Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week. After a very busy TV news week last week, this week was much quieter on the TV front while world news took center stage.
Before the Russia-Ukraine situation took center stage on all news outlets, there was a lot of grousing at the beginning of the week about the Oscars. In an effort to liven up the live broadcast following last year's record lows (amidst a critical drubbing and dealing with a pandemic), the Oscars announced they will not air eight awards during the live ceremony and will instead present them in the hour before the telecast while incorporating the winners (probably with a short clip) during the ceremony. The reaction to the demoted categories, which include editing, sound and original score, has been mostly negative, especially from people who work in those areas. I'm sort of mixed on the issue. On the one hand, this seems to be an attempt to draw in viewers who simply aren't going to watch and it alienates people in the industry who certainly would watch. But on the other hand, the Oscars are a drag and something's gotta give to liven up the broadcast. So I guess we'll wait and see.
It's the end of an era in Daytime TV but it's news that isn't surprising. The Wendy Williams Show will be ending after 14 years. The host has been off the air this entire season while guest hosts have filled in. Williams has been dealing with a slew of health and personal issues and the personal issues have been tabloid fodder of course. Replacing her will be frequent guest host and former The View co-host Sherri Shepherd in a new show titled Sherri that will debut in the fall. I don't watch any Daytime TV with any regularity but Williams has been a staple in the afternoon for a long time so it's the end of an era.
In an odd move, Love Island will be leaving CBS for Peacock. The series received a two season renewal by the streamer after a potential fourth season on CBS fell apart. It will have more episodes (40 each season) but this doesn't seem like the show that can put Peacock on the map considering the viewership totals never matched the attempts by CBS to make Love Island a thing. It already wasn't in the zeitgeist but now it will be really far outside it on Peacock.
#4 - "THE BLACKLIST" RENEWED
There weren't a lot of renewals this week but one surprising one came from NBC, which renewed The Blacklist for a tenth (!) season. The show hasn't been doing much on Fridays but it's become a legacy show for NBC that still does decently in delayed viewing and has been an international success. This came the same week where NBC yet again tried a knock off of The Blacklist with its latest Monday 10pm drama, The Endgame.
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres!
Today: Netflix has premieres a follow-up to History's Vikings called Vikings: Valhalla. Roku has the new season of Reno: 911 which is one of its Quibi cast-offs.
Sunday: Showtime premieres Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. The Super Pumped series will be an anthology and it has already been renewed with the announcement that the second season will be about Facebook. BBC America has the final season premiere of Killing Eve, last seen in April 2020. The series could still be a player in the Emmys even though some buzz has faded.
Monday: FX premieres the fifth and final season of its acclaimed Better Things as many critics lament it ending.
Thursday: Thursday is a busy day for releases. Hulu has the premiere of The Dropout, a limited series starring Amanda Seyfried that seems to have some similarities to Inventing Anna. Paramount+ has the second season premiere of Star Trek: Picard, which was last seen in March 2020. Peacock has the premiere of its Tiger King-themed Joe vs. Carole. The problem is its coming about two years after the Tiger King craze and I don't think anyone cares anymore. HBO Max has the premiere of its co-production The Tourist and FXX premieres the animated Dicktown.
My pick for the week: A lot of critics love Killing Eve and Better Things but I've never gotten around to them as they pre-dated my shift towards watching the most acclaimed shows and I haven't caught up. So I'll go with The Dropout, which seems somewhat interesting. I may check out Super Pumped but I'm not that interested in the first season topic. I never watched Tiger King so I could care less about Joe vs. Carole and none of the other titles interest me much either.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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