Get on a plane to start the holiday early (in the weirdly warm Ohio River valley) and look what happens. CBS pulls a switcheroo with its Monday comedies.On paper, it looks like more canny scheduling for a network that is solid (if uninspired) nearly every night of the week. CBS’s current two-hour comedy block of traditional-looking (though often edgier than you’d expect for mainstream) sitcoms may lack the distinctive brilliance you can find in the best of NBC’s Thursday comedies, but they’re all watchable and at times very enjoyable. How I Met Your Mother has sharpened its game in its second season, the new The Class is working through its growing pains (perhaps not quickly enough to ensure renewal), Two and a Half Men is as bawdy as ever (and is at its best whenever Conchata Farrell and Holland Taylor are around), and The New Adventures of Old Christine has become one of the season’s more delightful surprises, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus a hoot as she bumbles...
read more
To make room for Rules of Engagement — the Adam Sandler-produced sitcom starring Patrick Warburton and David Spade, and premiering Feb. 5 — CBS is moving The New Adventures of Old Christine up an hour, to 8:30 pm/ET, starting Monday, March 12 (following a brief hiatus for the Julia Louis-Dreyfus starrer). I know what you're about to ask, and here is the answer: A week prior to that, The Class will have concluded its first-season run.Also per Variety (and here is where it gets tricky): The King of Queens, currently airing on Wednesday and bound for hiatus after its Jan. 3 outing, will replace Rules starting April 9, to unspool the series' last seven episodes ever.
read more
I learned a very important lesson from The Class this week. Ladies don't like the "Girl Twirl 3000" stripper pole on their anniversary. Who knew? You think it would be OK for me to get one for my fiancée as a wedding gift, though? Certainly, I'd get her something romantic for the one-year, but the wedding is lovey-dovey enough already so I think I the pole would be fine at this juncture. Wouldn't you agree? (I'll have to make sure she doesn’t read my blog this week so it doesn’t spoil the surprise.)For the last two weeks, the promos for The Class have been talking about getting to know Duncan and Nicole better, so it was about time we were allowed to. I finally felt like this week was about Nicole and Duncan more than anyone else. You know, the more I get to know Duncan, the more I really don’t believe how he could be single and living with his mother. Here's a good-looking, funny, sentimental guy, and he spends time watching his mother work out in her bathing su...
read more
Question: I've seen you talk about The Class lately, saying that it's uneven and needs some retooling and dropping of characters if it wants any chance of making it. Have you watched the last three episodes or so? Early on I agreed with you: I was disappointed because this show had so much potential, but it wasn't quite working. But the past three episodes have really come together and been getting better every week. I didn't think a sitcom with eight regular characters could work, but the last few weeks have really proved me wrong, and now I would be kind of sorry to see any of those characters go. And if the feedback I've seen online is any indication, many others agree. If you haven't seen it, I fully suggest the latest (No. 27) episode, "The Class Goes to a Convenience Store." It's the first time the eight have all been involved in the same plot since the pilot, and it worked without being too contrived. Outside of The Office and Arrested Development, I haven't laughed that much in ...
read more
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, The Class
I suppose you could say that Jesse Tyler Ferguson is so happy with his gig on CBS' The Class (Mondays at 8:30 pm/ET) that he could, well, kill himself. But that's more his character's domain. Playing hapless Richie Velch on How I Met Your Mother's sister show, he has dabbled with despair-filled attempts on his own life, but seemingly has been saved by the love of a good woman, Lina (Heather Goldenhersh). The only problem until now, aside from his tendency to run people over, is Richie's wife, Fern (Roseanne's Sara Gilbert). TVGuide.com asked Ferguson for a look at what's ahead.
TVGuide.com: The guy who writes our
read more
This week, we took a trip back to the early days, aka a few weeks ago, to see how it all began. Having a repeat wasn't all bad news for me. I mean, I love music and the Billboard Music Awards are on tonight (T to the A to the S-T-E-Y), and my Eagles are getting beat up right now (check out the Monday Night Football blog here), so I'll accept it. But I still don't like a repeat this soon. (And it might be the second repeat, I can't remember.) I understand the reasons, but this show was just hitting its stride. Now they flash back to an episode that was made before it really started getting funny. Repeating this, however, gives me a good chance to see how those first few episodes hold up now that I love the show. Was it as funny as the newest ones? No. But it still got quite a few laughs from me the second time around. The host talking to Richie at the restaurant is still my favorite scene of the episode: "I hope you die a slow, painful death, you miserable piece of crap. Carl will be...
read more
Question: With The Nine's all-but-official cancellation, there are very few freshman shows still on my viewing list. Only one, to be exact: The Class. I've never really gotten into the comedy shows that NBC offers, and I find Two and a Half Men too crass for my liking, but this show has caught my attention. It's certainly not the best comedy out there, but it has a likable premise and characters, and the execution is improving from week to week. I just wonder if CBS will stick with this comedy. Also on the lines of comedy, Reba has returned full-force to the new CW, gaining on Everybody Hates Chris' numbers. Can the execs at the CW swallow their pride and give Reba the full season and the season renewal that it deserves? Or will it be halted after its 13-episode run this year?
Answer: The fact that CBS has stuck this long with The Class should give you some hope. But its ratings have been disappointing. And as fond as I was of the show from the start, I've found it awfully uneven and
...
read more
Aww, poor Richie. Wait, I started last week like that, too. Seems like I could do that every week now. I think that even though technically Jason Ritter would get top billing in the show, Jesse Tyler Ferguson has hilariously become the one to watch. I'm drawn to the character because he's not perfect. There's a little bit of Richie in all of us — except for the running-people-over and smashing-into-stores thing. He's found the love of his life, and everything he's doing is making it more complicated to be with her. But we've had two interventions now. First, Lina basically saved him from overdosing on pills and now she's saved him from — well, sitting in a convenience store. I'm hoping that every four episodes or so, Lina isn't going to have to save him from something else, but maybe that's the route the producers should take. Some of the funniest moments:— Holly broadcasts that Richie is in the car and has "erratic behavior," and the shot goes back to him frantically...
read more
Awww. Poor Lina. Poor Richie. Oh man, poor Ethan and his eyes.Richie just can't seem to win here. Isn't it bad enough Fern makes him miserable at home and now she ruins his love life, too? And she didn't even know she was doing it. Now that he's essentially homeless you can't help but feel sorry for him. He did lie to Lina, but the magnesium and water speech was sweet, and he definitely does need her. But you certainly can't blame Lina for dumping his ass, either. What a sad turn for this story line in an otherwise hilarious episode. I guess now we'll get to see the 110 embarrassing things he does to win her back, though. Duncan's mom showed back up finally and blew the cover off his relationship with Nicole. I'm sorry, but why would you put yourself in a situation like that? His mom saw Nicole stay over that one night and now he brings her loud mouth to dinner with Nicole's husband. Smooth move. At least Yonk's too stupid to be angry. It can't be long though before Duncan makes a s...
read more
At a Wednesday panel discussion hosted by the International Radio & Television Society Foundation, network entertainment execs previewed their latest plans. Among the reveals, per the Hollywood Reporter:— ABC's Dancing with the Stars, which crowned its third winning pair last night, may return as early as March. The big decision is whether to keep it where it is, on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, where it would compete directly against American Idol. — CBS is poised to order additional episodes of The Class, though the exact amount was not disclosed.— As reported earlier this week, NBC, come January, will likely move Friday Night Lights from Tuesdays at 8 (aka Idol-time) to a time period "with hopefully more protection." Promises Peacock scheduling VP Mitch Metcalf, "We'll take care of it."— Fox will "probably" order six more episodes of the struggling Standoff, and may also move the freshman series. The O.C., however, is staying put on Thursdays, where it is ...
read more
