As was obvious from the cute animal videos you were subjected to earlier this week, I went out of town — which yay for me! However, while I was marching around Manhattan and Brooklyn on college tours for the eldest Little T, rudely the Television Critics Association did not halt their conference and SO MUCH TV NEWS happened. So much, in fact, that I’m going to have to spread it out over the next few posts. Apologies in advance for the onslaught of TV news you are about to drown in.
ABC at the TCAs:
Obviously, the biggest story of the year for ABC has been Roseanne, and ABC wasn’t going to be able to avoid talking about it. Channing Dungey, the head of ABC, said the decision to cancel the show was made very swiftly, but that she has no regrets about bringing back the series:
“We obviously knew that she had a slightly volatile history in the previous incarnation of Roseanne,” she said. “She had come to us very clear that she wanted to make the show a priority, really wanting a second chance at this and we took that at face value. I don’t regret it, I am never going to regret waking up that morning and seeing the ratings from that first season, amazing. It’s been a journey with ups and downs but I’m very excited about what we’re going to have with the Conners in the fall, I think its going to be great.”
As for The Conners — the Roseanne spinoff — is being kept under strict lock and key. Even Channing Dungey hasn’t seen a script.
Who will be our next Bachelor? The leading contenders according to ABC are: Blake, Jason, Colton, Wills and Grocery Joe. They say they could pull someone from a different season, but it seems unlikely considering how Arie’s season went.
Oh, now the creators of Modern Family are threatening an 11th season. Great.
Might there be another ABC/Marvel series? There might!
The Goldbergs will pay tribute to Sixteen Candles in their season premiere in celebration (or rather neglect of) Adam’s 16th birthday.
Meredith is going to continue being lonely on Grey’s Anatomy.
Single Parents is going to be ABC’s “edgy” family comedy. OK.
The creator of the upcoming comedy The Kids Are Alright was pressed on why there weren’t more female characters on his sitcom and he was basically, “Uh, because it’s based on my life?” Fair.
Ad breaks and censors: why Kenya Barris is headed to Netflix.
Kanye is going to be on tomorrow’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (This wasn’t from the TCAs, but it does relate to ABC, so.) And apparently, Kanye was supposed to be on Carpool Karaoke but canceled on James Corden at the last second. Presumably, these two things are unrelated, but who knows.
Disney doesn’t want you to think that their upcoming streaming service is going to be the next Netflix. At least not right away. But hey, it’ll probably be cheaper than Netflix, so there’s that.
FX held their panels at the TCAs on Friday:
John Landgraf thinks it’s “crummy” that Netflix is hoarding all the good stuff. He also is trying to rename the “Golden Age” of television “the Gilded Age,” and admits that his estimations of the peak of Peak TV have been off.
Here, Landgraf talks about a bunch of your favorite projects (some of which are discussed below), but this interview is notable for his comments on the Donald Glover Deadpool project (Marvel killed it, not FX) and whether or not Louis CK will ever be back (yeah, probably not).
Here’s what we know about American Horror Story: Apocalypse so far, including who Sarah Paulson will be playing. And Jessica Lange is returning, yay! But for only one episode. BOOOOOOOOOOO. Also, Paulson and Evan Peters will get to direct some episodes. And Joan Collins got her role just by being at the right place at the right time — i.e., a fancy Hollywood party.
Pose season 2 will begin in 1989 and end with the release of Madonna’s Vogue. Also, the AIDS epidemic — and activism — will expand during the season. THEY BETTER NOT KILL MY PRAY TELL.
Feud: Charles and Diana is not going to happen and American Crime Story: Katrina is delayed. (Honestly, I wondered how Ryan Murphy was planning to keep all these balls in the air at the same time, especially now with his Netflix deal.)
So will Dennis be back on It’s Always Sunny? Click to find out. Don’t click to avoid spoilers.
Related: The show shared a clip with the TCAs of Mac coming out to his father — but again, to avoid being spoiled, don’t click the clicky — and Rob McElhenney talked about how supportive the LGBTQ community has been regarding Mac’s coming out story. And don’t worry: Danny Devito will not be getting ripped for the show.
The creator of You’re the Worst (whose creator started off as a recapper at Television Without Pity which just makes SO MUCH SENSE) on wanting to stick the landing for the series.
Related: Lindsey is the worst. Next question?
FX+, FX’s add-free streaming platform ($5.99 a month for everyone), will now be available to everyone, not just Comcast and Cox subscribers. You’ll be able to watch the premiere of Mayans MC on it early, if that’s important to you.
Speaking of Mayans MC: There will be some Sons of Anarchy cast making cameos. Maybe even Jax’s kids? Here, Kurt Sutter and his co-writer Elgin James who himself is Latino talk about the worry about depicting Latinos as violent: “The stories that I like to tell are about people who are damaged,” Sutter said. “They live outside the parameters of the norm or what’s expected. As a result of that, there’s a rogue component, an outlaw component. And that’s the case here. But I never write these guys from the point of view that they’re dangerous or bad. I write them from the idea that they’re human beings.”
Hoping Legion would lighten up a little next season? TOO BAD.
The monkey in Y is going to be CGI because FX learned a valuable lesson from Friends.
Also, FX picked up this series, Mr. Inbetween, which I completely forgot about.
In non-TCA-related TV news:
“Our response to Evie’s comments in the media was to immediately reach out to her to profoundly apologize for the experience she detailed while working on Lost,” the statement read. “We have not yet connected with her, but remain deeply and sincerely sorry. No person should ever feel unsafe at work. Period.”
One of my favorite stories of the last couple days has been the Lance Bass/HGTV DRAMAZ over the Brady Bunch house. Bass thought that he had placed the winning bid on the house, only to learn that HGTV outbid him after the deadline, and he thinks the seller’s agents were using him to drive up the bid. HGTV (as did Lance Bass) intends to restore the house to its 1970s glory. Interestingly, Ryan Seacrest had the best idea on Live! this morning: Hire Bass to be a host of the renovation show and then allow him to either buy it — or make it his salary. Everyone wins! Seacrest is a modern-day King Solomon.
STOP TALKING ABOUT A PARKS AND REC REBOOT. STOP IT.
The Oscars are going to add an “achievement in popular film” category — but it’s unclear what that even means. Also, it’s going to be limited to 3 hours. WE’LL SEE.
Game of Thrones released the script from last season’s finale, and it has some interesting details, including hints at the possible survival of two favorites.
The 100 showrunner talks about that finale, and what is to come in season 6 (which hasn’t been ordered yet but probably will be).
Lodge 49 debuted on Monday, but you can binge all 10 episodes on the AMC site if you’re interested.
David Faustino says that a Married with Children reboot could be in the works, but that’s probably just wishful thinking from David Faustino.
Could Erica Kane ever make an appearance on General Hospital? MAYBE. This is actually interesting if you watch(ed) ABC soap operas — ABC only recently regained the rights to the One Life to Live and All My Children characters apparently, which means it’s possible we could see other characters appear on the last soap standing.
Psych: The Movie 2 is still going to happen. Maybe. Probably. Maybe.
Wait, Renee Alway from America’s Next Top Model was in jail for felony burglary, vehicle theft and weapons charges? GIRL. I hope you get your life together. Stay away from the meth.
Oh, God, is Tiffany Trump going to appear on Lindsay Lohan’s MTV reality show?
Finally, here are a couple of things The President of the United States tweeted while I was gone:
I’m not going to spend too much time on this, because I’m sure you’ve heard all about it, but the President tweeted this Friday night after Lebron James was interviewed by Don Lemon on CNN:
This sparked, as you can imagine, a million memes, as well as responses by both Michael Jordan and Melania Trump in support of James. And while there is nothing particularly surprising about this tweet — it is well in keeping with everything we know about the character of the Monster-in-Chief — there is still something stunning about the blatant racism on display here by the actual President of the actual United States. Stunning and sickening.
Now, take that tweet, which also targets Don Lemon, in conjunction with this one from Sunday …
… and then listen to this death threat Lemon and Brian Stelter received over on C-SPAN:
He’s going to get someone killed. It’s just a matter of time.
Sex Monster News
Les Moonves/CBS news:
- CBS, somewhat awkwardly, had to go to the TCAs on Monday and deal with LOTS of questions. CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl swore that the culture in the West Coast CBS offices did not reflect the allegations coming from New York. Of course, that doesn’t account for Brad Kern or others or for the possibility that so many accusations might suggest a problematic culture in general. He also said that Moonves has been a “great boss and mentor.” His comments were met with some skepticism:
Most telling of all, he wouldn’t allow that maybe, just maybe, so many unearthed allegations of abuse might signal a need for deep-rooted institutional change throughout CBS. Instead, he pointed to an upcoming campaign to highlight gender bias in the media with a hashtag (#SeeHer), and EyeSpeak, an effort within CBS to empower women within the company.
Like Kahl warned us: there was only so much he could say on the subject of workplace harassment within CBS. But his insistence that he and CBS cares about the allegations was all but negated by his insistence that CBS has always been great. Even if he or those at his level can’t personally relate to the multiplying reports of workplace abuse, the fact remains that there are many dozens who can. If that’s not enough to allow for even an infinitesimal acknowledgement that CBS hasn’t always handled these issues well, it’s hard to imagine that they’re taking them as seriously as they say.
- Bard Kern, by the way, is still suspended.
- Murphy Brown creator, Diane English, said she supports the investigation.
- A women’s advocacy group hired a truck to drive around the TCAs with a billboard that read: “We believe the women sexually harassed and assaulted by Leslie Moonves. Why doesn’t CBS? FIRE MOONVES NOW.”
- The investigation into Moonves is being consolidated into their ongoing investigation into Charlie Rose.
- CBS and Moonves did not talk about the elephant in the room on last week’s earnings call, thankyouverymuch. Analysts were unimpressed. And it suggested that Moonves is going nowhere anytime soon.
- Meanwhile, Jeff Fager did not return from “vacation” this week and won’t be returning for a while.
- CBS News botched his name in a graphic. LOL “MOOVES.”:
- Oh no, Leo from The Bachelorette is denying sexual harassment accusations that are being pushed by Bekah from The Bachelor. BACHELOR NATION IN CHAOS, Y’ALL. And I really liked him, boo.
- Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys is under investigation by the LA District Attorney’s office for an incident from 2003.
- Harvey Weinstein was allowed to include emails from one of his accusers in his trial. He’s trying to use the emails to get the whole case thrown out.
- Kimberly Guilfoyle’s lawyers have been threatening Huffington Post over that report that she was gross over at Fox News.
- People are demanding that Jessica Chastain replace the director on her upcoming film Eve, Matthew Newton, who has been accused of physically assaulting two women.
- Kevin Spacey’s final (?) film, Billionaire Boys Club, sounds … cringey.
Renewals
- American Horror Story has been renewed for a tenth season by FX.
- Fargo has finally been renewed by FX, and will star Chris Rock!
- To Tell the Truth, Celebrity Family Feud, and $100,000 Pyramid have all been renewed by ABC.
- Queen Sugar has been renewed by OWN.
- Total Bellas has been renewed by E!
Still in Talks:
- Big Bang Theory might be renewed. (And this is weird: maybe it’s not over for Code Black? I thought it was canceled?)
- The 100 will probably be renewed.
- Showtime would love another season of Who is America?
- I’m Dying Up Here‘s fate has not been determined by Showtime.
Cancellations
- Trial & Error has been canceled by NBC and is being shopped to other networks.
- Homeland’s 8th season will be its last.
- The Chris Gethard Show has been canceled by truTV.
In Development
- Devs has been ordered at FX — and Nick Offerman is going to star. Sonoya Mizuno is going to co-star.
- Shogun has been ordered by FX.
- Love Island is officially coming to CBS, look out.
- “Hey There Delilah” — the song — is being turned into a TV show for some unfathomable reason.
- The Facts of Life is maybe being rebooted. See R.I.P. for sad related news.
- American Gladiators is being rebooted by Seth Rogan — yes, that Seth Rogan — and being shopped to networks.
- The Ambassador, an adaptation of a Spanish series, has been picked up by ABC.
- Slaughterhouse-Five is being developed into a series by Epix.
- Million Dollar Mile has been ordered at CBS.
- Tamron Hall is in talks with ABC for a syndicated daytime talk show.
- Kevin Kwan, the Crazy Rich Asians author, has been given an order for a drama at Amazon.
- Gabby Duran & The Unsittables has been ordered by Disney.
- Pachinko has been bought by Apple.
- AMC has opened writers’ rooms for the animated series Pantheon and drama St. Luke’s.
- Patricia Heaton’s production company has signed a deal with CBS and will be working on a series for her.
- Guantanamo will not be moving forward at Showtime.
Casting News
- The Coven is getting back together on American Horror Story: Apocalypse!
- ALSO, JESSICA LANGE. FINALLY. (But as Constance, not Fiona.)
- Ruby Rose has been cast as Batwoman for The CW’s upcoming crossover event.
- Patrick Wilson is going to star in Netflix’s In the Tall Grass. Laysla De Oliveira and Harrison Gilbertson will co-star.
- Dylan Schombing, Adelynn Spoon, and Lily Rose Smith are joining Watchmen.
- Abigail Spencer will star in the Hulu pilot Reprisal.
- Linda Cardellini is going to star in Netflix’s Dead to Me.
- Niecy Nash, Aunjanue Ellis, Kylie Bunbury, Marsha Stephanie Blake, and Storm Reid have joined the cast of Central Park Five on Netflix.
- Sylvia Hoeks and Archie Madekwe are joining the cast of See on Apple.
- Frances Turner, Clé Bennett, and Rich Ting are joining The Man in the High Castle.
- Kristen Gutoskie will recur on Chicago Fire.
- Morgan Fairchild is starring in Melange, an LGTBQ miniseries that does not yet have a network attached.
- Iddo Goldberg is joining Snowpiercer on TNT.
Mark Your Calendars
- American Horror Story: Apocalypse will return on FX on September 12, and the enigmatic teasers have begun:
- House of Cards will return for its final season on Netflix on November 2 — just in time for Election Day.
- The Circus will return on Showtime on September 16 — just in time for the Midterms.
- Maniac will debut on Netflix on September 21 and IT LOOKS BONKERS.
- Tell Me a Story, Kevin Williamson’s sexy/scary/modern-fairy-tale series on CBS All Access will debut on October 31.
- Zion will debut on Netflix this Friday:
- Mickey’s 90th Spectacular — an “elegant” celebration of Disney’s 90th anniversary — is going to air on ABC on November 4.
- Life, a K-drama, will begin streaming on September 12.
- Fear the Walking Dead will return on AMC on Sunday.
- The Innocents will debut on Netflix on August 24.
R.I.P.
Charlotte Rae, Actress, most famous for her role as Mrs. Garrett on The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes — but she was in countless TV roles and before that was a Tony-nominated actress on Broadway
Douglass Grindstaff, Emmy-winning sound editor notable for his work on the original Star Trek
Vincenzo Labella, Writer-producer of the Marco Polo and Jesus of Nazareth miniseries
James “L.B.” Bonner, A star of My 600-Pound Life
Joël Robuchon, French chef and host of French cooking shows. (If you ever have an opportunity to eat at one of his restaurants — L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon or Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, or New York City, take it. It’s an experience you won’t soon forget.)
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of New York City: Back on solid ground, the women have real estate issues. 8 p.m., Bravo
CMA Fest: Jason Aldean; Dierks Bentley; Brothers Osborne; Kane Brown; Luke Bryan; Luke Combs; Dan + Shay; Brett Eldredge; Florida Georgia Line; Sam Hunt; and Dustin Lynch perform. 7 p.m., ABC
Inception: ~spinning top~ 8 p.m., IFC
Reverie: Season finale. 9 p.m., NBC
Late Night: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Ryan Seacrest, Ruby Rose, Rae Sremmurd Late Night with Seth Meyers: Seth Rogen, Alyssa Milano, Chef Angie Mar, Joey Castillo The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Jim Acosta, Nina Dobrev The Late Late Show with James Corden: Ray Romano, Chloe Grace Moretz, Lord Huron Jimmy Kimmel Live: Kristen Bell, John David Washington, Brett Eldredge The Daily Show: Big Boi Watch What Happens Live: Sonja Morgan, Michael Rapaport
| WEDS. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | CMA Fest 2018 (new) |
| CBS | Big Brother (new) |
Criminal Minds (repeat) |
SEAL Team (repeat) |
| CW | Burden of Truth (new) |
Supergirl (repeat) |
Local |
| FOX | MasterChef (new) |
Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | World of Dance (new) |
Reverie (new) |
(And this is weird: maybe it’s not over for Code Black? I thought it was canceled?)
OboyOboyOboy!
-Jim
Aw man. Trial & Error being cancelled makes a round 10 shows I really enjoyed being yanked in one season. On the bright side, my DVR will welcome not hanging out around 99%