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THE FRIDAY FIVE: Top 5 TV News Stories of the Week Ending 1/8/21

Here's a look at my Top 5 TV news stories of the week. It was a quiet week for TV news with so much going on outside of the TV world but here goes.

#1 - GRAMMYS MOVE TO MARCH 14 (AND UPSET THE SAG AWARDS)
With COVID raging in Los Angeles, a lot of productions are temporarily shut down again. The Grammys have moved their ceremony from January 31 to March 14, which is the same night as the SAG Awards. Although there's not a ton of overlap as far as who would be involved, the SAG Awards are not thrilled about the move from the Grammys so we'll see if one of them blinks.


#2 - CATHERINE ZETA-JONES JOINING "PRODIGAL SON"
In a pretty big (and surprising) casting announcement, Catherine Zeta-Jones has joined the cast of Prodigal Son as a series regular for its second season debuting next week. Zeta-Jones has mostly done movies and some theater, but she did appear in FX's Feud: Bette and Joan and Facebook Watch's Queen America. Zeta-Jones' character, a psychiatrist, will appear later in the season.

#3 - KATIE COURIC NEXT "JEOPARDY" GUEST HOST
As Jeopardy continues its search for Alex Trebek's successor and in the midst of his final week of episodes, it was reported that Katie Couric will fill in for a week. I doubt Couric is a serious contender for the job but it will be interesting to see who else fills in during the coming weeks and months.

#4 - TANYA ROBERTS IS ACTUALLY DEAD
I don't think I would put this death in the Top 5 news stories of the week if it wasn't for the strangeness of the story. But Charlie's Angels and That 70s Show co-star Tanya Roberts died this week at the age of 65 after collapsing on Christmas Eve. The strange part was her death was announced Sunday night then it turned out she was still alive on Monday before she ultimately did pass away. It made for a surreal back and forth but may she RIP.

#5 - GIVE "THE HUSTLER" A TRY
It was a slow news week so I'll give another recommendation. There were a lot of game show premieres this week. I gave The Hustler a try and really enjoyed it. Craig Ferguson is fun as host and there's some genuine suspense throughout the competition. It's also fun to try to guess who it is at home. It won't be life changing but worth a shot if you have time for a mindless game show!

Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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