Here's a look at the Top 5 TV news stories this week!
The Screen Actors Guild Awards were held on Sunday night. While that is primarily of interest for what it means in the Oscar race, there are also TV awards handed out. It just is always a little odd with "awards season" not being at the same time as the Emmys so there's some 2022 Emmy contenders competing against 2023 contenders. The awards were pretty spread out as only The White Lotus was the winner of more than one TV award (Drama Ensemble and Drama Actress for Jennifer Coolidge). The other big winner was Abbott Elementary for Comedy Ensemble and there several surprises. Jason Bateman winning for Ozark over Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk for Drama Actor was a surprise but not as much of a surprise in the bizarre Limited Series acting categories where two upsets happened - Jessica Chastain won Limited Series Actress for George & Tammy, which had very little buzz on Showtime, while Sam Elliott won Limited Series Actor for 1883. This doesn't mean all that much for the Emmy tea leaves with upcoming shows like Ted Lasso, Succession and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel not eligible. But it does show that The White Lotus can hang with the big kids in Drama and Abbott Elementary remains strong.
HBO has been teasing The Idol for forever. The series, which comes from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and music artist The Weeknd, has undergone a tortuous development and filming process than involved major reshoots and reworking. It seemed like a premiere date was coming soon but a scathing article by Rolling Stone casts some doubt on that. The article claimed the show has become "torture porn" under Levinson's watch while the behind the scenes organization and morale is in complete disarray. The Weeknd disputed Rolling Stone's assertions with an odd clip from the series that trashes the magazine but that only seemed to increase the public wariness of the series. HBO has been on a hot streak lately with House of the Dragon followed by The White Lotus and The Last of Us with the final season of Succession coming soon. This was one of their big budget newbies but it seems like it may be closer to The Nevers than any of the aforementioned shows. And still no premiere date but this Emmy cycle seems quite unlikely at this point.
Paramount+ announced this week that Star Trek: Discovery will come to an end with its fifth season, which will air in early 2024. The series premiered in 2017 and ushered in the current era of Star Trek while being the first major player on CBS All Access, which eventually became Paramount+. Since then, there has been full series such Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as well as animated and anthology fare. With Picard ending this spring followed by the flagship show, it definitely feels like this era of the venerable franchise is coming to a close. But I'm sure a reboot of the franchise will happen sometime soon.
#4 - "THREE WOMEN" PICKED UP BY STARZ
The shuffling of shows continues as Starz has officially picked up Three Women, which was dropped by Showtime after the 10 episode series had already been filmed. Starring Shailene Woodley and Betty Gilpin, the series is one of two shows that Starz has rescued recently after they also picked up HBO Max's second season of Minx. Starz is still looking for its own identity so we'll see how this first into their overall strategy.
#5 - SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
Here's a look at this week's scripted premieres!
Today: Prime Video premieres limited series Daisy Jones & The Six. Starring Riley Keough, the show about a fictional 70s rock band has gotten a fair amount of buzz and could be a player in the lighter field of Limited Series Emmys contenders. Elsewhere, NBC has the second season premiere of Grand Crew. Like American Auto, the show had its fans in Season One but struggled to break through. NBC seems to be behind it though even with the Friday slot.
Monday: HBO has the second season premiere of Perry Mason. The first season aired back in Summer 2020. It wasn't a big hit but the production value was lauded by many and the series did get Emmy nominations for Matthew Rhys and John Lithgow. It is followed by Rain Dogs, a new BBC produced drama. Hulu has the premiere of limited series The History of the World Part II from 96 year old Mel Brooks, who created the hit 1981 film The History of the World Part I. The TV sequel has a parade of big name guest stars and will air over four consecutive nights.
Thursday: Paramount+ has the premiere of School Spirits, a teen supernatural thriller that seems to be part of the audience the streamer is going after with other shows like Wolf Pack.
My pick for the week:
I will go with Daisy Jones & The Six. I think it looks really well done. Even though reviews have been mixed, I still have hope. Shows about the music industry are tough but this seems like it could be a good one. I was mixed on the first seasons of Perry Mason and Grand Crew, but will probably at least check out the second season premiere of both.
Check back next week for a new week of blog posts!
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