Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
There were a couple big surprises at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night. Going in, it was assumed that Ted Lasso and Succession would be the big winners and while they did win the prizes and Jason Sudeikis won as expected for Ted Lasso, there were surprises in the Drama acting categories. Squid Game stars Lee Jung-jae and Jung Ho-Yeon upset Succession actors. It seemed like it was going to be Squid Game's night but then Succession still won the top prize for Drama Ensemble. It will be interesting to see if this has any ramifications on the Emmy race. Elsewhere, Jean Smart won Comedy Actress for Hacks and Michael Keaton (Dopesick) and Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown) took him the Limited Series acting prizes. Weirdly, there is no award for Limited Series Ensemble. The overall awards ceremony was just ok with a couple highlights including Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion reunion with Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino and an emotional speech by Keaton. But I'll be curious to see if Squid Game becomes more of a favorite in more categories going forward.
All the Marvel Netflix shows are heading to Disney+ in one of the first major examples of a streamer to gain a catalog of originals from a different streamer. Of course it makes sense since Marvel's home is now Disney+ but these Marvel shows - Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and The Punisher were all Netflix originals when they aired in the late 2010s. Now they have left their original home and will premiere on Disney+ on March 16 along with all seven seasons of ABC's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Marvel era of Netflix was a mixed bag critically but they were popular. They were unceremoniously dumped though shortly after Disney acquired Marvel and has since done closer tie-ins to the MCU like WandaVision and Loki. The other big news is that these shows mean Disney+ will get new parental controls to help it air these very R-rated dramas. Some see this as a prelude to Disney+ being a one stop shop for all Disney owned properties including Hulu, but we'll see. Right now, I think Hulu is still a distinct enough brand on its own.
Paramount+'s Yellowstone prequel 1883 ended its season on Sunday and creator Taylor Sheridan implied after the fact that the series was in fact a limited series and not an on-going one. Paramount+ was coy about the future of 1883 on their investor day, implying that there would be more to come but not actually "renewing" it. Now it appears that the recently announced 1932 will be another "moment in time" prequel while 1883 will be just that. Sheridan said the dreaded phrase "ten hour movie" to describe 1883, which is something critics hate to hear because TV is not meant to be a long movie but I digress. Reaction to this news has been mixed so maybe they will ultimately find a way to continue.
#4 - MICHAEL DOUGLAS HEADLINING BEN FRANKLIN SERIES ON APPLE TV+
Apple TV+ will be bringing a limited series about Benjamin Franklin's famed trip to Paris to life and the series nabbed Michael Douglas as the lead. Douglas, who recently starred in the Emmy-nominated The Kominsky Method on Netflix, is a big get for this project which seems to have prestige written all over it. We'll see if it turns out to be as good as it sounds. Douglas is also attached to a project with Paramount TV Studios to play Ronald Reagan in a limited series about the former president's relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres!
Today: Amazon premieres the animated spinoff of its Emmy-nominated drama The Boys called The Boys Presents: Diabolical. Netflix drops the thriller Pieces of Her starring Toni Collette, which hasn't gotten a lot of buzz.
Sunday: On a busy Sunday, HBO has the premiere of its Lakers drama Winning Time (that can't be called Showtime because of the network). The series has gotten a ton of promotion and could be another awards contender for HBO. Starz premieres the Courteney Cox horror comedy Shining Vale as well as the sixth season premiere of Outlander, which has already been renewed for seventh season. Hallmark premieres the ninth season of When Calls the Heart.
Tuesday: NBC gets into the limited series business with the Renee Zellweger vehicle The Truth About Pam, which has gotten more attention for how Zellweger looks in promos than the show itself.
Wednesday: The CW has the second season premiere of Kung Fu while Freeform has the fourth season premiere of Good Trouble.
Thursday: Peacock premieres the comedy Bust Down, which hasn't gotten much buzz like most Peacock shows.
My pick for the week:
I'll go with Winning Time, which seems like it is very well done and even though I'm not a big basketball fan, I think it's an interesting topic. I may check out The Truth About Pam but I haven't found the promos interesting and I may take a look at Pieces of Her or Shining Vale if there's good buzz around either show.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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