody Hates Chris. However, as of now TV One has not scheduled Everybody Hates Chris on its regular schedule. We will let you know as soon as they do, but for now enjoy the launch marathon on New Year's Day. Stay with us also for the details on Everybody Hates Chris on this other cable network. Hmm...


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 Dec. 30, 2013-Jan. 3, 2014, we have many current sitcom stars and past sitcom stars on TV talk shows! All times listed are Eastern. So get your DVRs (or whatever you use) ready! Ready? Here is all what you need to know for the coming week!

Monday, December 30, 2013

• Billy Crystal (Soap) - Watch Billy on a repeat of The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
• Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen) - Ellen appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Bill Engvall (The Bill Engvall Show) - Bill is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Bradley Whitford (Trophy Wife) - Bradley appears on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
• Mary Steenburgen (Ink) - Tune in to see Mary on a repeat of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Eric Andre (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - Eric is a guest on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife and Kids/Martin) - Tisha appears on a repeat of The Arsenio Hall Show, so check your local listings.
• Nia Long (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Sanaa Lathan (The Cleveland Show) - Nia, Sanaa and the rest of the cast of The Best Man Holiday are guests on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) - Miley appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg/1600 Penn) - Jenna is a guest on a repeat of Home & Family at 10am on Hallmark Channel.
• Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke co-hosts NBC's Today in the 9am hour.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

• Connie Britton (Spin City/The Fighting Fitzgeralds) - Catch Connie on a repeat of The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS.
• Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) - Andy appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Bailee Madison (Trophy Wife) - Bailee is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 11:35pm on NBC.
• Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory/8 Simple Rules) - Tune in to see Kaley on a repeat of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation) - Aziz appears on a repeat of Conan at 11pm on TBS.
• Anthony Anderson (Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons)- Anthony is a guest on a repeat of The Arsenio Hall Show, so check your local listings.
• Rob Lowe (Parks and Recreation) - Rob appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Jenny McCarthy (Two and a Half Men/Jenny) - Jenny will be on ABC's Good Morning America between 7-9am.
• Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke co-hosts NBC's Today in the 9am hour.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

• Alyssa Milano (Who's the Boss?/Romantically Challenged) - Watch Alyssa on a repeat of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Julie Bowen (Modern Family) - Julie appears on a repeat of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• The Love Boat Reunion - Gavin MacLeod, Bernie Kopell, Ted Lange, Fred Grandy, Lauren Tewes, Jill Whelan and Jack Jones are guests on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel is a guest on a repeat of LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
• Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) - Tune in to see Zoey on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) - Kunal appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen) - Ellen is a guest on a repeat of The Steve Harvey Show, so check your local listings.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

• Will Arnett (The Millers/Arrested Development) - Catch Will on a repeat of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) - Alec appears on a repeat of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Kevin Connolly (Entourage/Unhappily Ever After) - Kevin is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:37am on NBC.
• Nia Long (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Nia appears on a repeat of Tavis Smiley on PBS, but check listings for time.
• Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) - Adam is part of the guest panel on Chelsea Lately on E! at 11pm.
• Seth Green (Dads/Greg the Bunny) - Seth chats on a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
• Brad Garrett ('Til Death/Everybody Loves Raymond) - Brad guest co-hosts a repeat of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
• Sofia Vergara (Modern Family/Hot Properties/The Knights of Prosperity) - Sofia appears on a repeat of LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
• Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke co-hosts NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
• Jim Rash and Gillian Jacobs (Community) - Jim and Gillian talk about Community on the TODAY show in the 10am hour. They will also be on WNBC's New York Live in NYC at 12:30pm on WNBC4.
• Candace Cameron (Full House) - Candace will be on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am to talk about balancing Hollywood and motherhood. Her new book is out now as well.

Friday, January 3, 2014

• Tom Hanks (Bosom Buddies) - Watch Tom on a repeat of The Late Show with David Letterman at 11:35pm on CBS. He will also be on a repeat of LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, so check your listings.
• Demi Lovato (Sonny with a Chance) - Demi appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Louie Anderson (Life with Louie/The Louie Show) - Louie is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at 12:37am on CBS.
• Bob Newhart (The Bob Newhart Show/Newhart/Bob) - Tune in to see Bob on a repeat of Tavis Smiley on PBS, but check listings for time.
• Billy Gardell and Reno Wilson (Mike & Molly) - Billy and Reno are guests on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep/The New Adventures of Old Christine/Seinfeld) - Julia appears on a repeat of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
• Whoopi Goldberg (Whoopi/Bagdad Cafe) - Whoopi is a guest on a repeat of The Wendy Williams Show at 12am on BET or on your local stations.
• Dan Cortese (Veronica's Closet/What I Like About You) - Dan talks about the second season of Guinness World Records: Unleashed and see an attempt to break two records in-studio on a repeat of Katie, so check your local 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!

Today, we've got another one of our recurring Seven Questions interviews featuring Jaleel White, who was best known of course for playing TV's Urkel on the series Family Matters (a role so popular that some people simply refer to the show as Urkel even). Despite playing that breakout character, though, he is much more than just Urkel, and we are interviewing him in advance of the movie The Wrong Woman, which stars Danica McKellar (another favorite from sitcoms past, previously playing Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years). The movie, based upon the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Wrong Man, follows McKellar's character, a wife and mother who is accused of attempted murder and is forced to go to trial to prove that she is innocent. White plays Detective Hamer, who is a detective with a definite bias.

The Wrong Woman debuts Saturday, December 28 at 8 PM ET/PT on Lifetime. It isn't the first time that White and McKellar have worked together, though, and we discuss this and more (including a little about Family Matters, naturally) in our latest "Seven Questions."

SitcomsOnline: Tell us a little about your character Detective Hamer. Does he actually think Ellen is the woman who committed the murder?

Jaleel White: Detective Hamer is very straightforward. He is definitely approaching this case from an immediate bias and it's written right on his face that he believes Ellen is definitely guilty, in how he talks to her and how he deals with her. It's always designed to unnerve her.

SitcomsOnline: What was it like teaming up with Fred Dryer, who was famous for playing a detective before in Hunter?

Jaleel White: Great! I'm getting a chance to do these things now that people wouldn't necessarily expect of me, and we're definitely on paper an unlikely detective team. But anytime I get place beside a veteran, it's just a great experience. We feed off of each other and I can't really say enough about the guy.

SitcomsOnline: You and Danica McKellar both were sitcom stars from the same era, and you've even appeared in a made-for-TV movie, Camp Cucamonga, around the same era. Were you two friends and how was it like working on this project with her?

Jaleel White: Oh man, Danica is cool! I've known Danica my entire life, though. I've known her since we were kids, and this whole business can be really full circle at times. So when I saw her on the set, she was just like "Jaleel!" The first time we worked together, I was probably like 13 pushing 14, and she was about 14 pushing 15. It was nice nostalgia. For Camp Cucamonga, if anything, it just reaffirms the fact that this is a community, and you should feel lucky to be part of it. There are so many people from even that cast, such as Jennifer Aniston, John Ratzenberger, to Danica, who I just continue to cross paths with, and I hope I will continue to cross paths with.

SitcomsOnline: Family Matters is turning 25 next fall. Do you think that will there be some sort of TV reunion you think? Maybe a sit-down retrospective or better yet, an actual reunion movie? Also, what was it like being the breakout character in the series that many people simply just refer to as "Urkel?"

Jaleel White: Oh, no, I don't think there will ever be any sort of reunion. Some things, they should stay in their pure raw form. I don't think it has to do with the cast not wanting to get back together. I continue to talk to some of the cast members through Facebook and whatever. The business of what TGIF was, well Warner Brothers has moved well beyond, and so has ABC, and those are really the players that decide whether or not reunions are talked about and possibly executed. You know, breakout characters don't happen anymore due to the nature in which deals occur in Hollywood, a star would have the autonomy to squash that. We should almost enjoy the fact that they did occur. I definitely enjoyed being part of that era.

• Jaleel White Official Website 
• Jaleel White on Twitter 
• Jaleel White on Facebook 
• Jaleel White on IMDb 
• Jaleel White on Wikipedia

Two weeks ago we told you about the What's Happening Now!! marathon on Centric on New Year's Day, but now they have pulled the stunt. Instead, we will get another marathon of Girlfriends instead on January 1 from 9am-8pm. No word on if and when What's Happening Now!! marathon will be rescheduled. We will certainly let you know, though if they do decide to reschedule. Perhaps they will add What's Happening Now!! to the regular schedule soon? We hope so at least, stay with us for further updates.

With the success of middle-class African American shows of the 1980's, Bud Yorkin made an attempt to resurrect What's Happening!! with the majority of the original cast. What's Happening Now!! debuted in first-run syndication in 1985. This time around, Raj (Ernest Thomas) and best friends Rerun (Fred Berry) and Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) have matured and were trying to juggle the pressures of their personal and professional lives. Like its original predecessor, What's Happening Now!! was well received in the first couple of seasons. But by the third year, audiences had faltered and the production company pulled it from the air at the end of the season.

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you are enjoying the holiday whether you celebrate it or not. Thanks for taking a bit of your time out today for visiting. And also thanks for continuing to visit everyday, as we enter our ninth year of everyday posting here on the blog! As a reminder, don't forget to follow us on Twitter and like SitcomsOnline on Facebook. We welcome your thoughts, opinions and discussions! So join in on the action on both of those! We are everywhere--SitcomsOnline.com, the message board, right here on the blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more! It's certainly "all sitcoms, all the time!" Merry Christmas and god bless us everyone, as Tiny Tim would say!

One piece of news item that we want to share on this Christmas Day with you is about Full House. We mentioned back in August that Full House was coming to TBS in December and it has now started! The sitcom is airing every weekday at 10:30am & 11:00am as of Dec. 2, if you haven't noticed. It replaced two airings of Fresh Prince, which still remains at 9:30am & 10am. No other changes were made to the TBS line-up. Now you can catch Full House nightly on Nick at Nite and in the mornings on TBS!

Welcome to a special Christmas marathon style edition of the News Blog! That means we will recap all of the holiday episode stunts, marathons and holiday movie stunts on TV this holiday on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
Some of the major TV stunts we mentioned already were ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas 2013 edition, concluding on Wednesday after 25 days. That is always a fan favorite pick of course! Some of the stuff that will air on Christmas Eve and Day include The Santa Clause movie trilogy. However, our pick of the marathons is once again on Antenna TV! Starting today they have a Christmas episode marathon beginning today at 11am on Christmas Eve running all the way into Christmas night of many classics from Diff'rent Strokes to All in the Family to WKRP to Father Knows Best! The MeTV Network will also have a holiday episodes of their series like M*A*S*H and The Donna Reed Show throughout the day today and continuing tomorrow on Christmas Day. One treat MeTV will give us will be two episodes of The Doris Day Show tonight at 10 & 10:30pm! COZI TV will have holiday episodes and movies beginning at 7am today and lasting through Christmas Day with shows like Beverly Hillbillies, McCloud, and movies like Scrooge. TV Land's 14th Annual Merrython starts tonight and runs into Christmas Day with classic holiday episodes of many TV series like Everybody Loves Raymond, The Brady Bunch, Roseanne and Andy Griffith. The Hub will have holidays episodes of its sitcoms like Step by Step, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, ALF and Family Ties in late night and over night both tonight and Christmas night. And TV One will also celebrate the holidays with holiday episodes on Christmas Day starting at 2pm with Christmas episodes of their sitcoms like The Jeffersons, Good Times, A Different World and Martin!

Some of the other stuff include WE tv spending Christmas Day with the Connors as the network airs a Roseanne Christmas Day marathon from 10am-1pm! Centric has marathons on both Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day, as we mentioned, with an all-day Wayans Bros. marathon today (Christmas Eve) and a Jamie Foxx Show marathon on Christmas Day. Sister network BET will air a marathon of the classic mini-series Roots once again on Christmas Eve. Nick at Nite has Christmas episodes of their sitcoms on Christmas Eve starting at 8pm and also on Christmas Day starting at 8pm with regulars like Friends, George Lopez, Full House and original series Instant Mom. Hey Hey Hey! Bounce TV will air the classic special Fat Albert Christmas on Christmas Day at 6pm. USA Network has a Modern Family marathon on Christmas Eve starting at 8pm with Law & Order: SVU leading in from 4am-8pm. Universal HD will air a marathon of The Unit today beginning at 6am lasting 24-hours, while Monk will get a 24-hour marathon on Christmas Day. Sister network Cloo has a Monk marathon today on Christmas Eve, while a 24-hour marathon of White Collar will air on Cloo Christmas Day.

Cartoon Network and Boomerang continue to air holiday episodes and specials with airings such as Smurfs: A Christmas Carol, A Flintstone Family Christmas and Tom & Jerry Nutcracker starting today at 6am on CN and 7am on Boomerang. Both networks will air holiday episodes on Christmas Day as well. TLC has a Christmas Day marathon of Undercover Boss beginning at 12 noon, while Logo will air sitcoms! Logo will have a Living Single Christmas Eve marathon today starting at 10am and tomorrow they will air a Golden Girls Christmas Day marathon from 10:30am-6:30pm. WGN America will go for the laughs with an America's Funniest Home Videos Christmas Day marathon from 9am-2am. IFC will air a Malcolm in the Middle Christmas Eve marathon starting at 6am through 6pm.

Movie wise, for the 17th year in a row Turner will have its annual A Christmas Story (1983) 24-hour movie marathon on TBS from 8pm Christmas Eve through 8pm Christmas night! TNT will air movies on Christmas Day beginning at 9am with Pirates of the Caribbean movies among the choices. FX is doing a movie marathon featuring movies like Kung Fu Panda starting at 7am to 1am on Christmas Day. Syfy Channel has a Christmas Day Movie Festival beginning at 9am on Xmas Day with films like Ice Quake. Sundance Channel has a "Oy! to the World: A Mel Brooks Christmas Marathon" running 24-hours on Christmas Day. Encore goes Tarantino with "A Very Quentin X-Mas" marathon on Christmas Day with films like Kill Bill. Even Bravo will go the movie route on Christmas Day with films like Burlesque. Spike TV will air movie classics like The Mummy and Forrest Gump. Lifetime, LMN, ION, UP, INSP, ABC Family, THIS tv, Hallmark and Hallmark Movie Channel continue holiday movies marathons on Christmas Eve and Day.
Check out a full holiday marathon list from our friends at TVTango, which even includes holiday episodes of series airing at their normal time.

Stay tuned this time next week for our annual look at marathons on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day! Join us then but of course keep coming back every day until then for news!

The classic Craig T. Nelson sitcom Coach is coming back to cable. Reruns of the sitcom will start airing on VH1 Classic beginning Saturday, January 4, 2014. The series will premiere with a mini-marathon from 2pm-5:30pm. Then starting the next night (Sunday, Jan. 5), Coach will air Sun-Thurs at 11:00pm & 11:30pm ET on VH1 Classic. Coach will be the only sitcom on the network now, as they have recently removed Married...with Children, Larry Sanders Show and Bullwinkle Show. But Coach will be paired with reruns of Saturday Night Live, which will air immediately following Coach at 12 Midnight. Coach will get some play on Saturdays from time to time in mini-blocks, like on Jan. 4 and also on Jan. 18 from 3-7pm.

Coach was last seen on the cable network ReelzChannel TV, but they removed the sitcom earlier in 2013. Coach aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997. The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles. The sitcom also starred Jerry Van Dyke as Luther Van Dam and Bill Fagerbakke as Michael "Dauber" Dybinski, assistant coaches under Coach Fox. The role of Hayden's girlfriend (and later wife) Christine Armstrong, a television news anchor, was played by Shelley Fabares.

They're back! The Dukes of Hazzard will once again come to CMT! The series re-launches with a marathon event on Sunday, January 5, 2014 from 3pm-10pm. The classic '80s series will then air weekdays at 12 noon and 7pm beginning Monday, January 6, 2014. The Dukes of Hazzard will lead into movies or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 1pm. CMT will air Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 4pm leading into its two-hour Reba block from 5-7pm, as now The Dukes of Hazzard airs at 7pm. The Dukes of Hazzard seems to come back to CMT quite a bit. It originally aired on the network from 2005-07 before returning in 2010. It then disappeared again a few years late and now it will be back starting Jan. 5, 2014!

The series originally aired on CBS from 1979 to 1985. The show followed the adventures of "The Duke Boys," cousins Bo (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat), who live in a rural part of the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia with their attractive cousin Daisy (Catherine Bach) and their wise old Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle), as they race around in their customized 1969 Dodge Charger stock car, christened (The) General Lee, evading crooked county commissioner Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) and his inept county sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best), and always managing to get caught in the middle of the various escapades and incidents that often occur in the area.

2013-14 Week 13 TV Ratings (first four nights, Mon-Thu):