Manifest was renewed at NBC yesterday.
And don’t worry, the showrunner has plenty of hackneyed ideas about what the second season and beyond will look like. GET THIS, GUYS: it’s going to be about fate vs. free will! And good vs. evil! And fate vs. free will. I have no plans to blog this show anymore unless there are exactly zero good candidates for a hate blog next season. But if I am being completely honest, I will probably be watching for all the glorious CGI WOLF and super-vomiting action.
If you’ve been watching The Act, you might be interested to know that Gypsy Rose has recently gotten engaged.
I have bad news for you if you were hoping for Sharp Objects 2. Honestly, this is for the best. Also, Gillian Flynn has other novels, y’all. Go adapt those.
The 100 has released pictures from the upcoming season premiere. (It’s mostly a bunch of pictures of people in seatbelts looking at … something.) The 100 returns on April 30.
After the announcement that Disney+ is going to be hosting The Simpsons — all 600+ episodes — NBCUniversal and Warner Media are expected to be taking back The Office, Seinfeld, The Big Bang Theory, and Friends for their own streaming offering. But, again, how many streamers are people going to be willing to subscribe to?
Meanwhile, in the fight between Disney+ and AppleTV+, Disney+ has the advantage. At least among people who are Star Wars/Disney/Marvel freaks … so pretty much everyone in America. That said, I am personally more likely to subscribe to AppleTV+ myself.
MTV is launching RealityCon — a convention for reality television stars. The only real question is how this is only happening now and not 10 years ago.
This is crazy: Twitter deleted a number of tweets linking to shows that had been pirated and leaked online. Which fine! Absolutely! But then Twitter started deleting tweets that included an article by TorrentFreak about how these shows had been leaked online — an article that didn’t include links to the pirated episodes. And then! Twitter deleted tweets saying they had deleted tweets to this article about shows that had been leaked online. Reportedly, Starz had demanded tweets to the story be taken down, and has since apologized to TorrentFreak. But Nazis and incel trolls who threaten women and minorities on Twitter? Y’all just keep tweeting away.
By the way, here’s the story Twitter and Starz didn’t want you to read.
For all two of you who are interested in this Writers Guild Association fight with their agents, things have gotten worse: after a bunch of prominent writers and showrunners posted their termination letters yesterday, the agents are digging in. Now the WGA is about to sue the Association of Talent Agents, so who even knows how long this will go on. This is what is at heart of the issue:
The guild is attempting to ban the long-standing industry practice of talent agencies receiving packaging fees for helping to assemble TV series and some movies. WGA maintains that agents’ interests have become “misaligned” with writer clients because packaging fees are paid by the production entity. Instead of the standard 10% commission on a client’s salary, agencies that receive a TV series package waive the 10% commission fee for all clients of the agency that work on the show. The guild maintains that agents’ incentive is skewed in favor of the production company and against fighting for the highest salaries for writers on the show.
Meanwhile, one writer, Jon Robin Baitz, known for Brothers and Sisters, and — hilariously — The Slap, has refused to fire his agent. I guess because when you’re the writer of The Slap you have to hang on to any agent you can get.
The Directors Guild of America have told their members that they don’t have to fire their agents either in solidarity or because they might also be a writer, so that’s interesting.
Cancellations
- Vice Live has been canceled at Viceland.
In Development
- The showrunners of Y have departed the FX series.
- Copwatch America is coming to BET.
- A Babysitter’s Guide to Hunting Monsters is being turned into a Netflix film.
- Mama K’s Team 4 has been ordered by Netflix.
- Maximum Harm, a docuseries about the Boston Marathon bombing, is being developed.
- Netflix has ordered 10 new Indian films.
- AlRawabi School for Girls has been ordered by Netflix.
- Jessica Queller, the showrunner of Supergirl, has signed an overall deal with Warner Bros. TV.
Casting News
- Sterling K. Brown will appear in the third season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
- Shemar Moore is going to return for The Young and the Restless tribute to Kristoff St. John.
Mark Your Calendars
- CourtTV is going to relaunch on May 8. Check out their lineup here.
- The Loudest Voice is going to debut on Showtime on June 30.
- The Twilight Zone: “A Traveler” will debut on Thursday.
- Grass is Greener is debuting on Netflix on April 20.
- You’re going to have to wait until 2020 for Westworld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Insecure and new series, Run.
- Late Night with Seth Meyers will have an extra long episode on Thursday to cover the Mueller Report, but also a special segment with Leslie Jones watching the return of Game of Thrones. YESSSSSS.
- iZombie returns on The CW on May 2.
- Archer will return on FXX on May 29.
- Peyton’s Places will debut on ESPN+ on July 1.
R.I.P.
Georgia Engel, Actress best known for Mary Tyler Moore Show and Everybody Loves Raymond. Her co-stars remember her as “an angel.”
Gene Wolf, Science fiction and fantasy author
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: I DON’T WATCH REAL HOUSEWIVES SHOWS FOR POLITICAL ARGUMENTS. 8 p.m., Bravo
Bless This Mess: I really like Lake Bell and I really like Dax Shepard and I really like Ed Begley, Jr. so I’m rooting for this new sitcom about a big city couple moving to a farm. 8:30 p.m., ABC
The Rookie: Season finale. 9 p.m., ABC
Event Horizon: With the news of that black hole photo, this seems like an appropriate time to revisit this movie. 7:15 p.m.
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Alex Rodriguez, Ashley Benson, Jade Bird
- Late Night with Seth Meyers: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mark Hamill, Ashley Longshore
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Laurie Metcalf, Ramy Youssef, Cage the Elephant
- The Late Late Show with James Corden: Rob Lowe, Elle Fanning, Blood Orange
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Martin Short, Katie Stevens, Christine and the Queens
- Conan: Taylor Tomlinson
- Busy Tonight: Robin Tunney
- Watch What Happens Live: Lisa Rinna, Ciara
| TUES. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | American Housewife (new) |
The Kids Are Alright (new) |
black-ish (new) |
Bless This Mess (new) |
The Rookie (new) |
| CBS | NCIS (new) |
FBI (new) |
NCIS: New Orleans (new) |
| CW | The Flash (new) |
Roswell, New Mexico (new) |
Local |
| FOX | MasterChef Junior (new) |
Mental Samurai (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | The Voice (new) |
The Village (new) |
New Amsterdam (new) |
Manifest is renewed? Meh. It wasn’t good enough or bad enough to really enjoy. It got too hard to suspend disbelief and maintain interest.
But, For the People may be in trouble? This show I like… the stories, the characters, the cast. Could they at least consider a spinoff featuring Kate and Sandra? Those two are great separately and together.
For as batshit crazy and poorly written as it was, Manifest pulled really good ratings.