Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday will take a look at current TV news with the five biggest TV news stories of the week! I should mention that this is based mostly on shows airing, not necessarily corporate moves. So while the departure of Netflix's Cindy Holland is huge news for TV but not the kind of news stories I will cover here. So here is the Friday Five for this week!
The news is a week old now but there was a bombshell last Friday afternoon that Anna Faris would be leaving Mom after seven seasons. The CBS series has evolved quite a bit from its original premise with Faris as a recovering alcoholic and dealing with both her recovering alcoholic mom (Allison Janney) and children (Sadie Calvano & Blake Garrett Rosenthal). Calvano and Rosenthal eventually left the cast and the show has morphed pretty significantly from a family sitcom to a friendship sitcom about a group of women who are all recovering alcoholics. While Faris has been the centerpiece of the show, Janney has received more acclaim (including two Emmy Awards). Although this has reportedly been in the works for a couple months, it still seems like there's more to the story since Faris won't even be given a proper conclusion to her character. If it was as amicable a split as they are trying to pretend it was, I can't imagine that Faris wouldn't have had a chance to get a send-off the way America Ferrera is on Superstore. Maybe someday we will find out more to the story. Mom is entering its eighth season and has had some tough negotiations for renewal before especially since it comes from an outside studio. I would not be surprised at all if this ends up being the final season.
We already heard that this was being developing but now it is attached to a streaming service. The dramatic reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, simply called Bel-Air was ordered to series by Peacock for two seasons. The crazy thing about all of this is it's inspired by a 2019 parody video done by a fan. What seemed like a joke at first is very much a reality with a very large commitment based solely on a pitch and the name brand. Peacock is a little bit of a surprising landing place as the network since HBO Max is carrying the original series. However, Peacock's original slate at launch was hampered by coronavirus delays and it is looking for its first major show. Perhaps this one, as odd as it sounds, could be it.
One of cable's biggest shows of all time, The Walking Dead, will end after its 11th season. The upcoming 11th season will be supersized with 12 episodes airing in 2021 and the final 12 in 2022. Although I've never watched the show, I am well aware that it was a massive, massive hit by any standards (broadcast or cable) in the early 2010s. They also announced two more spinoffs - an anthology called Tales of the Walking Dead and an untitled spinoff focusing on two characters from the mothership. They join the already airing Fear the Walking Dead and the upcoming The Walking Dead: World Beyond, premiering October 4. So even if you will miss the main show (and not until 2022), there are still plenty of shows to get your fix.
#4 - ABC ANNOUNCES PREMIERE DATES FOR COMEDIES
ABC will be first out of the gate as far as returning live action scripted shows with the return of its comedy block on Wednesday, October 21. The Goldbergs (with back to back episodes), The Conners and Black-ish will return that night while regular 8:30pm occupant American Housewife returns a week later. Although the announcement came a couple weeks after NBC's announcement of the return of some of its scripted lineup, these shows will beat NBC's to the air with Superstore the first for them on October 22. All the shows are back in production or close to returning with strict safety protocols in place. It will be interesting to see what's noticeable on air. Either way, I'm excited to see some of these shows figuring out how to go back into production and come back on the air. There was a time where any shows coming back before January seemed very unlikely. Speaking of Black-ish, ABC also announced they are developing yet another spinoff - Old-ish, featuring Laurence Fishburne and Jenifer Lewis' characters.
#5 - "KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS" ENDING AFTER 14 YEARS
Our long national nightmare is over. Keeping Up with the Kardashians will end its run on E! next year after 14 years (and 20 seasons within those 14 years). And I'm proud to say I've never watched an episode.
Check back on Monday for a new week of blog posts!
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