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THE FRIDAY FIVE: Top 5 TV News Stories of the Week Ending 2/11/22

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

#1 - "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" PREQUEL NOT GOING FORWARD
There was surprising news on Thursday evening that the Beauty and the Beast prequel will not be going forward. The series, which would have seen Luke Evans and Josh Gad reprising their roles as Gaston and LeFou, has been a hot development title for the streamer for years. It seemed like a sure thing when more cast members were announced recently and filming was set to get underway in just a few months. The scrapping was due partly to logistics but it appears it was mainly due to "creative reasons" so the scripts must not have been coming in well. Of course Disney+ has plenty of other properties to worry about and they may revisit a series like this in the future so it's not a huge blow, but it still big news just because this was likely to be one of their tentpole shows and it all seemed to fall apart quickly.

#2 - "FUTURAMA" REVIVED BY HULU
Futurama is getting another lease on life. The cult favorite cartoon, which aired on FOX from 1999-2003, and then had a revival as straight-to-DVD movies in 2007 will return with 20 new episodes in 2023 on Hulu. Much of the original cast voices are slated to return with the exception of John DiMaggio, who could not agree to terms. I never watched the show (I'm not a fan of animated shows in general) but this is a show that has certainly lived on well beyond its initial run and still certainly has its fan. It joins Family Guy and American Dad as FOX shows that have overcome cancellations to return with new episodes.

#3 - "EARLY EDITION" REBOOT IN THE WORKS
CBS announced this week that it has handed out a pilot order to a gender-flipped reboot of Early Edition. The gentle drama, about a man who gets the newspaper a day early, originally starred Kyle Chandler in between Homefront and Friday Night Lights and ran from 1996-2000. It had its fans but it's not a property that people have clamored for or even one that has gotten much attention in recent years so this came out of nowhere. No one has been attached to the lead role yet and I'm not sure it will even go forward but I've always wanted to watch the original so maybe I'll just wait and watch the reboot if it comes to fruition.

#4 - "THE ROOKIE" SPINOFF IN DEVELOPMENT
ABC is trying to have a franchise crime drama of its own to go with the multiple successful ones on other networks and they are using The Rookie as their launching pad, which is a curious choice since The Rookie is a low-rated, mostly buzzless drama airing in a sleepy Sunday night slot. Still, there will be a two episode FBI-themed backdoor pilot starring Niecy Nash so we may get a second show in the Rookie universe. Not that it will be any more successful.

#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres, another pretty quiet week with the Winter Olympics continuing.

Today: Netflix releases limited series Inventing Anna. It is notable for being the first show with Shonda Rhimes as an actual showrunner (and not just a producer) since Scandal. The Julia Garner series has been in development for a long time and will finally see the light of day. Hulu releases the second season of Dollface, which premiered its first season way back in November 2019.

Sunday: On Super Bowl Sunday, Peacock launches Bel-Air, the much promoted drama version of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. This has all the trappings of a boom or bust show. It could be the signature show that puts Peacock on the map or it could be an epic bomb that gets laughed about for years. We'll see.

My pick for the week: Another quiet week. I'll go with Inventing Anna because it was on my Top 10 Most Anticipated Shows for 2022 though the trailer left me a little cold. I'm still curious though. I was never a big Fresh Prince fan so Bel-Air doesn't really interest me.

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