On October 14, 1962, “The Coming of Astro” episode of The Jetsons aired. Elroy finds a dog, names him Astro, and George suggests a robot dog named Lectronomo. They have a series of contests to determine which the family will keep – it’s Astro. Starting in September, Sony will charge $2,899 for its robotic dog, Aibo.
It was a little shocking that CBS decided to bring “The Big Bang Theory” to an end . . . because no matter how expensive it was to pay the cast, it’s still a highly-rated show. But now, it’s starting to make sense. “Entertainment Weekly” says that JIM PARSONS wanted out . . . and the producers decided there wasn’t a show without Dr. Sheldon Cooper. There’s no word why he wanted out, but the upcoming season will be his 12TH YEAR doing the show . . . so he may have just wanted to do something different. It reportedly did NOT have to do with money. He’s making $1 million-plus an episode . . . and the two-season renewal that CBS was trying to negotiate could’ve paid him more than $50 million. Jim did post a long message on Instagram. He didn’t address wanting to leave . . . but he said he was grateful to the cast, crew, writers, and fans of the show.
ABC is working on bringing back “Bewitched” – a unique twist though. It’s from the creators of “Black-ish” . . . and it’ll feature Samantha as an African-American single mother who marries Darrin, who’s kind of a slacker. There’s no word on casting yet. This isn’t the first time they tried to bring back “Bewitched”. NBC tried to do a sequel series in 2014 that focused on Samantha’s granddaughter, but it never came together. And another reboot failed to get off the ground a few years earlier. The original show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from 1964 to 1972, and also had a spin-off about Samantha’s daughter “Tabitha” in 1977.
A list of major TV reboots that are either currently airing or in development includes: “MacGyver”, “Hawaii Five-0”, “Will & Grace”, “Dynasty”, “Murphy Brown”, “The Twilight Zone”, “Miami Vice”, “Rugrats”, and “ALF”.
KIRSTIE ALLEY says she wanted to have affairs with two leading men: PATRICK SWAYZE and JOHN TRAVOLTA. But she was married, so she didn’t. But she still loves Travolta, because he has an airplane.
The new Melissa McCarthy comedy “The Happytime Murders” is out this weekend. It’s a very graphic puppet movie directed by Brian Henson, the son of Jim Henson.
There are 19 in performers for Aretha Franklin’s funeral, including Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill, Chaka Khan, and more. The funeral takes place next Friday at 10:00 A.M. at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit. The day before that, there’ll be a free tribute concert in Detroit’s with Gladys Knight, the Four Tops among others.
LYNYRD SKYNYRD guitarist ED KING has died at 68. Ed co-wrote “Sweet Home Alabama”, and was also a founding member of the ’60s psychedelic band THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK.
CMT.com took a look at some of the songs TYLER HUBBARD and BRIAN KELLEY have written for other artists. The most recent hit is Jason Aldean’s “You Make It Easy”, which Brian and Tyler co-wrote with a couple of others. The two of them also had a hand in Jason’s “Lights Come On”, and “Burnin’ It Down”. They were co-writers on Cole Swindell’s “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight”, and they collaborated on Granger Smith’s “Happens Like That”. Tyler even had the “honor” of being on the writing team that came up with Mason Ramsey’s song, “Famous”. You know him better as the Walmart yodeling kid.
You can now start referring to BRETT YOUNG as “country singer slash model.” He’s the new face of Justin Timberlake’s clothing line, which is called William Rast. Brett models the fall campaign of the men’s collection. He says, “I’m so excited. It’s the first time I’ve done anything like this, and it’s been an absolute blast.” Brett’s engaged – he HAD to do a promo video with Victoria’s Secret angel Stella Maxwell, who does the female line. Speaking of Brett’s wedding. It’s in November and he’s letting his fiancée Taylor Mills do the planning. “What I said to her was just, ‘I’m going to stay out of your way until you ask me, and then when you ask me, I promise I’ll get it done as quickly as I can. But I want it to be the way that you want it to be.'”
CHARLES KELLEY posted video of a prank he played on DARIUS RUCKER while they were golfing. He placed a coiled-up fake snake next to the golf cart, and when Darius saw it, he totally freaked.
Friday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CBS: “NFL Preseason Football”. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Detroit Lions.
Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CBS: “NFL Preseason Football”. The Los Angeles Chargers host the New Orleans Saints.
Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on Fox: “NFL Preseason Football”. The Buffalo Bills host the Cincinnati Bengals.
Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on NBC: “NFL Preseason Football”. The Dallas Cowboys host the Arizona Cardinals.
