Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories of the week!
Surprising news came this week that Paramount Network might end its massive hit Yellowstone after the current fifth season resumes this summer. The drama has defied all contemporary trends by being a massive cable hit. But it's also come with its own sets of issues as Paramount gave streaming rights to Peacock before it became a massive hit and now they can't air it on Paramount+ where they have aired spinoffs 1883 and 1923 as well as other Taylor Sheridan shows and other potential spinoffs. But that wasn't the main reason that came out this week. The main reason was disagreements with series star (and recent Golden Globe winner for the show) Kevin Costner over the shooting schedule. The report is that Yellowstone may end in its current form and launch as a different, but similar show featuring Matthew McConaughey. I'm sure Paramount (the corporation) would love to find a way to get the show onto their own streaming service so this might be the opening they need unless the fans are less interested in a Yellowstone show without Costner.
Although it was not officially announced by CBS, it was reported this week that The Late Late Show will end when James Corden exits the series and the post-Late Show slot on CBS will go to a reboot of the Comedy Central talk series @midnight. The original series, which focused on news and videos of the day was never a huge hit but ran from 2013-2017 on Comedy Central. It is less host-driven, only a half hour and likely cheaper for a timeslot that would be tough for CBS to continue to put a huge investment in. It will mark the end of the Late Late Show franchise after 30 years with hosts Tom Snyder, Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson pre-dating Corden. The new @midnight reboot will feature Stephen Colbert as an executive producer.
There was some streaming updates this week from some of the major streaming players. It was announced this week that Warner Bros. Discovery will still merge HBO Max and Discovery Plus into one service, but they will also still offer Discovery Plus as a standalone service. The merging of the two services was always a little strange and the corporate entities must have realized that people who enjoy fixer-upper shows may not care about prestige HBO dramas for more money. But what about vice versa? What about those like me who have no interest in Discovery shows? There was also a Disney earnings call with new old CEO Bob Iger that revealed the structure of the company is streamlining into three areas with Entertainment being one of those sections. That will encompass all the TV and streaming entities (as well as film) except for ESPN. Iger followed up with an interview on CNBC where he implied Hulu might be for sale and that Disney may not buy its remaining stake in the streamer. The future of Hulu will be very interesting to watch.
#4 - TOM BRADY WILL JOIN FOX IN 2024
After Tom Brady's second retirement from the NFL last week, attention turned to his future plans following the ten year, $375 million contract he signed with FOX last offseason during his brief retirement. FOX said the job would be waiting for him but in the meantime, Greg Olsen earned lots of acclaim as FOX's lead analyst this season. Olsen will get another year to parlay that into another job as it was revealed this week that Brady won't join the broadcast booth until 2024. While I do think his retirement sticks this time, I'm still a little skeptical that Brady will actually join the broadcast booth. His heart doesn't seem into it.
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres, a quiet week:
Wednesday: Hulu has the third and final season premiere of Wu-Tang: An American Saga. The biographical drama has never really broken through in the conversation so it's a little surprising it's gotten three seasons.
Thursday: Paramount+ has the third season premiere of Star Trek: Picard. This was announced as the final season for the Patrick Stewart-led drama. However, there have been recent rumblings from the cast and the creative team that it may continue beyond the fourth season. FOX has the series premiere of comedy Animal Control starring Joel McHale. McHale will be hoping it goes more the way of Community than The Great Outdoors. Finally, ALLBLK has the fourth season premiere of Double Cross.
My pick for the week:
It's a real thin week so by default, I will go with Animal Control. I don't think I'll like it that much, but I know I'm not going to watch the others listed above.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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