There’s a bunch of TV news out there, but it’s really hard to pay attention to any of it when the President of the United States is out here trying to start a race war.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

The TCAs continue afoot. The big names you might care about who presented this weekend including Amazon, Hulu, and Starz:

Over at Hulu:

Designing Women will begin streaming the original series beginning on August 26, Women’s Equality Day. A reboot is being developed at ABC — I’m going to take this move by Hulu to be a positive development for the reboot.

Rob Thomas, creator of Veronica Mars, is sounding hopeful about a fifth season, insisting that the finale of season four is a “big bet” on the series’ future. Here’s why that character had to die, according to Thomas. Don’t click on either link if you don’t want to be spoiled about the recent fourth season.

Meanwhile, this isn’t Hulu news, but Thomas is in charge of The Lost Boys pilot over at The CW, and says it will film this fall.

The upcoming Four Weddings and a Funeral series could have a second season if the audience demanded it — but it was written to be a complete story in 10 episodes. Mindy Kaling, the executive producer, says she was terrified to adapt the “perfect” original movie but knew that she had to jump at the chance to make it more inclusive.

The upcoming Kat Dennings series, Dollface, is being described as a magical realism dark comedy look at female friendships. So, pretty high concept, apparently.

Hulu’s Looking for Alaska will not remove any of the ambiguity at the center of the YA book — viewers will never learn what happened “that night.” It intends to remain very faithful to the book but with a little less “male gaze.”

Reprisal, starring Abigail Spencer, is being described as a “hyper-noir drama” that follows “a relentless femme fatale who, after being left for dead, leads a vengeful campaign against a bombastic gang of gearheads.” It’s going to play with notions of good and evil and will take place during an undetermined time in the 20th century. Huh.

RZA describes the upcoming Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga as “concentrated grape juice,” because their story has been condensed in the scripted version. Additionally, because its a scripted version of their story, it will include things the band was “too shy to say in front of a camera.”

“Wu-Tang has always entertained and inspired, and this show is inspirational,” RZA said. “The documentary touches on one thing, but this show touches on things that we were maybe shy to say in front of a camera. When you grow up in the ‘hood, you think every camera is a cop. But as mature men, we are willing to tell our story.”

As for Amazon:

Amazon canceled five different series this weekend and renewed two new series (see below).

Amazon isn’t going to be talking about its viewership numbers because it’s NONE OF YA BIZNESS.

Transparent’s creator Jill Solloway describes the series musical finale as the show’s chance to “heal together.” But she wants to make it clear, they are not making Maura’s death a celebration.

The upcoming Amazon series, Modern Love, is based on the New York Times column of the same name. It will star Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, John Slattery, and Catherine Keener among others. A trailer is below.

Carnival Row will reflect current anxieties about the immigration crisis, according to stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne. “It really looks at the fear that people have. I think there’s so much fear in the world today about immigrants, migrants, how are they going to come into our society,” Bloom said.

Amazon would very much like more Fleabag, please, and hope that Pheobe Waller-Bridge will change her mind about making more. As for Good Omens, they are open to more seasons, if Neil Gaiman is.

At Starz:

Starz thumbs its nose at Netflix.

Starz is excited with how American Gods‘ third season is coming along. Don’t expect it anytime soon, though.

Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander novels, took exception to Starz Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Hirsch’s comments about the show being about “eye candy” for female viewers. Gabaldon tweeted:

@Outlander_Starz – Jeffrey Hirsch

Well, I dunno, Jeffrey… At the moment, I’ve got 30+ million books in print, in 42 countries; I get a lot of mail. I can’t say I see a lot of people talking about Jamie with his shirt off, unless it’s mentioning the shock and poignancy of his scars.

I do see a lot of people (male, female, straight, gay, you name it) who love the books and love the show—and what they like about the show is how much it reflects what’s in the books. (Might be worth noting that when a woman is watching OUTLANDER, her husband or boyfriend is usually watching it with her…)

What they mostly say they like is the intelligence of the story and the complexity and strength of the relationship between Jamie and Claire. They also love the visual beauty of the show and the emotional depth of the acting.

If you’re looking for a place to lean in, though, I think maybe “intelligence” might be a good place to start.

Apparently, Counterpart was canceled by Starz because it was “too male” on a schedule that is trying to skew female.

“Counterpart was a great show, we had great partners in MRC and Justin is a great writer, but it was a very complicated show, a very male show. We had picked that show up and made a two season commitment before we’d honed in on this premium female strategy,” he said.

“When you look at bringing shows back, it really has to serve that core premium female audience and if it doesn’t we have to find something else,” Hirsch added. “If it doesn’t serve our core strategy, we’re just not going to do it.”

I’m going to assume they did not mean to suggest that female shows can’t be “very complicated.”

Power’s final season is going to air in two parts, one beginning this August, the other half will air next year.

The creator of Power would like you to know that she created it by herself, thankyouverymuch.

In other TCA news:

The new Gossip Girl will be a “subversion” of the original series. Creator Josh Schwartz considered revisiting the original characters as adults but realized it didn’t make sense, so it will follow a group of high schoolers again. “Eight years after the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. The prestige series will address just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years.”

The Epix upcoming series, Godfather of Harlem, will follow the real-life story of Bumpy Johnson, a crime boss in the 1960s, and it will address his relationship with Malcolm X, apparently.

Bless This Mess will have a pig next season. OK.

In non-TCA news

Solange is unbothered that y’all don’t know her new album.

We have an interesting detail about the newest Walking Dead spinoff pilot episode: it will involve a plane crash. As of now, there is no smoke monster, but stay tuned.

Here is a list of all the references and nods in this most recent season of Stranger Things.

And in “Oh God, Our President is SUCH A FUCKING RACIST” news:

The Klansman-in-Chief, as I am sure you heard, woke up Saturday morning and began tweeting hideously racist things about Congressman Elijah Cummings, head of the Congressional Oversight Committee, and his district in Baltimore. I am not going to copy each and everything he twatted out about Cummings this weekend, because frankly, there are too many and I don’t want to give his tweets any more power than I already have. But honestly, you get the gist of it from these first tweets:

Unsurprisingly, he seems to have been inspired by a Fox News segment.

Many people called him out for his blatant and ugly racism — none of them were Republicans, including supposed friend of Cummings, Mark Meadows, because they are a bunch of fucking cowards. Joe Scarborough, recovering Republican, called out his former party to speak out, but it is going to fall on deaf ears.

The Baltimore Sun wrote a blistering editorial that ended on this perfect note:

Finally, while we would not sink to name-calling in the Trumpian manner — or ruefully point out that he failed to spell the congressman’s name correctly (it’s Cummings, not Cumming) — we would tell the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes, the gleeful grabber of women’s private parts, the serial bankrupter of businesses, the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin and the guy who insisted there are “good people” among murderous neo-Nazis that he’s still not fooling most Americans into believing he’s even slightly competent in his current post. Or that he possesses a scintilla of integrity. Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one.

Mayor Pete demanded that we call this what it is: RACIST.

David Simon, former Baltimore Sun reporter and creator of The Wire, which is set in Baltimore, had some feelings:

CNN’s Victor Blackwell became emotional on-air defending his hometown:

Barack and Michelle Obama subtweeted the fucker:

The Illegitimate President, he doubled down, of course, attacking Cummings several more times before turning his attention to one of Cummings’ defenders, Al Sharpton:

Jesus fucking Christ. 

I mean, yes, there are parts of Baltimore that have a rodent problem — namely in apartment buildings a slumlord by the name of Jared Kushner owns. But a normal American President, a non-racist American President, would recognize that BALTIMORE IS PART OF THE UNITED STATES AND THEREFORE ITS PROBLEMS REFLECT ON HIM, TOO.

Putting the racism aside for a second (but not really, not at all), what this weekend illustrated better than anything is that the current occupant of the White House does not actually believe he is the President of the United States — he believes he is the President of MAGA Country. And anyone who didn’t vote for him or doesn’t actively cheer his administration on as they rip children from their parents at the border, destroy the environment and pack the courts with theocrats, they can go fuck themselves. They aren’t real America, in President Tinyhand’s rotting brain, the only real America is him. He is America.

And this isn’t related to racism, but apparently, President Dumbass thinks he was a 9/11 responder. It gets worse every single fucking day.

#MeToo

A Criminal Minds crew member has sued ABC Studios for sexual abuse and battery by a supervisor on the show.

Air Force General John E. Hyten, Trump’s nominee to be the next Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been accused by Colonel Kathryn A. Spletstoser, an Army veteran working at the Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska, of touching her inappropriately a few years ago. Sounds on brand.

A Once Upon a Time in Hollywood billboard in Los Angeles was vandalized with Epstein and Polanski’s names and faces. The artist responsible says that he was a victim of abuse as a child.

Bill Cosby is SO MAD his insurance company paid a settlement to Janice Dickinson. Good. I’m glad he’s angry.

Neil deGrasse Tyson will remain the director of the Hayden Planetarium while his sexual misconduct investigation is ongoing.

Renewals

Cancellations

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendar

  • Transparent’s musical finale will debut on Amazon on September 27.
  • Modern Love will premiere on Amazon on October 18.
  • Looking for Alaska will debut on Hulu on October 18.
  • Ballers returns on HBO on August 25.
  • Wu-Tang: An American Saga will debut on Hulu on September 4.
  • Undone will debut on Amazon on September 13 and it looks crazy:
  • Carnival Row will debut on Amazon on August 30.
  • Jack Ryan returns on Amazon “soon.”
  • Dollface will debut on Hulu on November 15.

  • Patsy & Loretta will debut on Lifetime … sometime.

R.I.P.

Russi Taylor, Emmy-nominated voice of Minnie Mouse, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Simpsons characters Martin Prince and twins Sherri and Terri, Üter Zörker, and Gummy Sue, Baby Gonzo on Muppet Babies and Pebbles Flintstone.

Bryan Magee, British philosopher, writer and broadcaster and host of Men of Ideas

John Ferriter, William Morris Agency EVP/Worldwide Head of Non-Scripted TV

Richard “Dick” Allen Fox, Founder of Fox Theaters, and one-time president of the National Association of Theater Owners (or NATO, just not that NATO)

WATCH THIS

The Bachelorette: Part one of the finale of the most emotionally exhausting season of The Bachelorette yet.  7 p.m., ABC

Lights Out with David Spade: In which Comedy Central tries to make Colbert’s time slot work with David Spade. Good luck, guys! Series premiere. 10:30 p.m., Comedy Central

Below Deck Mediterranean: I don’t watch these shows, but this episode is 75 minutes long, so something important must happen. 8 p.m., Bravo

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Rachel Brosnahan, Carla Gugino, Ty Dolla $ign
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: John Oliver, CC Sabathia, Mini Mansions, Jeff Quay
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Idris Elba, Maude Apatow, Perry Farrell
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Jeff Goldblum, Andie MacDowell, Bishop Briggs
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Melissa McCarthy, Michael Peña, Mac DeMarco
  • The Daily Show: Angela Bassett
  • Watch What Happens Live: June Foster, Colin Macy-O’Toole, Capt. Sandy Yawn

 

MON. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC The Bachelorette
(new)		 Grand Hotel
(new)
CBS Love Island
(new)		 The Big Bang Theory
(repeat)		 The Neighborhood
(repeat)		 Bull
(repeat)
CW Penn & Teller: Fool Us
(new)		 Whose Line is it Anyway?
(new)		 Whose Line is it Anyway?
(repeat)		 Local
FOX Beat Shazam
(new)		 So You Think You Can Dance
(new)		 News/Local
NBC American Ninja Warrior
(new)		 Dateline
(new)

One thought on “There’s a bunch of TV news out there, but it’s really hard to pay attention to any of it when the President of the United States is out here trying to start a race war.”

  1. “I’m going to assume they did not mean to suggest that female shows can’t be ‘very complicated.’”

    Well, apparently Jeffrey Hirsch thinks all you need to do is have the male lead take his shirt off a lot. Doesn’t sound complicated.

    Reply

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