Aftermath of the Upfronts: Networks Announce New Seasons
We’re now in that time of the year when networks decide what’s going to be their Next Big Things in programming, with decisions being made on the fates of your favorite (and not-so-favorite) series. Here’s everything we know about what has been picked up for next season or canceled, and it makes for a bumpy ride for some.
ABC
In what’s been described as a “bloodbath” for the network, new president Channing Dungey has pretty much put a fork in most of what his predecessor, Paul Lee, favored. The result has been a bag of mixed reaction as people adjust to the new way of doing things.
New and Renewed Shows:
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: renewed for season 4 and moved an hour later. The show will be “Edgier, Darker,and Riskier.” Could we finally see Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. act like…spies?
Time After Time – ABC’s time travel show. Based on the novel and movie of the same name about H.G. Wells pursuing Jack The Ripper in Modern day New York, given a series order by ABC, starring Freddie Stroma as H.G. Wells, Josh Bowman as Jack the Ripper and Genesis Rodriguez as Jane.
https://youtu.be/VN4C4Ar5BLo
Canceled shows:
Agent Carter: canceled after season 2 due to sinking ratings. In its sophomore season two, it went from an average 3.18 million to 2.35 million viewers over the course of the season. There is a petition to bring the show to Netflix with over 80,000 signatures. Meanwhile, star Hayley Atwell will lead the new Conviction, which has a series order from ABC.
ABC also decided (again) not to move forward on Marvel’s Most Wanted, the on-then-off-then-on spinoff from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that would have featured Adrienne Palicki and Nick Blood, with Bobbi and Hunter on the run and making a new alliance with Dominic Fortune (Delroy Lindo) with adventures spinning out of their last episode on S.H.I.E.L.D. this season.
With the show canceled before it begins, will that mean Palicki and Blood — and perhaps Lindo — might find their way back to the flagship show?
Galavant: Despite being a fan favorite, the show suffered low ratings and behind-the-scenes changes (including the departure of creator Dan Fogelman and ABC President Paul Lee), and series lead Joshua Sasse signed on to the CW’s No Tomorrow.
CBS
New and Renewed Shows:
BrainDead follows a young fresh-faced Capitol Hill staffer getting her first job in Washington, D.C., and discovering two things: first, the government has stopped working, and second, alien spawn have come to Earth and eaten the brains of a growing number of congressmen and Hill staffers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdXKGzjfd4Q
MacGyver – Airing on Fridays, MacGyver is a reboot of the classic, following a 20-something MacGyver joining a clandestine organization. Starring Lucas Till as the titular character, Joshua Boone as Gunner, MacGyver’s best friend from high school. Think of it as MacGyver learning how to be MacGyver. He and his late father’s best friend partner up to form the clandestine Phoenix Foundation. Using his scientific know-how and resourcefulness, MacGyver—alongside his intrepid team—undertakes missions to save lives and change the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pS39X658Vw
Related ~ Lucas Till Will See a SPECTRUM
Pure Genius: Might or might not be genre, but it bears attention due to the high-tech wizardry that serves as the core of the medical drama. Dermot Mulroney and newcomer Augustus Prew star in a drama about a high-tech wizard (a young Steve Jobs type) who develops the most advanced hospital in the world — holographic imaging, 3D printing, smart panel scanning, all sorts of stuff right out of Star Trek. At the CBS upfronts, Mulroney made the comment that “when your show is called Pure Genius there’s a certain amount of pressure.”
Also notable in the cast: Disney alum Brenda Song looking very post-Disney (read that “grown up”) and Royal Pains‘ Reshma Shetty.
https://youtu.be/Fx-5-t4Njlc
And speaking of Star Trek, late in the game (as in today) we got this first glimpse of a teaser of a trailer:
https://youtu.be/xXpPweAooeE
Little is known about this new series other than the first episode will air on the CBS broadcast network, then the rest of the show will be shown in the United States, week by week, on CBS All Access, CBS’ digital streaming service.
Canceled shows:
Angel From Hell: this one was pulled back in February after only five episodes, but it’s officially on the “canceled” list now after the upfronts.
Extant: The second season only averaged about 4.7 million viewers, about as many as Big Brother had. According to The Hollywood Reporter, instead of moving forward on another season of the summer series, they’re instead working with star Halle Berry on the development of Legalease, a legal drama with Berry set as executive producer.
Under the Dome: The story was concluded with season 3, but it won’t be coming back next summer. Low ratings was cited for the decision. But at least the show had the ability to wrap up before it was pulled from the schedule.
The CW
New and Renewed shows:
As we reported back in March, the CW announced renewals of pretty much their entire lineup: The 100, Arrow, The Flash, iZombie, Supernatural, The Originals, The Vampire Diaries, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and more CW Seed time for Vixen.
Supergirl is also making the jump to the network for its sophomore season. According to CBS president Glenn Geller speaking to Variety, “The ratings did start a little higher and they came down a bit,” which fueled discussions about budget cuts and moving the show. Gellar added, “I think it found the right home. It’s a win-win for us. We co-own the CW and we made a great deal with Warner Bros. Who’s to say if we hadn’t made that deal that we wouldn’t have picked it up.”
https://youtu.be/wIEBIDjOgOU
CW president Mark Pedowitz also indicated that the annual crossover event between the DC shows will include all of the DC shows.
https://youtu.be/-nXldPtZ1sg
Beauty and the Beast will also be returning, this time for its fourth and final season consisting of thirteen episodes. Our intrepid correspondent, Leslie Walker, will have recaps for the final episodes.
Riverdale – Based on Archie Comics, this show is from the Producer Who Can Almost Do No Wrong, Greg Berlanti, who has done a fairly decent job making the CW over in his image with all of the DC Comics programming. This new take on the classic comic book is described as a surprising and subversive take on the classic characters. The Archie characters explore the weird and subversive underbelly of their seemingly serene town. Supernatural stuff? Zoinks.
Frequency: The CW’s sorta time travel show. A reboot of based on the movie of the same name, it follows a female detective who discovers that she can communicate with her long dead father via ham radio. Together they try to solve a cold case with “Butterfly effect” consequences.
https://youtu.be/BL8Rl2n2C6Y
https://youtu.be/JUA-NT4ZzRg
Canceled shows:
Containment was almost dead on arrival, and the ratings were pretty much flatlining from the beginning—only 1.7 million viewers for the premiere episode. And despite the Julie Plec pedigree, it just hasn’t gained any traction.
Fox
New and Renewed Shows:
The X-Files – according to Fox execs Gary Newman and Dana Walden, the only hurdle to delivering another season of The X-Files will be scheduling. Newman confirms talks with show creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. See Ann Laabs’ thoughts about it here.
Another show getting a renewal, although some on our Rogues Gallery podcast would wonder why: Gotham.
As we reported last week, Sleepy Hollow has been renewed for a fourth season, only without Nicole Beharie. Giving what seems to be a halfway confirmation about on-set troubles with Beharie (and how she felt she was treated), Walden would only say it was not their first choice to have the show come back without both stars. “A variety of factors led to that end of the season this year. … It wasn’t a decision we wanted to make,” said Walden. “We were put in a place where that decision had to be made.”
Other shows getting renewals: Lucifer, Scream Queens, and The Last Man on Earth.
Wayward Pines has also been renewed for season 2 in summer 2016, but early reviews are that M. Night Shyamalan should have quit while he was ahead…
The Exorcist – a modern reinvention of the 1971 novel, following two very different men tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession and confronting the face of true evil. Stars Geena Davis, Alfonso Herrera as the young priest and Ben Daniels as the old priest. Bring your own holy water. It will air on Friday after…Hell’s Kitchen.
Making History – Fox’s time-travel show (starting to sense a pattern here) centers on three unlikely friends who find an even less likely way to travel through time (a duffel bag), irreversibly complicating their personal lives in 2016 as the great moments of the past collide with today’s popular culture — with hilarious and quite disastrous results. It’s from the same team that brought you The Last Man on Earth. Airs in the mid-season.
https://youtu.be/Z-TVyOqCkr0
Son of Zorn – think He-Man in The Office? Maybe? It’s a live-action/animation hybrid that will live in the Sunday night lineup. Jason Sudekis will give voice to Zorn, an animated warrior from the island of Zephyria who comes back to Orange County, California to win back his ex-wife (Cheryl Hines) and son Alangulon. Developed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie, The Last Man on Earth).
https://youtu.be/kPnlQTi8heM
Canceled Shows:
NBC
New and Renewed shows:
Grimm: We got word back in April that the show would deliver a 6th season. And now that the season finale is upon us, you have time to catch up on season five with our Grimmly Speaking podcast.
Emerald City has been revived for 2015-16 season after an early cancellation. It had originally been developed in 2014, but producers and network execs couldn’t come to an agreement on a direction for the show. The new logline reads: “In the blink of a tornado’s eye, 20-year-old Dorothy Gale and her K9 police dog are transported to another world, one far removed from our own — a mystical land of competing kingdoms, lethal warriors, dark magic and a bloody battle for supremacy. This is the fabled Land of Oz in a way you’ve never seen before, where wicked witches don’t stay dead for long and a young girl becomes a headstrong warrior who holds the fate of kingdoms in her hands.”
You, Me and the End of the World – a Canadian production originally titled Apocalypse Slough, the series stars Rob Lowe, Megan Mullally, and Jenna Fischer in a comedy/drama about the last days of mankind. A group of people — seemingly unconnected, but their lives start to intersect — face the end of the world as a comet hurtles toward a collision with Earth.
Powerless is a comedy based in an insurance company in the DC Universe and how they deal and interact with the superhuman community. Vanessa Hudgens and Alan Tudyk lead the cast, and it appears they will be rivals for control of how things get done:
Timeless – NBC’s time travel show follows an unlikely trio who travel through time to battle a master criminal intent on altering the fabric of human history with potentially catastrophic results. Airs Mondays at 9 Central.
https://youtu.be/4glJzvUunOE
Midnight, Texas is based on the New York Times best-selling trilogy from Charlaine Harris (True Blood). The drama is described as Twin Peaks meets True Blood in Midnight, Texas, a remote town where your neighbor could be a vampire, a witch, a werewolf and even an angel. Set for a mid-season premiere.
Canceled shows:
Hannibal: Rumor has it that rights issues were behind the show’s ending. They couldn’t get the rights to the Clarice Starling character.
Heroes Reborn: canceled, but it was only planned as a single season. A single season that our Mr. Preyer felt was a season too many…
additional reporting by Jason Hunt
