It’s time for another Television Critics Association press tour which means a whole bunch of TV news gets dumped into our laps all at once.
Fox kicked off the tour yesterday, and dropped a ton of news:
Contrary to what the showrunner hinted, Fox insists that Jussie Smollet will NOT be in the Empire series finale. They also discussed a potential spinoff series for Taraji P. Henson’s Cookie — which would suggest she survives the series? But nothing has been even pitched so don’t get your hopes up.
NOW DON’T GET EXCITED BECAUSE IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, but Fox hinted that they might be open to a Firefly reboot. LIKE I SAID, DON’T GET EXCITED.
The Masked Dancer, a spinoff of sorts of The Masked Singer based on a bit that was done on Ellen, is coming to the network with Ellen DeGeneres producing.
Speaking of The Masked Singer, Jamie Foxx will join the judges’ panel in the season premiere following the Super Bowl. And Mayim Bialik, Terry Crews, Nicole Byer, and The Lego Movie writers and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will appear as guest stars on the new competition series LEGO Masters.
Hey, there’s talk of Connie Britton returning to 9-1-1 for multiple episodes.
BH90210, which was a delightful surprise of a series, was canceled because the heads of Fox lack imagination. Or in other words: “To sustain something that meta and heightened in the long-term is incredibly hard.” BOO.
There are no plans to revive either 24 or Prison Break, but that doesn’t mean Fox won’t stop teasing that there might be one day.
And there will be no The OC reboot. Just one God damned disappointment after another.
The Moodys renewal is still up in the air, though a decision is expected sometime soon.
Some new shows in development at Fox:
- The Texanist, a comedy based on the Texas Monthly advice column.
- I Can See Your Voice, an adaptation of a Korean musical mystery game show.
- A reboot of America’s Most Wanted.
- A holiday special from the Robot Chicken guys.
- And this isn’t a new show, but Mara Brock Akil, the creator of Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane and The Game, has signed an overall deal with Fox Entertainment.
In other TV news:
Lizzo is going to perform at the Grammys. So are Billie Eilish, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani (together?) and Aerosmith.
GLAAD has announced their nominees for their Media Awards (click the link for all the other nominees in films, music, video games, Broadway, and many other categories):
Outstanding Drama Series
“Batwoman” (The CW)
“Billions” (Showtime)
“Euphoria” (HBO)
“Killing Eve” (AMC)
“The L Word: Generation Q”(Showtime)
“The Politician” (Netflix)
“Pose” (FX)
“Shadowhunters” (Freeform)
“Star Trek: Discovery” (CBS All Access)
“Supergirl” (The CW)
Outstanding Comedy Series
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (NBC)
“Dear White People” (Netflix)
“Dickinson” (Apple TV+)
“One Day at a Time” (Netflix)
“The Other Two” (Comedy Central)
“Schitt’s Creek” (Pop)
“Sex Education” (Netflix)
“Superstore” (NBC)
“Vida” (Starz)
“Work in Progress” (Showtime)
Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series w/o a regular LGBTQ character)
“Love” Drunk History (Comedy Central)
“Murdered at a Bad Address” Law & Order: SVU (NBC)
“Spontaneous Combustion” Easy (Netflix)
“This Extraordinary Being” Watchmen (HBO)
“Two Doors Down” Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Netflix)
Outstanding TV Movie
“Deadwood: The Movie” (HBO)
“Let It Snow” (Netflix)
“Rent: Live” (FOX)
“Transparent: Musicale Finale” (Amazon)
“Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story” (Lifetime)
Outstanding Limited Series
“Mrs. Fletcher” (HBO)
“The Red Line” (CBS)
“Tales of the City” (Netflix)
“When They See Us” (Netflix)
“Years & Years” (HBO)
Outstanding Kids & Family Programming
Andi Mack (The Disney Channel)
The Bravest Knight (Hulu)
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)
The Loud House (Nickelodeon)
“Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone” Arthur (PBS)
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling (Netflix)
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix)
Steven Universe: The Movie (Cartoon Network)
“A Tale of Two Nellas” Nella the Princess Knight (Nick Jr.)
Twelve Forever (Netflix)
Outstanding Reality Program
“Are You the One?” (MTV)
“Bachelor in Paradise” (ABC)
“I Am Jazz” (TLC)
“Queer Eye” (Netflix)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1)
Looks like another The Walking Dead character will be moving over to Fear the Walking Dead. But don’t get too excited, it’s a fairly minor character.
CNN settled a defamation lawsuit with that Covington High School student Nicholas Sandmann.
Y’all: Larry David’s dog is named “Bernie.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association is super pissed that President Anthill Kicker had a secret meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Vice Minister of Defense that they only found out about when Saudi Arabia released a statement and photos. No part of any of this is surprising.
WHCA Statement on White House Meeting with Saudi Minister pic.twitter.com/OneVtd8Wcw
— WHCA (@whca) January 7, 2020
Renewals
The CW just renewed a bunch of shows:
- Riverdale
- The Flash
- DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
- Supergirl
- All American
- Black Lightning
- Batwoman
- Dynasty
- Legacies
- Charmed
- Nancy Drew
- In the Dark
- Roswell, New Mexico
- Katy Keene
In Development
- The Duplass Brothers have signed a first-look deal with HBO.
- The Hot Drop, a dating series, is coming to Quibi.
- El Internado: Las Cumbres, a reboot of the Spanish series El Inernado is coming to Amazon.
Casting News
- Melissa McCarthy is joining the cast of Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu. It’s from David E. Kelly and will co-star Nicole Kidman.
- Emily Rossum is starring as Angelyne in a limited series on Peacock.
- Brian Geraghty is returning to the Chicago Fire/Chicago P.D. crossover on NBC.
- Oliver Peck is leaving Ink Masters following the blackface scandal.
- Lana Zak is joining CBSN as an anchor.
Mark Your Calendars
- Locke & Key will premiere on Netflix on February 7. IT LOOKS FUN. Also, stick around for a little Easter egg at the end of the trailer.
- Ozark will return on Netflix on March 27.
- Family Reunion will return on Netflix on January 20.
- Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made will debut on Disney+ on February 7.
- Strike Back will return on Cinemax on February 14, so happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
- Our Cartoon President will return on Showtime on January 26.
- Chopped Sweets premieres on Food Network on February 3.
R.I.P.
Silvio Horta, Creator of Ugly Betty
June Bacon-Bercey, First African-American TV meteorologist
WATCH THIS
Stumptown: Dex is hired by a famous TV judge. Winter premiere. 9 p.m., ABC
Party of Five: An update on the classic family drama in which the kids aren’t orphaned, but their parents are deported. TOO CLOSE TO REAL. Series premiere. 8 p.m., Freeform
Chicago Med: A former patient returns and causes problems. Winter premiere. 7 p.m., NBC
Undercover Boss: Season premiere. 7 p.m., CBS
Chicago Fire: Boundaries are redrawn creating trouble. Winter premiere. 8 p.m., NBC
Criminal Minds: Season premiere. 8 p.m., CBS
Modern Family: Alex gets set up in a luxury apartment. Winter premiere. 8 p.m., ABC
Single Parents: Will and Angie pretend to be a couple. Winter premiere. 8:30 p.m., ABC
Chicago P.D.: The team tries to focus on work in the winter premiere. 9 p.m., NBC
True Life Crime: True Life takes on true crime. Series premiere. 8 p.m., MTV
America’s Top Dog: THEY’RE ALL TOP DOGS, BRENT. Series premiere. 8 p.m., A&E
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Quentin Tarantino, Jodie Whittaker, Nathaniel Rateliff
- Late Night with Seth Meyers: Tiffany Haddish, M. Night Shyamalan, SHAED, Caitlin Kalafus
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Larry David
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: John Cena, RuPaul, Dermot Kennedy
- The Daily Show: Mo Rocca
- Lights Out with David Spade: Justin Martindale, Erik Griffin, Morgan Stewart
- Watch What Happens Live: Danielle Staub, Stephanie Hollman
- A Little Late with Lily Singh: Rhett & Link
| WEDS. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time (new) |
Modern Family (new) |
Single Parents (new) |
Stumptown (new) |
| CBS | Undercover Boss (new) |
Criminal Minds (new) |
Criminal Minds (new) |
| CW | Riverdale (repeat) |
Nancy Drew (repeat) |
Local |
| FOX | Flirty Dancing (new) |
Almost Family (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Chicago Med (live) |
Chicago Fire (new) |
Chicago P.D. (new) |