Friday, June 10, 2022

THE FRIDAY FIVE: Top 5 TV News Stories of the Week Ending 6/10/22

Here's a look at the Top 5 TV News Stories of the week! After today, my blog will be taking a summer break from regular posts. Check back daily in July for my third annual Benjamonster Awards and then again in September for the resumption of regular blog posts!

#1 - SEASON 3 OF "TED LASSO" COULD BE ITS LAST
This has been a story for awhile but it got new fuel to the fire this week when series co-star and co-writer Brett Goldstein said they are more or less sticking with the original plan of making Ted Lasso a three season show so the upcoming season would be written as if its the finale. However, no one has come out and said in black and white terms that it will be done after three seasons so that leads me to believe that Apple TV+ is going to find a way to keep it going and they're going to back up a truckload of money to convince Jason Sudeikis and crew to continue the show. It's the signature show for the still-young streamer and they're not going to be ready to let it go with another slew of Emmy nominations likely to come in July. I believe they truly thought it was going to be a three season show but reality is going to make it longer than that.

#2 - MORE NEWS FROM THE WEEK
With me looking ahead to premieres in the next three Friday Five points, here's a brief rundown of some other important TV news from the week. Freevee has saved cancelled Showtime drama American Rust by renewing it for a second season. FX renewed What We Do in the Shadows for two additional seasons which will take it all the way through season six. HBO Max renewed Tokyo Vice while Amazon renewed The Summer I Turned Pretty ahead of its June 17 premiere. And in some strong casting news, Carol Burnett has joined the star studded cast of Apple TV+'s Mrs. American Pie while FX announced that Jon Hamm, Juno Temple and Jennifer Jason Leigh will star in a fifth season of Fargo.

#3 - JUNE PREMIERES
With the regular Friday posts done for a couple months, I'll take a quick look at what's to come this summer. I will not be mentioning everything, just some key titles. For the rest of June, we get a slew of strong options starting today with the third season of the underrated Apple TV+ drama For All Mankind. Paramount+ premieres the third season of Evil this Sunday. Next week brings the final season of Love, Victor on Hulu and Disney+, the streamer that initially rejected it. The long delayed Jeff Bridges drama The Old Man arrives on the FX tab on Hulu on June 16 while Peacock premieres the second season of Rutherford Falls the same day. TNT continues to near its end of its scripted era with the premiere of the final season of Animal Kingdom on June 19. On June 23, Hulu/FX premiere The Bear which could be a strong sleeper performer. The next day has the premiere of Apple TV+'s comedy Loot starring Maya Rudolph and Michaela Jae Rodriguez. The last week of June sees the return of Westworld, last seen in May 2020, on HBO as well as the new season of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu just in time for the Emmy voting period. My pick for the month? Definitely For All Mankind though I also enjoy Only Murders and am curious about Loot and The Bear.

#4 - JULY PREMIERES
July starts out with a bang on July 1 with the premiere of Amazon's The Terminal List, which stars Chris Pratt and fits into Amazon's slew of macho shows like Jack Ryan and Reacher. It's a quiet week that follows with the 4th of July though Apple TV+ premieres Black Bird on July 8 and that features the final TV role for the late Ray Liotta. The next week sees the delayed second season premiere of Chad on TBS as well as the fourth season of What We Do in the Shadows on FX, arriving less than a year after Season Three. Netflix has its adaptation of Resident Evil dropping on July 14 while the long, long delayed Blood and Treasure, last seen on CBS in Summer 2019, arrives on Paramount+ on July 17. That week sees the return of Virgin River on Netflix, American Horror Stories on Hulu/FX and a revamped version of Grown-ish on Freeform. The last week of July includes a new season of High School Musical: The  Musical: The Series on Disney+ and another Apple thriller with Surface. My pick for the month? Not a ton on the July calendar that I'm super excited about yet so I'll go with What We Do in the Shadows and Chad, two shows that make me laugh often.

#5 - AUGUST PREMIERES
The August calendar is still a little bit barren with more premieres likely to be announced in the coming weeks. August 3 has the return of the acclaimed Reservation Dogs on FX/Hulu. A week later is the final season of Locke & Key on Netflix. August 12 has a new season of the charming Never Have I Ever on Netflix and one I'm super excited for, A League of Their Own on Amazon. The next week includes She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+ but that has already gotten some scorn and mockery from the online crowd. A huge premiere arrives on Aug 21 with HBO's first Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon. Expect some promotion overdrive in the month for that one. The end of August sees the intriguing The Patient on FX/Hulu while the very beginning of September (before this blog returns) has the much anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon on September 2. My pick for the month? I do enjoy Never Have I Ever but I have been excited about A League of Their Own for a long time and I hope it lives up to my expectations.

Check back in July for the Benjamonster Awards!

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