NBC cancels Great News

Well the fate of Great News has came down and it ain't great news.

On Friday, NBC has cancelled the Tina Fey produced workplace comedy after two seasons.

Great News wasn't a ratings winner this season as NBC placed it after Will and Grace Thursday night comedy lineup. Only averaging 3 million total viewers and 0,7 in demos in it's second season.

The comedy starred Briga Heelan as cable news producer Katie Wendelson, whose life was turned upside down when her mother (played by Andrea Martin) scored a gig as an intern at her station. The cast also includes Adam Campbell, Nicole Richie, Horatio Sanz, (Creator) Tracey Wigfield and John Michael Higgins.

This is of course sad news to hear about as it was one of my favorite new shows of the last year. The show was amazing with it's cast, writing and just plan hilarious. But now, the show will always be part of my DVR/Digital Show's List to watch.

Great News Season 2

After a perfect and impressive first season, the second season of Great News was fantastic and made it one of the best new series on network television.

Considering this is the series' second season, it's still fresh from its first season, with great storylines for the characters to expand. From Diana, St. Tropez took over the news company and tried to make the news station move to the 21st century instead of just doing the news. Katie tries and gets advice from Diana and, for one day, takes over The Breakdown successfully but realizes that she would instead do what she wants: cover a news story and not take Greg's job. Diana insults Portia, and the two go into a "Squad Feud" with a very Taylor Swift-like music video to win over Diana until she takes Portia's social media followers.

Carol, who's still an intern, tries her best to step up and get a promotion but realizes that Greg won't give her one; she quits and heads up to "My Morning Wine Up." But Katie learns that her mother is only there because she's easy to make fun of on television, and soon Carol quits that job and leaves ultimately.

Katie and Greg's relationship grows into what we all hoped was to be a couple. Briga performs best in the episode "Catfight," when Katie tries to prove that she and Greg are right for each other over him and his girlfriend, Cat. Greg finally decides on their relationship at the end of the season; they are a couple.

And let's not mention John Michael Higgin, who plays News anchor Chuck Pierce, given such a significant supporting role this season and steals the show. In this season, Chuck gets fried from a news story that sparks a business executive and tries to fix it. Katie and Chuck go their way as journalists to uncover why this person hates Chuck and tries to hide his life secret.

Season 2 of Great News was an intense season of solid writing, outstanding performances from this ensemble cast, and strong character development. I agree with critics that this show is the closest thing to 30 Rock with all the vibes and jokes. The exhibit should come back for a third season. You don't see many shows making fun of the news business these days, and this one hits the nail on the head. What can I say? Great News makes my Thursday nights a whole lot better, along with the other comedies.

Pool Party with Buddies: Great News "Pool Show"

When Chuck befriends with Portia's fiance, he tries to help her with their relationship, while Katie and Jeremy go undercover for a story and getting Carol to think of something different. Here's a recap of Great News.

When Katie gets another puff piece story, she talks to Jeremy about it and joins him on an undercover story. But when she cancels plains with Carol, it makes Carol worried. Carol gets Greg and spy on Katie and Jeremy, thinking that they were going to take their relationship to the next level and tells Greg that Katie has feeling for him.

After what they thought Katie and Jeremy were endanger, they left after a Greg tries to be a hero but fails. Katie returns to work apologizing to Carol about missing their show the other night and also asked Greg to stop the puff Hero piece. But Carol knows a hero and she was standing by him after she walked out of Greg's office.

Meanwhile, when Portia's fiance was in the office, Chuck enjoys hanging out with him. Soon, they become befriends and hangout at the pool. Portia doesn't like it and Chuck sees that both Portia and her Fiance are having relationship troubles. So he tries to help them with their performances and shows an exercise video that he made years ago. The video did help but not in the way you would think and gets Portia and her fiance fixing their relationship.

"Pool Show" was at times hilarious and some with memorable moments. I couldn't get enough of Carol and Greg scenes in this episode as they spy on Katie and Jeremy. And just watching John Michael Higgins in this episode is just hilarious. Anything he does is comedy magic. Overall, I give this episode a 8/10.

You can catch Great News Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

Top TV Shows of 2017

With less than ten hours to go til the beginning of the new year, I'd thought I put up my list of top shows of 2017.

2017 has been a memorable year in television. Must See TV is back on NBC with the return of Will and Grace, not to mention the four hour comedy block as well with Superstore, The Good Place, Great News and Chicago Fire. The Handmaid's Tale and Big Little Lies grabbed viewers and critics attention while This Is Us stole our hearts and grabbing tissues. We were stunned with what was the most shocking season finale moment of the year on The Good Place.  And not to mention saying goodbye to shows like Girls and even saying goodbye to the 12th Doctor on Doctor Who.

Here's my list of the tops shows of the 2017 year.

Top 10 Comedy
1. The Good Place, NBC
2. Atlanta, FX
3. Great News, NBC
4. Veep, HBO
5. Will & Grace, NBC
6. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fox
7. Better Things, FX
8. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Netflix
9.  Master of None, Netflix
10. Superstore, NBC

Honorable Mention: Fresh Off the Boat, ABC, Kevin Can Wait, CBS, Girls, HBO, The Carmichael Show, NBC, GLOW, Netflix, Shameless, Showtime, Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO, The Mayor, ABC, Ghosted, Fox, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The CW, Board City, Comedy Central.

Top 10 Dramas
1. The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu
2. This Is Us, NBC
3. Westworld, HBO
4. Stranger Things, Netflix
5. The Sinner, USA Network
6. Victoria, PBS
7. Big Little Lies, HBO
8. The Americans, FX
9. Riverdale, The CW
10. Supergirl, The CW

Honorable Mention:  Mr. Robot, USA Network, Being Mary Jane, BET, Blindspot, NBC, Halt and Catch Fire, AMC, The Walking Dead, AMC, iZombie, The CW, The Crown, Netflix, American Horror Story: Cult, FX, Dark Matter, SyFy, 13 Reasons Why, Netflix, The Blacklist, NBC, Bull, CBS, Chicago Fire/PD/Med/Justice, NBC, Doctor Who, BBC America, Casualty, BBC One, Grimm, NBC, Suits, USA Network,

Top 10 Shows of 2017
1. The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu
2. The Good Place, NBC
3. This Is Us, NBC
4. Big Little Lies, HBO
5. The Americans, FX
6. Atlanta, FX
7. Will & Grace, NBC
8. Victoria, PBS
9. Stranger Things, Netflix
10. Great News, NBC

Those were my top 10 TV shows of the 2017 year. There were a lot of great shows this year and more to come in the new year that I can't wait and I'm sure you can't wait either. Even with the huge success return of Will and Grace , another comedy is returning as well, Roseanne this March and even The X-Files returns for season 11 this week on FOX. Looks like 2018 will be something to look forward to.

As the new year soon comes near, I want to wish everyone a Happy and Joyous to 2018. Cheers to all of you and to television in 2018.

Need to Take a Selfie: Great News "Night of the Living Screen"

Regarding "Night of the Living Screen," this episode was one to remember.

When Katie gets jealous of how her friend gets to have a happy life and shows it on her Instagram account, she tries to up one on her with her fun advent numerous times. But she would have to find someone always out on adventurous events, which is a no brand-braino-brand-brainerng Portia if she could go with her to one of her parties and some fantastic photos, Katie coucan'top at one, two or three but turns into a person with an addiction and goes crazy. 

Once Portia puts the brakes on Katie, it doesn't stop Katie from going to the next party. Once she gets there, she turns into a crazy zombie-like bride who wants to snap photos and soon realizes that she's taken the whole thing way too far. Not to mention that her best friend admitted to her that the posts she shares on Instagram aren't actual and that her family is a pain in the ass.

"Night of the Living Screen" was one excellent episode that, after watching it over and over again, it's still funny as once before. Heelan and Richie are fantastic together in this episode, and the writing is so good. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Great News on Thursdays at 9:30/8:30 on NBC.

They're the Best News Team!" Great News "Award Show"

When The Breakdown gets nominated for an award, Chuck and Katie try to make it about them and not the team or mother.

As the news came down that The Breakdown got nominated for an award, Chuck was excited. as was Katie, and tried to make it about them. With Chuck, he abandoned his crew and hung out with his old, challenging new colleagues, who turned out to be at the end of their broadcasting careers with recent changes. Katie, on the other hand, doesn't want her mother to be her plus one due to the previous times that she embarrassed her (like Kayneing Kayne West at a young talent show).

So Katie tells Carol that she can't come because Greg doesn't want anyone to bring a plus one, but that all changed when Carol signed up to be a fill-in-seat person at the award show. Soon, Katie realized that she wanted her mother with her, and that was when Carol figured out that she was up for the same award for best news show.

Chuck learns he's doing better than his counterpart, so he calls friends in the news business. After watching one get humiliated, he returned to his news team, who happened to be sitting near the bathroom, and apologized to them for his actions and was welcomed back. And even though The Breakdown didn't win the best new show, they sure pulled a Kayne West on the winner, even if they were helping refugees.

"Award Show" was another great half-hour of comedy that brought in a lot of laughs and memorable moments. Briga Heelan and John Michael Higgins steal the episode with such sharp comedy, along with the other cast. The writing was excellent. Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

You can catch Great News on Thursdays at 9:30/8:30 on NBC.

Who's Got Game: Great News "Squad Feud"

Great News is blowing up in the best way possible!!!

After a Q&A of the mighty women in the workforce that led to them feuding with one another t, they seized each other's squad, even Tatakeway Portia's social media followers. But when it came to Portia, pulling a parody of Taylor Swift's Bad Blood and posting a music video titled "Wash Dish, Bish."

Not to mention, the relationship between Katie and Greg grows as they switch positions after Katie begs Greg to do a story she wants. After a few bumps in the road, Katie seems to get the hang of it, and Diana gives her the Executive Producer position. The feud between them was sometimes hilarious, mostly when Carol, who knows about Katie and Greg's kiss, tried to get them back into that mood. But in the end, Katie takes her old job back from Diana.

"Squad Feud" might be my favorite episode of the second season so far, with the wit and intelligent writing. And not to mention the performances from the cast, mainly from Nicole Richie, who shines with her character feuding with Fey's character. I couldn't get enough of the music video of Portia and the crew. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Great News on Thursdays at 9:30/8:30 on NBC.

New News: Great News "Boardroom Bitch" Season Premiere

In the season premiere of Great News, a new boss takes over The Breakdown with some changes.

After pulling off a fake new stunt, The Breakdown gets a new boss, Diana St. Tropez, who makes a splashing first appearance as the station's janitor. With Diana making some changes, Katie, a massive fan of hers, asked if she could be her mentor but declined. But Katie gets one piece of advice from her to freeze her eggs to put her career first over family.

Meanwhile, Diana makes some changes to the format of The Breakdown, taking the format of cable news with shouting about topics that become ratings winners. Chuck, who doesn't like the new format, tries his best to one up on the panel but fails until Portia gives him a helping hand and gets Chuck to speak his mind on why change is bad.

Carol learns of what Katie is doing and takes matters into her own hands with Diana. After several intelligent and hilarious moments with one another, Diana decides to take the challenge of mentoring Katie, like running a marathon on a full bladder. But later, Carol and Katie understand, and Carol learns from Katie, and she and Greg kiss.

"Boardroom Bitch" is an excellent episode that brought many laughs and memorable scenes from the cast and that includes Tina Fey as Diana. I think that Diana St. Tropez might be one of the best bosses that I've seen since Michael Scott. The writing of this episode was excellent and had some good character growth. Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.

You can catch Great News on Thursdays at 9:30/8:30 on NBC.

Great News Season 2, Ep. 2 "Squad Feud" Press Release

Here's the press release of season two, episode 2 of Great News titled, "Squad Feud."

As Diana sets Katie off on a mission to take the job at the station that she wants, but when Katie tries to be executive producer for the day, she soon realizes that Greg has it much harder than she realized. Meanwhile, Carol uses Greg and Katie's workplace ompetition as an opportunity to push the two of them together. After Diana insults Portia on a women in buiness panel, Portia declares a "squard feud" that forces their two very different wolrds togehter.

You can catch Great News Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

Great News Season 2 , Ep. 1: "Broadroom Bitch" Press Release, Photos, Sneak Peak, Promo

Here's the press release for the season 2 premiere of Great News titled "Boardroom Bitch."

There's a major shake up at the Breakdown as Tina Fey guest stars as The Breakdown's new boss, Diana St. Tropez, a tough business lady with big plans to bring their outdated news program into the 21st century. Katie is thrilled since this is exactly the kind of strong, professional female model she hoped fore, but Carol is immediately wary of this new influence in Katie's Life. Meanwhile, Chuck has trouble adapoting to Diana's idea for a new pnel segment of screaming pundits.

Photos:

You can catch the season premiere of Great News Thursay, Sept. 28th at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

NBC Announces it's Fall TV Season Kickoff Week!

On Monday, NBC has revealed it's upcoming fall TV season.

The network will kickoff the season on Monday, Sept. 25 with Season 13 of The Voice premiere. Last season's freshman hit series, This Is Us, returns the following night, Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 9/8c where it will lead into Law & Order: True Crimes and later in the season Chicago Med.

Blindspot Season 3 will premiere on Friday, Oct. 27th where it was suppose to be the lead into Taken Season 2 but that idea has been bumped.

For Mid-season premieres stay tune for Timeless, Shades of Blue, Trial & Error and The Wall as well as new freshman shows A.P. Bio, The Awesome Show, Champions, Ellen's Game of Games, Genius Junior, Good Girls, The Handmade Project, Reverie and Rise.

Here's what the schedule looks like:

Monday, Sept. 25:
8/7c The Voice
10/9c The Brace (New Series)

Tuesday, Sept. 26:
8/7c: The Voice
9/8c This Is Us
10/9c Law & Order: True Crimes (New Series)

Wednesday, Sept. 27
8/7c The Voice
9/8c Law & Order SVU
10/9c Chicago PD

Thursday, Sept. 28
8/7c Superstore
8:30/7:30c The Good Place
9/8c Will & Grace
9:30/8:30c Great News
10/9c Chicago Fire

Friday, Sept. 29th 
9/8c Dateline

Wednesday, Oct. 4
8/7c The Blacklist

Friday, Oct. 27
8/7c Blindspot

Thursday, Nov.9
8/7c Thursday Night Football (Through December 14th).

The News Moment: Great News "Carol Has a Bully"/"Carol's Eleven" Season Finale

In the hour-long season finale of Great News, Greg's grandmother makes her fierce appearance to The Breakdown, and Katie breaks the biggest story of the year.

"Carol Has a Bully"

When Greg announces that his grandmother is coming, he not only fears her but warns everyone of her as she is the boss of the MMN. While there, she looks around and observes Greg on how he does being the boss of The Breakdown. She sees Katie talking back to Greg in front of her.

Meanwhile, after Katie learns that Carol has been skipping school, she tries to get her to study for her test and puts off investigating papers from Biscuit Blitz accounts. But when another network got the scoop, Gregwass was upset for her beefing it up.

After talking with Chuck about his grandmother at dinner, Greg shows his tough side to her and storms out of their dinner. The next day, his grandmother was so proud that she offered him the news division when Carol asked Greg if she could stay working at the station even though she failed her final exam.

But Greg tells Carol that she was fired. Katie shows up and tells Greg that her mother has been a big part of this staff as their best friend and supporter. Greg decides not to fire Carol but to fire Katie instead.

"Carol Has a Bully" was a good episode that showed a lot of humorous moments, from Carol and Katie rapping to study for Carol's exam or when Carol was rapping to Katie about how she won't help her mother. There were a lot of "beep you" after that one. Saying "beep." I loved the parody British version of Shark Tank, Pond Scum. I'd watch that show over Shark Tank any day. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

"Carol's Eleven" 

With Katie being fired, she's now staying with Carol. Carol tries to be tough, but when she tries, she sees young Katie talking in a grown-up Katie way.

Meanwhile, things aren't going so well with the staff of The Breakdown as Greg's grandmother's changes aren't going so well. Chuck reads off The Breakdown social media room ( I'll call it the Yellow Room, like The Today Show's orange room), where he reads an insulting tweet. Plus, Portia now has to do product placements for all of Grandma's stuff on the network, one that's a hat with a birdcage hanging, which will make a nice Kentucky Derby hat next year.

But when Katie watches Pond Scum on television, she hears what Greg's grandmother says about a company one day will hack into their competition, which puts a light bulb on and runs to Greg, who's in the hospital about it.

The two devise a plan to make Greg's grandmother spill the beans about her hacking project on television without her knowing. The device of a real Journalist, Impossible, meets Ocean's 11 by using the max figure of Chuck while the honest Chuck is up on the roof telling the real viewers about what's going on. Greg's grandmother will be watching the fake news in real time, but soon, she'll figure it out and stop it. But she was the one that got fooled as her phone was hacked, thanks to Portia and Beth setting her up, and Katie and crew got her confession. ,

In the end, Katie and Greg make up by hugging and almost kissing each other until the crew comes in and also wants to kiss since it's a transitional British thing. One by one, everyone got to hug and kiss Greg. Carol was proud of Katie, and two walked out as Carol still saw Katie as a child and the other staff.

"Carol's 11" was an excellent episode that wrapped up a lovely story arc of the hacking scandal. Everyone in the cast was so good that this was an outstanding ensemble cast performance. I think that Katie and Greg's moment will carry on with that one moment. The writing was excellent in this episode. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10. Overall, this season, I offer a 9/10. It was one of the best new comedies on television. I can't wait to see where this show will go in the fall.

You can catch Great News in the fall on Thursday nights at 8:30/7:30c after Will & Grace on NBC.
 

Great News "The Red Door"/"Celebrity Hacking Scandal"

"The Red Door" 

When it comes to Carol and telling them not to do something, she does it anyway.

In this episode, Chuck asks Carol to go to his home and let the cable guy in to do some work and instructs her not to open the red door. Of course, we are all just wondering what is inside that door. Carol tries to do her best; even looking at Portia's hacked emails helped a little until when the cable guy left and shut the door, all of a sudden, the red door opened.

Carol looks in and sees Chuck, but as she talks to him, apparently Chuck loses his head, literally, and she runs screaming. She tells Chuck what didn't happen, but he realizes she opened it and looks. Chuck tells a story about how he was once going to be lead anchor at Nightly News and was such a big shot that he had a wax figure of himself put up (which is what Carol saw), but all things come to an end when he gets a call that he was passed over and they took his wax figure. The only two people who care about their wax figure are Chuck and Scott Baio. Chuck asked Carol to take the wax figure and dump it in the garbage.

In the meantime, Portia informs the staff that her computer was hacked, and everything from photos to emails is shared on the internet. Katie and Greg do their best not to look into it, but they do and read Portia's email saying that Katie and Greg were boning each other. It got into their heads that everyone must think they're a couple, but no one believes it.

One of the funniest scenes came when they try to explain that they're not a couple, but they could be, and Beth tells Greg that she thought he said to her that he had no gentles, for which he defines that he had and still kept saying he has gentles to Katie and she tells him that it's creepy to keep repeating it.

The two show the staff the email, and soon, Portia comes in pretty mad about it.  But she clears that email up, telling everyone that she thinks that Katie and Greg are dull and blames auto-correct for it. Soon, the camera guy runs in, saying that Chuck is on the roof and thinks he might jump. Everyone rushes outside, and Carol wonders and soon discovers the wax figure of Chuck that she placed on the roof. She runs to Chuck and tells him, and they rush up. Soon, Katie., goes up there, and as they talk it out, she tries to move the figure away from the edge, but it falls over and lands in the parking lot. Everyone was relieved and upset.

"The Red Door" was not its best episode, but had some hilarious moments. Watching Katie and Greg try to make a point that even though they are not together, they could be. Also, that scene with Beth telling Greg that he told her he had no gentles was hilarious. Also, just watching Andrea Martin and John Michael Higgins in this episode was funny, too, and draws some excellent chemistry. Overall, I give this episode a 7/10.

"Celebrity Hacking Scandal"  

Who can deliver, and who can not? Carol wants to move up in the news business, while Katie thinks she has the story of the century.

"Celebrity Hacking Scandal" stood out pretty well, with Carol trying to help produce a story for Portia. At the same time, Katie thinks she has the story of the century about the hacking of celebrity photos and other stuff.

When Katie tells Greg about it, he doesn't think she has something, and when Katie investigates why he gives her a hard time on this, she finds out that Greg once had a big scoop on the Loch Ness Monster, but it turns out nothing. But Katie has the source, who turns out to be an 11-year-old who did it, but it all led up to the online game Biscuits Blitz that's very popular.

Speaking of famous, Chuck and Portia fight over each other roles and spaces. Portia gets Chuck to play Biscuits Blitz, who gets addicted because he wants to get in touch with the younger people. But the scene with Chuck and Portia arguing was a hilarious part of the episode.

I enjoyed this episode, mostly watching Higgins and Richie go at it at times, as the two are hilarious. I was watching Greg and Katie go at it again. It is pretty good. I thought the writing was pretty good. Overall, I give this episode a 7/10.

You can catch the season finale of Great News on Tuesday, May 23, at an earlier time, 8/7c before The Voice Finale on NBC.

NBC 2017-2018 Fall Line Up

Sunday, NBC has reviled it's up coming fall schedule for the 2017-2018 TV season and it comes with some big news comes on the returning show. The Peacock network has annouced that the breakout hit The Is Us is moving from Tuesdays at 9pm to Thursdays at 9pm. In it's new slot, it will follow the must anticipated return of Will & Grace at 8pm and the Tina Fey produced sophomore comedy Great News at 8:30pm.

"Our Hopes is to create the return of Must See TV on Thursday," said NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt in a conference call with reporters on Sunday. "We really wanted to go after Thursday in a big way."

Greenblatt that the actual Must See brand will return this fall. And as previously reported, Will & Grace's episodes has increased to 12 and not to mention also revealed that Fey will make several guest appearances on Great News this fall.  

Former Thursday staple The Blacklist will move into Wednesday lead off position, while Superstore and The Good Place will head to Tuesdays.

To Note: Blindspot will be relocating to Fridays at 8pm where it will be paired with the second season of Taken. While the new military drama The Brave has scored the Voice post Monday nights.

Regarding on the fates of remaining bubble shows like Chicago Justice and Trail and Error, Greenblatt said that the decisions on those shows will be made in the coming days and (possible) weeks. Also the buzzy Casey Wilson-Busy Philips comedy pilot The Sackett Sisters is not dead, saying that "we haven't definitively said no "to picking it up."

On for Midseason or later: returning shows Chicago Med, Shades of Blue and Timeless plus new scripted series Rise, A.P. Bio, Good Girls Champions and Reverie.

Big news also This Is Us will get the Super Bowl Post Show!

Here's what the schedule looks like:

MONDAY
8/7c  The Voice
10/9c The Brave (NEW)

TUESDAY
8/7c The Voice
9/8c Superstore
9:30/8:30c The Good Place
10/9c Chicago Fire

WEDNESDAY
8/7c The Blacklist
9/8c Law & Order SVU
10/9c Chicago PD

THURSDAY
8/7c Will & Grace (NEW)
8;30/7:30c Great News
9/8c This Is Us
10/9c Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders

FRIDAY
8/7c Blindspot
9/8c Taken
10/9c Dateline

SATURDAY
8pm Dateline Mysterious
10/9c Saturday Night Live (encores)

SUNDAY
7/6c Football Night in America
8:20/7:20c Sunday Night Football

Not Returning: Aquarius, The Blacklist: Redemption, Grimm and Powerless.

Great News "Snowmageddon of the Century"/"Serial Arsonist"

"Snowmageddon of the Century"

When the whole staff can't wait to get home after a long week, a snowstorm stranded them in the office.

When the staff is on their last legs at the end of the week, they only want to finish the show and go home for the weekend. But when Carol wishes for a miracle about getting the staff and crew together, a snowmageddon leaves the staff and crew stuck.

Carol tries to get everyone closer, but no one wants to do this. It goes from bad to worst when Carol steals the staff of Morning Wined Up (a Kathie Lee and Hoda parody morning show) bottles of wine. When she handed them the bottles of wine, it became a second-holiday party, and everyone was doing some hilarious and awkward stuff.

Meanwhile, Katie gets to work with Chuck on a lead story, but Portia gets into Katie's head about how he wants to sleep with her. Katie tried to figure out how to handle it, and it was taken by kissing him, but it wasn't what he wanted. He told her that he was trying to test the waters as he has a young 20-something-year-old girl he likes to go out.

As everyone is still partying, Greg gets the call about how they will go live in 22 minutes to cover the winter storm. Everyone freaks out but comes together and puts on an excellent show, even though the introduction was slightly off.

This was one hell of an episode. I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end, and at one point, this was going to be one of these supersize episodes for some reason. We finally learned about Greg's Cat, who happens to be his girlfriend named Cat and not an animal. The cast was fantastic, and I don't think everyone played equally in performance. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

"Serial Arsonist" 

When a reporter is arrested, Katie takes over as field reporter.

When The Breakdown field reporter covers an arson fire and is caught for the arsonist, Greg searches for a reporter quickly. Carol thinks that Katie would be great for it, but Katie doesn't want her mother to make decisions for her like she did for a talent show.

After seeing the audition for reporters, Greg begs Katie to fill in, and she does, but after one night, everything goes into her head, and she finds out that her mother got input into her reporting.  Katie tries to give her mother payback, and instead of reporting live, she performs her act on the talent show. When Greg sees it, he freaks and puts the music video of Chuck and Justin's new theme song for the show as a replacement, which is catchy but crazy.

"Serial Arsonist" was another excellent episode. Heelan and Martin were great again in this episode. The writing was good. She was loved when Katie finally did her talent show ribbon dance. That was hilarious! Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

You can catch Great News on Tuesday nights at 9/8c on NBC.

Great News "Chuck Pierce Is Blind"/"War is Hell"

"Chuck Pierce is Blind" 

When Chuck announces that he's taking a day off from The Breakdown due to an award he's getting, Katie and Greg celebrate until Greg is reminded of the promises he made to everyone.

"Chuck Pierce is Blind" is probably one of the show's funniest episodes. Mostly, it's coming from John Michael Higgins' performance as Chuck, who announces that he's taking one day off due to an award he's getting but tells Carol that he's getting eye surgery.

With Katie and Greg being happy that they get a Chuck Free Day, Greg gets everyone from the crew to put their two cents into the show, from Portia's version, Justin's kick-ass, to even Beth, the weather lady given her climate rant (which was hilarious!).

Greg can't take it anymore, and when he sees what the show looks like, he and Katie call Chuck to get him back. After telling him someone will fill in for him, which gets him back to the studio even though his condition isn't good for him to see.

When Chuck comes back, and the program begins, everyone notices Chuck's eyes and how he's reading Portia's lines, thanks to Carol reading the script to him. It was one hell of a scene that I was crying while laughing.

This episode was a nonstop laughing machine of an episode. Higgins steals the episode, hands down. I even watched Adam Campbell and Nicole Richie shine in this episode too. I thought the writing was outstanding. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

"War Is Hell" 

When Katie's boyfriend returns, she thinks Carol is judging the boyfriends again.

When Katie's boyfriend, Trip, returns from covering a story in Syria, Carol discovers they are a secret couple. Katie tries to get her mother to stop judging her boyfriend like the other ones she has had. That was until Katie discovers that Trip is rich and finds that he isn't absorbing as he calls himself Trippy.

Meanwhile, with Trip returning, Chuck explains how he used to cover the dangers of war in other countries. But when Greg and Justin find out why Chuck doesn't go, Chuck proves to them that he can. And also sends all three to HR for one of the most awkward and hilarious HR meetings scenes.

"War is Hell" was an excellent episode. I thought that Martin and Heelan were outstanding once again in this episode. Also, Higgins stills the episode again. The writing was not as perfect as the previous episode, but it was still good. Overall, I give this episode an 8/10.

You can catch Great News on Tuesday nights at 9/8c on NBC.

Mother-Daughter Love: Great News 'Pilot"/"Bear Attack"

"Pilot"

Great News hits the mother-daughter relationship with a nail on the head in the best way possible. 

The series is about Katie, a producer at a local news station who does only puff pieces but wants to do more, but when her mother, Carol, whom she is very close to, comes in wanting to do an internship, it'll drive Katie to crazyvillie. When Greg hires Carol as Chuck's intern, Katie tries to get her fired, but it backfires when Carol has a connection with Chuck after forgetting his snack time. 

When Carol finds out about how Katie doesn't want her, she tries to convince her to come back, and also, after her hurricane lead story is downgraded, she gets her mother in a story as baby boomers returning to the workplace. 

The show makes fun of the inner and outside of the new media I enjoy. It's still got that 30 Rock vibe, but it's still perfect. The cast is fantastic, from Briga Heelan and Andrea Martin as Katie and Carol to Nicole Richie and John Michael Higgins as the two anchors of different ages. The writing was very, very good, probably an excellent pilot since The Good Place.
Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

"Bear Attack"

When a dangerous story comes, and Katie wants it, Carol leashes out her helicopter parenting to take effect. 

When a bear escapes the zoo, Katie wants to chase the story, but when Carol learns about what happened to someone, she becomes the helicopter parent once again and tries to get Katie away from the story. 

Carol tries to get Greg, the executive producer, to stop Katie from covering the story. After Kaite learns that Greg took her out, she tries to protect it, but Carol tries to diverge the situation. Katie catches on and tries to get to the zoo on a bike, but she hasn't learned how to ride a bike. And after many attempts, Carol shows her how, and soon, she rides off. 

Meanwhile, with The Breakdown losing in the ratings against another news program, Greg thinks that Chuck and Portia should talk at the end of the news about something they have in common. After several meetings with HR, the two finally found common ground with a topic: lemonade. It's either the Beyonce album or the drink, but it's familiar ground for discussion anyway. 

Katie did get that story, but also part of the footage when The Breakdown showed her riding the bike and crushing as she tried to stop. 

This episode was terrific. I thought that Bear Attack was hilarious and was just another well-written episode. As much as Heelan and Martin were great, Richie and Higgins were hilarious in this episode. I love the scene when they are in Greg's office, and as they try to find shared topics, they find one that could ruin their program: talking about their rival program. Also, the scene with Chuck trying to speak with Portia at the anchor desk as a warm-up ended up with an HR meeting. Funny!! Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Great News on Tuesday nights at 9/8c on NBC.

NBC Sets It's 2017 Midseason Premieres

On Thursday it was announced that NBC has reviled it's 2017 midseason schedule. The Peacock network is handing off This Is Us Tuesday tine slot to a pair of new comedies, with Shades of Blue relocating to Sunday nights. And The Blacklist spinoff, will take over the mothership's Thursday at 10/9c slot for two months.

Here's the breakdown:

TUESDAY: When This Is Us wraps it breakout first season in late February, back to back episodes of the freshmen comedy Trail & Error (starring John Lithgow) will fill that 9/8c slot. The series will debut with a single episode on March 7 at 9:30/8:30c after a 90 minute episode of The Voice, before going full hour mode starting March 14. And on April 25, back to back episodes of Great News (from 30 Rock duo Tina Fey and Robert Carlock) will take over the timeslot. BTW: This Is Us returns Jan. 10th.

THURSDAY: When The Good Place ends it's first season, DC Comics' Danny Pudi-Vanessa Hudgens comedy Powerless will take over the post-Superstore timeslot at 8:30/7:30c beginning Feb. 2. Meanwhile, The Blacklist: Redemption will launch on Feb. 23 in The Blacklist: Original Falvor's 10/9c slot, and will remain there for eight weeks. The Blacklist will return with original episodes on April 20th.

SUNDAY: Here's where NBC is bring back traditional family night and dramas night. Last season's biggest hit, Little Big Shots, will kick off season 2 on March 5th at 8/7c, where it will be followed by the series premiere of Dick Wolf's latest Chicago offshoot, Chicago Justice at 9/8c and Season 2 of Shades of Blue at 10/9c.

Also to mention: Late Night is taking on New Year's Eve as Seth Meyers with will host NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers New Year's Eve Special. The show will air Saturday, Dec. 31 at 10/9c, the hourlong special will feature appearances by Jennifer Lawrence (Passengers), Arnold Schwarzenegger (The New Celebrity Apprentice) and SNL's Leslie Jones with the addition of Kelly Clarkson who 'll perform "It's Quiet Uptown" from The Hamilton Mixtape.