Here's a look at this week's Top 5 TV news stories!
NBC announced on Thursday that the current sixth season of Superstore will be the final one. The series, which was one of the first to return on broadcast TV this fall, will return in January for its final stretch of episodes. Although ratings are down (like with pretty much every show) and the series did lose star America Ferrera, I think it could have gone longer and was still a cornerstone of the NBC comedy brand. I often said the show was the spiritual successor to The Office with its look at the mundane life of down on their luck employees. It didn't always hit its marks but I do think it was underrated throughout its run. It has also been a near perfect show for handling the pandemic. It will be missed!
One of the few sure tings left on Broadcast TV these days is that the Super Bowl and its lead-out show are going to get huge ratings. CBS is giving the highly coveted post-Super Bowl slot to the new Queen Latifah-led reboot of The Equalizer. The crime drama was given a straight to series order after it was not able to complete its pilot when COVID shut everything down. It was then slated for the fall but now will get a higher profile launch before taking over the Sunday 8pm timeslot the following week. The Super Bowl is slated for February 7, 2021 barring any COVID-related delays. The premiere will certainly get big ratings, the question is what will happen the following Sunday.
This was probably the biggest entertainment news of the week but I didn't list it at the top because it's more of a movie story than a TV story. But I feel like it needs to be mentioned since it involves a streamer. All 2021 theatrical releases from Warner Bros. will debut on HBO Max the same day they launch in theaters (or at least those that are open). Some are seeing this as the death knell for the movie business and it's easy to see. Although it's being touted as a one year experiment, it seems hard to believe that the genie will put back in the bottle even when the pandemic is not a reason. On the other hand, this is a huge boon for HBO Max and certainly a way to give attention to the young streamer. Marquee titles being released in 2021 include The Matrix 4, The Suicide Squad, Gozilla vs. King Kong, In the Heights and Space Jam: A New Legacy.
#4 - JULIANNA MARGULIES JOINS "THE MORNING SHOW"
The Morning Show is already a star-studded series and it added more firepower for season two as Julianna Margulies has joined the cast for Season 2 playing a talking head at the fictional UBA News. Margulies, an Emmy winner for both ER and The Good Wife, adds even more prestige to a show that earned five acting Emmy nominations in its first season. While we don't know much about her character or role, it seems like she could be a contender in the Supporting or Guest categories in either 2021 or 2022, depending on when The Morning Show gets back on the air. It is currently in production, but there is no air date yet.
#5 - "ONE DAY AT A TIME" CANCELLED AGAIN
This was news from last week but I didn't do the blog last week so I will include it in this week's news. One Day at a Time has been cancelled again. The series was cancelled by Netflix after three seasons in March 2019 but then it was revived in a highly publicized move by Pop TV. The fourth season was cut short thanks to the pandemic and now it was announced that it won't be finishing its fourth season or continuing on to a fifth season, at least on Pop TV. The series will be shopped around. CBS All Access (soon to be Paramount+) wanted to pick it up but a Netflix stipulation prevents it from going to another streaming service until 2022. It's not impossible that it could still get picked up (TV Land seems like a possibility) but it's most likely dead for good this time.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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