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THE FRIDAY FIVE: Top 5 TV News Stories of the Week Ending 4/29/22

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

#1 - JAMES CORDEN LEAVING "THE LATE LATE SHOW"
It was announced on Thursday that James Corden has signed a one year extension but it will be his final year as host of The Late Late Show. Corden took over the franchise from Craig Ferguson in 2015, just a couple months before David Letterman departed from the lead-in, The Late Show. Early in his run, Corden was a breath of fresh air with viral sensations led by Carpool Karaoke. There was a time when there were rumors that he might even flip spots with a then-struggling Stephen Colbert. However, there has been more of a backlash to Corden in recent years with his visibility everywhere, hosting tons of award shows and appearing in too many movie musicals. I've always liked him when I've watched him but admittedly I really don't watch him that often. It'll be interesting to see what Corden does next, he may lay low for a little bit, we'll see. And also it will be interesting to see who CBS picks to take over the 12:35am slot behind a now confident and strong Colbert.


#2 - SCRIPTED PROGRAMMING ENDING AT TNT & TBS
In the latest consolidation news from Warner Bros. Discovery, it was announced this week that TNT and TBS will cease creating scripted programming. This comes as Warner Bros. is clearly devoting all its attention to making HBO Max the destination in their sprawling universe and it's another sign of the quickly disappearing quality from basic cable. TBS and TNT have both had a lot of scripted shows over the years including comedies like Angie Tribeca, The Detour, and savings of Cougar Town and American Dad! on TBS while TNT was more known for dramas such as The Closer, Franklin & Bash, Rizzoli & Isles, Dallas and Leverage. Some current shows or in development shows have already been axed like Kill the Orange-Faced Bear and The Last O.G. on TBS. It wouldn't be shocking to see the already renewed shows like Chad on TBS and Snowpiercer on TNT become HBO Max Originals, but the cable networks might still see them through. 

#3 - "BLUE BLOODS" RENEWED
It was a mostly quiet week for TV news so I'll just touch on a few of the renewals for the week. CBS renewed Blue Bloods for a 13th season. It will become just the 14th drama in TV history to reach that many seasons. Several of the others that have hit that number are still on the air (Law & Order: SVU, NCIS, Grey's Anatomy and NCIS: Los Angeles). It's also impressively reached this number while airing its entire run on Fridays at 10pm. But hey, isn't it your grandma's favorite show? Also renewed this week were Wolf Like Me on Peacock and Single Drunk Female on Freeform.

#4 - CANCELLATIONS THIS WEEK
Ahead of what's sure to be a lot of cancellations on broadcast networks in the weeks ahead, there were a few cancellations this week: Raising Dion and Pretty Smart on Netflix and, as already mentioned, The Last O.G. on TBS. As we head into May next week, I'm thinking it will be a busier week for TV news.

#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres!

Today: Apple TV+ has the release of Elisabeth Moss drama Shining Girls. The show hasn't gotten a lot of attention but Apple has been on a hot streak lately with critical hits. Netflix releases the second half of the fourth and final season of Ozark. Amazon releases the second season of Undone, which was last seen way back in September 2019.

Sunday: Showtime has the premiere of I Love That For You starring SNL alum Vanessa Bayer. The show has gotten some positive notices and seems to be in the vein of other recent female-led comedies like Somebody Somewhere and Life and Beth.

Thursday: On a busy day, Peacock releases the second season of Girls5Eva, which has been one of their few shows to at least get a little bit of traction. HBO Max releases another true crime limited series with The Staircase. Paramount+ expands its Star Trek universe yet again with the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

My pick for the week:
Lots to choose from! I will go with Girls5Eva. I really enjoyed the first season even it occasional had some of the same ticks that got me annoyed with 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I'm also intrigued by I Love That For You and will probably check out The Staircase and Shining Girls. And I will see Ozark through to the end.

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

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