Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the past couple weeks while the blog was on a break!
#1 - "DANCING WITH THE STARS" MOVING TO DISNEY+
In a pretty seismic move for the shift to streaming, Dancing with the Stars will leave its home of 17 years, ABC, and move to Disney+ this fall with a two season pickup. The competition series was once one of the most watched shows on TV and has been a staple on Monday nights for over a decade. Even as most high profile comedies, dramas and creative talent has shifted to streaming in recent years, Broadcast TV was still the place for the big tent reality and competition shows like Dancing, American Idol, The Voice, Survivor and more. This is, without a doubt, the highest profile move of an unscripted show to a streaming service and it will be interesting to see if the many older viewers of Dancing choose to subscribe to Disney+ (not that we'll likely get a concrete answer on that).
#2 - "FEUD" RETURNING TO FX
After five years, Feud is officially returning to FX with a new installment. The original installment, about the battle between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, aired in 2017 and was nominated for 18 Emmys. The new installment will star Naomi Watts and center on Truman Capote's expose of New York socialites. If that doesn't totally sound like a "feud," the reason is likely this is the only way Ryan Murphy could tell this story on FX since he has a deal with Netflix and can only do FX shows if they are already established franchises. It still seems likely that Murphy will fully come back to FX at some point since his Netflix shows have been mostly disappointments.
#3 - WILL SMITH BANNED FROM THE OSCARS FOR 10 YEARS
The Will Smith/Chris Rock story has been talked about everywhere for the last couple weeks so there's really not much I can add to the discourse. But it was announced last Friday that Smith will be banned from the Oscars for 10 years. He can still be nominated but cannot attend the awards or any even from the Academy. And maybe that will finally be the end of the discussion until next year's Oscars rolls around or Chris Rock chooses to share more.
#4 - RENEWALS & CANCELLATIONS
There have been lots of renewals and cancellations since the last week of blog posts. Renewals include The Good Doctor and The Rookie on ABC, the NCIS trio and S.W.A.T. on CBS, The Cleaning Lady on FOX, Winning Time on HBO, Severance on Apple TV+ and With Love on Amazon. Additionally it was announced that the upcoming seasons of Locke & Key on Netflix, Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+ and Snowfall on FX will be the final ones. Cancellations include the ABC game show quartet of Celebrity Dating Game, Match Game, Card Sharks and (sadly) The Hustler.
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres! Lots of interesting ones!
Today: There's quite a few premieres today. Apple TV+ premieres the female-driven anthology series Roar that includes an all-star cast including Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Merritt Wever and Allison Brie. Amazon premieres the Josh Brolin western mystery Outer Range that will try to tap into the Yellowstone and 1883 crowd. Netflix drops the British anthology drama Anatomy of a Scandal from David E. Kelley and starring Sienna Miller and Michelle Dockery. Roku premieres the thriller Swimming with Sharks, which was originally developed for Quibi.
Sunday: Showtime has the premiere of The First Lady, an anthology drama that will center on different First Ladies each season (should it get renewed). The first season stars Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt.
Monday: AMC has the premiere of the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul. It will be split into two Emmy cycles with seven episodes airing through May and then the final six starting in July.
Tuesday: FX has the fourth season premiere of Mayans M.C. which has its fans but has never reached the level of its predecessor, Sons of Anarchy, in terms of acclaim.
Wednesday: Netflix has the return of Russian Doll, which was last seen way way back in February 2019. The first season earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Thursday: HBO Max has the second season premiere of The Flight Attendant, a show that helped put HBO Max on the map with scripted originals when it first premiered back in November 2020.
My pick for the week: Lots of good stuff this week. I am going to go with The First Lady because it was my most anticipated new show of 2022. Reviews have been mixed so far but I'm still excited for it. I loved the first season of The Flight Attendant and I'm a little apprehensive but excited for Season Two. I haven't watched Season One of Russian Doll but I plan to and I am way behind on Better Call Saul or both of those might have been in the mix as well.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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