sitcoms

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Tim Allen Tests Another Sitcom at Age 70

Network orders pilot of 'Shifting Gears'

(Newser) - His first ABC sitcom debuted in 1991. Now Tim Allen is trying another at the network more than three decades later. The network plans to air the pilot of Shifting Gears starring the 70-year-old Allen, reports the Hollywood Reporter . In it, Allen plays the "stubborn, widowed owner of a...

'Times Have Changed': Homer Stops Strangling Bart

'Simpsons' acknowledges the shift in new episode

(Newser) - Scenes that show Homer Simpson strangling his son Bart, often preceded by a frustrated "Why, you little...," are such a staple of the long-running animated sitcom that compilation videos exist showing all the times it's happened. Going forward, however, it appears the Springfield patriarch "has had...

Sitcom Earns Perfect Score on Rotten Tomatoes

ABC's Abbott Elementary' will be back for season two

(Newser) - The first season of ABC's Abbott Elementary is now in the books, and the show has earned some bragging rights: It has a perfect 100% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes , notes People . Not many TV shows can say the same, with Breaking Bad, Bojack Horseman, and Brooklyn 99...

Johnny Fever Put Counterculture in WKRP
Johnny Fever Put
Counterculture in WKRP 
obituary

Johnny Fever Put Counterculture in WKRP

List of TV roles includes Charlie Moore on 'Head of the Class'

(Newser) - Howard Hesseman, who played radio disc jockey Johnny Fever on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati and actor-turned-history teacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class, has died. He was 81. Hesseman died Saturday in Los Angeles due to complications from colon surgery, his manager said Sunday. Hesseman, who had been...

A Beloved 'Bosom Buddy' Has Died
A Beloved
'Bosom Buddy'
Has Died
OBITUARY

A Beloved 'Bosom Buddy' Has Died

Peter Scolari, co-star in '80s sitcom with Tom Hanks, had been living with cancer for 2 years

(Newser) - Actor Peter Scolari, who starred in the '80s sitcom Bosom Buddies opposite Tom Hanks, has died at the age of 66, reports USA Today . His representative, Ellen Lubin Sanitsky, says he died Friday after living two years with cancer. Scolari was also well known for his star turn as...

Her Show Just Got Renewed. Her Tweets Were Unhappy

Constance Wu clarifies negative posts after 'Fresh Off the Boat' gets green light for 6th season

(Newser) - ABC announced on Friday that it was renewing one of its sitcoms, pleasing everyone involved with the show except, seemingly, its star. People reports that after word got out that Fresh Off the Boat will be back for a sixth season, Constance Wu, who's been with the series since...

Roseanne Explains Why She's Pro-Trump on Show Reboot

'True reflection of the society we live in,' Barr says of her character's politics

(Newser) - The one thing Roseanne Barr wants from the reboot of her ABC sitcom Roseanne is authenticity, and to be "a true reflection of the society we live in," she told reporters at a Television Critics Association presser on Monday. That's why she says her character, working-class mom...

Dan 'Definitely Still Alive' in Roseanne Remake

ABC isn't explaining yet how that aligns with John Goodman character's supposed death

(Newser) - The Roseanne revival is set to air on ABC this fall, and one character in particular will make a surprising comeback. Dan Conner, the family patriarch played by John Goodman, was revealed in the series finale to have died of a heart attack—but in the ABC reboot, "Dan...

10 Tired TV Clichés That Need to Die

These tropes are so overused, they're not funny anymore

(Newser) - If you're tired of hearing sitcom characters joke that they just threw up in their mouths or ironically comment, "That went well," after something decidedly didn't, you're not alone. On Vulture , Margaret Lyons lists 10 overused TV situations and lines she'd be happy to...

Modern Sitcoms Rehash Old Ideas, Aren't Funny: Review
 TV Comedy Is 'Back'? Ha! 
opinion

TV Comedy Is 'Back'? Ha!

Modern comedies badly rehash old ideas: Times critic

(Newser) - If this is the comeback season for the sitcom, at least one critic wants to go wayyyy back: to Seinfeld, Mary Tyler Moore, and Leave It to Beaver. "Certainly no series introduced this fall is breaking new ground," writes Neil Genzlinger in the New York Times . He concludes...

'Pathetic' Seinfeld Reunion Invades Curb
 'Pathetic' Seinfeld 
 Reunion Invades Curb 
tv preview

'Pathetic' Seinfeld Reunion Invades Curb

HBO show resuscitates Larry David's other brainchild 10 years later

(Newser) - Tonight's episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm will go farther than usual to satisfy your Seinfeld craving, but it's hardly the real thing—nor is it meant to be. The eagerly awaited reunion arc kicks off with Jerry Seinfeld himself deeming the very idea "desperate" and "pathetic,"...

Fie on the Office Wedding
 Fie on the Office Wedding 
tv rant

Fie on the Office Wedding

Jim and Pam are the height of bland

(Newser) - After 5 years of the will-they-or-won't-they dance, Jim and Pam of The Office will tie the knot in the Oct. 8 episode, and the prenuptial PR blitz has sent one blogger around the bend. "We're already sick of these two insufferable lovebirds," enemy of drawn-out romance Brian Moylan...

ABC Bets You Can Laugh at Recession
ABC Bets You Can Laugh at Recession

ABC Bets You Can Laugh at Recession

Sitcom pilots follow a failed Wall Street exec, fired young bankers

(Newser) - Have you heard the one about the Wall Street millionaire who lost his job because of the collapsing economy, then had to actually hang out with his family?  ABC is hoping you will want to next fall, when Kelsey Grammer will star as that modern-day Mr. Mom. The untitled project...

Fickle Election Audience Threatens Network Shows

Election blamed for disrupting viewing, hurting programs like 'Lipstick Jungle'

(Newser) - Election coverage disrupted America's viewing habits, playing havoc with the ratings of some network shows that could soon be cut if they don't recover their audiences, reports the Los Angeles Times. ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, NBC's Lipstick Jungle and the new critically acclaimed CBS comedy Worst Week,...

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