Friday, January 28, 2022

THE FRIDAY FIVE: Top 5 TV News Stories of the Week Ending 1/28/22

Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week!

#1 - 
RENEWALS OF THE WEEK
It was a pretty quiet week for TV news with the biggest news being some renewals, some cancellations and some cast changes. Four comedies were renewed this week. Three of those were on CBS: The Neighborhood, Bob Hearts Abishola and freshman breakout Ghosts. The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola have been a solid Monday duo for a few years now while Ghosts has been a big success on Thursday nights with new audience highs being hit in recent weeks and plenty of critical acclaim for the very un-CBS comedy. These comedies join the already renewed Young Sheldon while United States of Al and B Positive are still waiting for a renewal. Also renewed was HBO comedy The Righteous Gemstones for a third season. The second season of the underrated comedy is currently airing on Sunday nights.

#2 - CANCELLATIONS
On the other hand, it was not as good a week for a number of Showtime shows. The premium channel cancelled American Rust after one season, Work in Progress after two seasons and Black Monday after three seasons. Black Monday has gotten Emmy nominations for star Don Cheadle while Work in Progress was a niche show that had its fans but struggled to break through and American Rust was basically ignored last fall. With Showtime getting its first breakout in awhile with Yellowjackets and the buzzy The First Lady coming up, there was some clearing of the shelf happening. Also cancelled this week was The Lost Symbol on Peacock. Original dramas have had a real tough time on Peacock so far and they'll try to change that with the upcoming Bel-Air.

#3 - CAST CHANGES ON CBS DRAMAS
There were also some cast changes on CBS dramas this week. Julian McMahon is leaving as the star of FBI: Most Wanted after three seasons. He will be replaced by Dylan McDermott, who is already in the Dick Wolf universe on Law & Order: Organized Crime. McMahon was the star but Dick Wolf dramas have always been known for easily being able to cycle through actors when needed (with the notable exception of SVU stalwart Mariska Hargitay). It was also announced that Jorja Fox and Mel Rodriguez will not return for the second season of CSI: Vegas, joining William Petersen who was already announced as not returning. Of course Petersen and Fox were well loved cast members from the original who helped get the sequel off the ground.

#4 - "MAGGIE" MOVES TO HULU
ABC announced this week that previously announced comedy Maggie will air on Hulu instead of ABC. One of the reasons given, aside from the usuals like scheduling, was to "get more eyes on it" which is indicative of where the TV landscape is now. Broadcast TV is much less likely to produce a breakout hit not that Maggie was going to be that hit. No air date has been announced for the Rebecca Rittenhouse comedy.

#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres!

Today: It's a busy day today for releases today. Netflix releases a new Korean drama, All of Us Are Dead. After the success of Squid Game, there's a lot more attention for this one than there would have been before the aforementioned worldwide hit. Netflix also releases Kristen Bell's murder mystery spoof The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window as well as spy thriller In From the Cold. Apple TV+ has a murder mystery of its own with The Afterparty, where each episode follows a different character's perspective. There's also two animated shows: The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon and Doomlands on Roku, which was originally developed for Quibi.

Tuesday: Netflix releases the second season of Raising Dion, which was last seen way back in October 2019 and didn't seem to make a ton of noise even back then.

Wednesday: Hulu has the premiere of limited series Pam & Tommy, a buzzy series about the relationship (and sex tape) of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Comedy Central has the 25th (!) Season Premiere of South Park.

Thursday: HBO Max has the new season of Raised by Wolves while Netflix releases the recently announced improv-driven Murderville.

My pick for the week:
I am excited about The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, which seems like a funny spoof of a genre I enjoy though I don't want to keep having to type the title. I'm also curious about fellow murder mystery themed shows The Afterparty and Murderville. I'll also maybe wait to see what the buzz is on Pam & Tommy because it doesn't interest me that much but if it gets a lot of people talking, I might check it out.

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

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