Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
Brian Williams announced this week that he is leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the end of the year following nearly three decades with the company. Williams' contract was up and while he says he wants to spend more time with family, it also seems like an agreement for a contract extension could not be reached. The newsman hosted NBC Nightly News from 2004-2015 until a scandal forced him into a six month exile. The scandal seems pretty small these days compared to more recent falls from grace as it simply had to do with exaggerating a story about his own experience covering the Iraq War in 2003. Williams re-emerged on MSNBC and has hosted the 11pm show The 11th Hour since September 2016. Williams always seemed to like to dabble in the entertainment side of NBC as well, even hosting Saturday Night Live at one point. Some of those moves led to some criticism but I always enjoyed Williams' self deprecating nature and his reporting of the news. I'm guessing he will re-emerge somewhere at some point.
This was a week of midseason schedule news for the broadcast networks. On FOX, 9-1-1: Lone Star will take the place of 9-1-1 starting January 3 and be paired with The Cleaning Lady, which is getting the best midseason slot (not that the slot was helpful to The Big Leap). On Tuesdays, The Resident will continue in the lead-off slot and starting February 1 it will lead into country music drama Monarch following that show's post-NFL Championship Game preview. I'm surprised FOX didn't lead off with Monarch at 8pm. Wednesdays will see a new season of I Can See Your Voice leading into the next Gordon Ramsay show Next Level Chef. The return of Joe Millionaire in the form of a version called For Richer or Poorer will lead off Thursdays into Call Me at and new comedy Pivoting. Much of this seems to be the plan for January and February while March will probably see the return of other shows like 9-1-1 and The Masked Singer. I think this is an OK schedule though the comedies are in a tough spot especially if Joe Millionaire fails and Monarch should have been at 8pm. Fall dramas The Big Leap and Our Kind of People both saw their orders capped and while they are not officially cancelled, it will be an uphill climb for either to return.
CBS didn't have much to change for midseason as most of its new shows are working well enough with NCIS: Hawaii, FBI: International and Ghosts all getting full season orders. As already determined, CSI: Vegas will cap its season at 10 episodes which leaves Wednesday 10pm open. CBS is giving that to the Sophia Bush medical drama Good Sam starting January 5. It will follow the long delayed return of The Amazing Race which began filming its season right before the shutdown. Elsewhere, CBS is still sending S.W.A.T. to Sunday at 10pm despite its solid ratings on Friday nights and it will replace S.W.A.T. with a new season of Undercover Boss. I'm skeptical of that decision. CBS will also counter program the Olympics with a new season of Celebrity Big Brother in February. Still waiting for a premiere is comedy Smallwood, which will probably turn up on Thursdays later in the spring.
#4 - THE CW MIDSEASON SCHEDULE
This was last Friday but the CW also announced its midseason plans and there's a lot of moving pieces to it. Superman & Lois will take the Tuesday 8pm slot to lead into new DC comics series Naomi starting January 11. The other new drama is All American: Homecoming, which will air after its parent show on Monday nights starting February 20. Riverdale will move to Sunday nights in March while The Flash will leave Tuesdays for the first time ever and resurface on Wednesdays leading into the second season of Kung Fu.
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres!
Today: Apple TV+ launches the high profile limited series The Shrink Next Door starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. The series, based on a podcast, has been buzzy because of its cast, which also includes Kathryn Hahn and Casey Wilson.
Sunday: Showtime has the premiere of Yellowjackets, a drama about four friends as teenagers who survived a plane crash and then 25 years later. The series seems pretty wild but Showtime is banking on Dexter fans also being interested. Paramount+ premieres Mayor of Kingstown, a crime drama starring Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest and Kyle Chandler. For having a strong cast, it seems to have no buzz. Tubi gets into the scripted business with the adult animated comedy The Freak Brothers.
Tuesday: The CW begins its five episode "event" stretch of new seasons of The Flash and Riverdale. They will air through the holidays before they will go on a break until March. If it seems like they just ended their previous seasons, well, they basically did.
Thursday: Paramount+ has the fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery while HBO Max premieres dark comedy The Sex Lives of College Girls from Mindy Kaling.
My pick for the week: It's another week with a fair number of premieres but not a ton of interesting ones for me. I will go with The Shrink Next Door which certainly has me intrigued. A couple of other shows - Mayor of Kingstown and The Sex Lives of College Girls - do not seem that interesting but I like the auspices behind them so I may give them a chance. Yellowjackets might be a show I watch only if people are talking about it, and its a pass on the rest for me.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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