Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
It was a week with a couple scandals in the news world but the biggest one came out of nowhere: Jeff Zucker abruptly announced his resignation on Wednesday after failing to disclose a relationship with another CNN executive. This came to light during the scandal that just keeps on giving - the one involving the Cuomo brothers. Zucker has been a lightning rod in the media for a long time, both during his run in charge of CNN since 2013 and especially when he was in charge of NBC in the 2000s. It's safe to say that he had more success at CNN than NBC but it ultimately ended in a surprisingly swift downfall. All the cable news networks had huge audience highs in 2020 with the Presidential Election and COVID among other things but they're all struggling to move forward in the current era and this news could have a large impact on the direction that CNN heads in.
The other scandal this week came on a show that is no stranger to controversy. Whoopi Goldberg came under fire after stating the Holocaust was not about race. She doubled down on that position at first before offering an apology on social media Monday night and on the show on Tuesday. But ABC News was not satisfied and suspended Goldberg from the show for two weeks. Goldberg has probably built up enough good will with The View as its host for 15 years to avoid a Megyn Kelly-NBC departure over these statements but I also think it will probably be something Whoopi has to deal with for awhile.
There was a lot of news coming from Paramount+ this week. There were several renewals: SEAL Team for a sixth season (second on Paramount+), Mayor of Kingstown for a second season and The Game revival for a second season. There was also news of an Urban Cowboy series being put into development and casting news for its upcoming Grease prequel series. Paramount+ has some high profile shows coming up with Halo, The Offer and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds all coming up in the spring. They also have the successful Yellowstone prequel 1883 (though not having the mothership on the platform is the source of much consternation). There also seems to be on-going discussions of pairing it with Showtime, which is also under the Paramount umbrella and has seen two buzzy hits recently with Yellowjackets and Dexter: New Blood.
#4 - CONNIE BRITTON & JASON KATIMS REUNITING
It's a match made in heaven - Jason Katims, longtime showrunner of Friday Night Lights, is reuniting with his leading lady from that great TV drama, Connie Britton, in a new series called Dear Edward for Apple TV+. The series is based on a book and centered on a 12 year old who is the sole survivor of a plane crash. If it's heartwarming, Katims is the man for the job. Britton has only signed a one year deal, which seems to be her thing lately with shows like 9-1-1 and The White Lotus (and American Horror Story further back).
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres, a pretty quiet week with the start of the Winter Olympics.
Today: Amazon launches Reacher, based on the Jack Reacher book series. The series will try to tap into the Amazon audience that watches Jack Ryan. Apple TV+ launches the thriller Suspicion starring Uma Thurman. So far, it doesn't seem to have a lot of traction. Netflix launches the second season of Sweet Magnolias, which was last seen in May 2020 and features Jamie-Lynn Spears, who has been getting some not-so-great press lately.
Thursday: BET+ has the return of parody series Real Husbands of Hollywood, which aired on BET from 2013-2016.
My pick for the week: Not too much to choose from here so I guess I'll go with Suspicion just because I like thrillers more than the other genres. I might check out Reacher but it doesn't seem like my kind of show.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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