9-1-1 and Doctor Odyssey set crossover / CBS renews 9 shows, including Ghosts for 2 seasons / Hulu renews Paradise for Season 2
PLUS: James Bond's creative control shifts to Amazon MGM Studios: Will there be drama series spinoffs?
Ryan Murphy's 9-1-1 and Doctor Odyssey set ABC crossover episode
Angela Bassett's LAPD Sgt. Athena Grant will visit with Joshua Jackson's Dr. Max Bankman aboard his cruise ship on the March 20 crossover episode on ABC. According to the official description, the action takes place during Casino Week aboard The Odyssey, and “unexpected guest Athena Grant suspects two passengers are targeting the ship’s vault,” the logline explains. “Enlisting Max’s help, Athena raises the stakes in a dangerous game where not everyone will end up with a winning hand.” As Variety's Angelique Jackson points out, "while 9-1-1 fans might be shocked to see Bassett’s Grant board a ship so soon after her and Bobby’s (Peter Krause) harrowing honeymoon cruise disaster (a three-episode emergency!) in Season 7 — but both shows hail from the house of Murphy, who loves a crossover arc."
CBS renews Tracker, Elsbeth, Fire Country, NCIS, NCIS Origins, NCIS: Sydney and Hollywood Squares
The network is sticking with its solid drama series lineup after previously granting Matlock a quick Season 2 renewal last October. As Deadline's Lynette Rice notes, "the original FBI series was formerly renewed through the 2026-2027 broadcast season. No word yet on the status of FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International, as well The Equalizer and Watson." Tracker is returning for Season 3, Elsbeth for Season 3, Fire Country for Season 4, NCIS for Season 23, NCIS: Origins for Season 2, NCIS: Sydney for Season 3 and Hollywood Squares for Season 2.
CBS orders two more seasons of Ghosts, renews Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage
Currently in its fourth season, the hit comedy Ghosts has been picked up for Seasons 5 and 6, taking the single-camera comedy through the 2026-27 season. Freshman Young Sheldon sequel series Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage has been picked up for Season 2.
What about the CBS shows that haven't been renewed, from The Neighborhood to The Equalizer?
"As usual, the news (today that CBS renewed nine shows) set alarm bells for fans of the series that didn’t make the early renewal list, dramas FBI: Most Wanted, FBI: International, The Equalizer and yes, the twice-canceled S.W.A.T., as well as veteran comedy The Neighborhood and freshman sitcom Poppa’s House," says Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "(It’s too early for new drama Watson which just premiered.) Some of the shows on the list, which includes all of CBS’ current series with Black leads, will be picked up. But if history — and simple math — is any indication, it is certain that several of the series that were not picked up today won’t be back next season.” As Andreeva points out, “CBS already has two drama slots reserved on next season’s schedule for new series Sheriff Country, a spinoff from Fire Country, and Boston Blue, an extension of the Blue Bloods universe. It also has potential FBI and Equalizer spinoffs — the latter starring Titus Welliver — in the works and a high-profile drama pilot Einstein starring Criminal Minds alum Matthew Gray Gubler."
Hulu renews Paradise for Season 2
The Dan Fogelman-created twisty drama series starring Sterling K. Brown has been picked up for a second season after the airing of six of its eight Season 1 episodes. Fogelman has already said he has a three-season plan for Paradise that he’s already mapped out. “I have a plan for three seasons of the show," he told The Hollywood Reporter in January. "Without giving away too much, each season of the show is a slightly different show, within the same show with the same characters. here’s twists and turns in the course of the season. Then the seventh episode is kind of a standalone episode of the show. As we go into second season, we pivot a little bit, but in a way that I think is very follow-able. But yes, there’s big moves ahead.”
Leighton Meester to join husband Adam Brody on Nobody Wants This
Meester and Miles Fowler have been booked as guest-stars on Brody and Kristen Bell's hit Netflix romcom series. According to Variety, Meester will play Abby, who is described as “Joanne’s (Bell) middle school nemesis who is now an Instagram mommy influencer.” Fowler guest stars as Lenny, said to be “Noah’s (Brody) Matzah Ballers teammate who gets set up with Morgan (Justine Lupe).”
ABC orders 9-1-1 spinoff 9-1-1: Nashville
After talk of a second season set in Las Vegas, co-creators Ryan Murphy and Tim Minear have settled on Nashville. 9-1-1 star Angela Bassett will also serve as an executive producer.
Omar Sy to lead Netflix action thriller series Extraction
The Lupin star is returning to Netflix for the "action thriller from AGBO is set in the world of the Netflix movie franchise that starred Chris Hemsworth as highly skilled commando Tyler Rake taking on dangerous missions and has Glen Mazzara (The Shield, The Walking Dead) as its showrunner and executive producer," per The Hollywood Reporter. "An initial eight episodes of the series will follow Sy as a mercenary on a dangerous mission to rescue hostages in Libya. Trapped between warring factions and ruthless killers, the series focuses on the emotional struggles of conflicted and flawed characters, each facing trauma, betrayal and life-or-death choices."
NBC renews Reba McEntire's Happy's Place for Season 2
Happy's Place is the second freshman NBC comedy to be picked up for a second season, after St. Denis Medical.
Robot Chicken returning for a 20th anniversary special that will skewer Warner Bros. Discovery's reality shows
Seth Green and Matthew Senreich's Adult Swim stop-motion animated sketch comedy premiered 20 years ago today, on Feb. 20, 2005. Titled “The Robot Chicken Self-Discovery Special,” the 20th anniversary special will send up Discovery, Food Network and TLC as fans will be following “the hapless Robot Chicken Nerd as he seeks self-discovery America’s way: going on reality shows! Will he find a 90 Day Fiancé – or end up Shark Week chum?”
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor joins Apple TV+'s Lucky
The Oscar- and Emmy-nominated veteran of Lovecraft Country, The Mentalist, When They See Us and 61st Street will lead the limited series based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling of the same name. Lucky stars Taylor-Joy as "the eponymous heroine. She is a young woman who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past."
Nickelodeon announces a new Avatar: The Last Airbender series for the 20th anniversary
The 26-episode Avatar: Seven Havens will follow a new Avatar. The series will be the third in the Avatar-verse, following the original show and The Legend of Korra. The announcement was timed for the 20th anniversary of the Feb. 21, 2005 premiere of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon will also mark the anniversary with new YouTube content, in-person experiences and books.
Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore to direct Legally Blonde prequel series Elle
Moore, who also directed Sisters and Shotgun Wedding, will be at the helm of the first two episodes of the Amazon prequel series.
Ugly Betty’s Eric Mabius arrested on battery charges
The former Ugly Betty star, The L Word vet and Hallmark Channel star was taken into custody in Florida early this morning on two misdemeanor charges: a battery charge and resisting arrest. The Nassau County Sheriff's Office released a mugshot of Mabius sporting a black eye.
Netflix orders Uncorked, a Napa Valley-set wine country half-hour dramedy from Darren Star and David Schulner
Emily in Paris creator Star and New Amsterdam creator Schulner have landed a script-to-series commitment for their half-hour, single-camera dramedy. Details of Uncorked are being kept under wraps, but Deadline reports it will have a female lead.
The Night Agent hits a series high on Nielsen's streaming charts with Season 2 premiere
The Gabriel Basso-led thriller series topped its previous best with 3.06 billion minutes viewed for the week of Jan. 20-26. ALSO: Severance puts up another strong week.
Leaving Neverland sequel, Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson, to premiere on British TV without HBO's involvement
Director Dan Reed has been working on his sequel to his 2019 documentary featuring alleged Jackson childhood sexual assault victims Wade Robson and James Safechuck. The sequel was commissioned by Channel 4, which will air it on March 18. "Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson captures the attempt by Safechuck, Robson and their legal representatives to seek justice for what happened," per Deadline. "The hour-long film will detail the personal toll of going public with their accusations and the backlash from Jackson’s global army of fans."
Industry adds Max Minghella
The Handmaid's Tale and The Mindy Project alum will star in Season 4 of the HBO drama series as Whitney Halberstram, described as “the CFO and Founder of Tender, a payment processor entering a growth phase.”
SNL denies longtime cue card holder Wally Feresten's claim that Ryan Reynolds changed an SNL50 joke
On Tuesday’s Fifi, Fev and Nick podcast episode, 35-year Saturday Night Live vet Feresten said of Reynolds' joke about his wife Blake Lively's legal battle with Justin Baldoni: "He had a different line in rehearsal, and he pitched that to replace it. So, that was his idea to do it. We wouldn’t want to do anything too controversial unless they were in on it,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. An SNL spokesperson, however, denied Feresten’s claim to The Hollywood Reporter, which points out that Feresten is not a credited writer on the series and isn’t part of the creative process.
Dana Carvey on his SNL50 absence: "I was told not to travel" because I had the flu
The Saturday Night Live icon discussed his absence from Sunday's special on his and David Spade’s Superfly podcast. "I had lingering effects from the flu. So I was told not to travel," Carvey said.
James Bond's creative control shifts to Amazon MGM Studios: Will there be drama series spinoffs?
In a shock announcement this morning, Barbara Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, who have long been custodians of the 007 movie franchise that their father/stepfather Albert R. Broccoli launched, have announced they are ceding creative control of the Bond franchise while remaining co-owners. Amazon MGM Studios is reportedly paying an extra $1 billion for creative control, according to Deadline. Broccoli and Wilson have resisted burning out the Bond franchise as what some complain has happened with Disney's acquisition of Star Wars. (Though they did allow for the Brian Cox-hosted 2023 Prime Video reality show 007: Road to a Million.) A Bond franchise with Amazon MGM Studios' full control will likely lead to more movies and series. "For them, 007 is little more than intellectual property to spice up quarterly earnings reports," says the New York Post's Johnny Oleksinski. "They will plunder every possible aspect of the franchise. They will pump out as many films, TV shows and other peripheral nonsense as they can. Think a Young Q spinoff series. Moneypenny, held back behind a desk for so long, will surely be granted the “license to kill” in her own movies. We’ll get 'Cruela'-style backstories of villains like Jaws and Blofeld. And, invariably, we’ll tune out all the incessant noise." Meanwhile, Eric Handler, senior media and entertainment analyst at Roth Capital Partners, can imagine the possibilities, telling Variety: "Now, Amazon can maybe stay on a linear track with the films, but maybe they create a streaming series about Moneypenny or tell an origin story about Q. Do they have Ana de Armas’s character from No Time to Die appear in a separate movie? It’s all possible.” ALSO: Jeff Bezos reacts to the news by tweeting: "Who’d you pick as the next Bond?"
Malcolm in the Middle adds Kiana Madeira as Malcolm's girlfriend
The My Adventures with Superman vet will play Tristan, described as “Malcolm’s charming and opinionated girlfriend who – by any rational standard – is way out of his league," on the Disney Branded Television revival series.
Discovery Channel renews five of its freshman series, including The Last Woodsmen and In the Eye of the Storm
Expedition Files, Hustlers Gamblers Crooks and Mud Madness are also returning for second seasons.
TLC's The Baldwins tackles Alec Baldwin's Rust shooting in the first episode
Premiering this Sunday, the reality show following Alec and Hilaria Baldwin and their seven children addresses several scandals that have dogged the family, from the Rust shooting to Hilaria's penchant for speaking with a Spanish accent to the claim that she is a fame-thirsty gold digger. The premiere episode is set last summer, as Baldwin prepares to stand trial in the on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. “Everyone who is close to Alec has seen his mental health decline. He was diagnosed with PTSD, and he says, in his darkest moments, if an accident had to have happened this day, why am I still here?” Hilaria says, according to the Los Angeles Times. Alec adds: "Everything was so different before this happened, and our lives are very, very different. Our children have been forced to recognize that. They’ve been forced to deal with that, with us, in their own way."
Owen Wilson's Apple TV+ golf comedy reveals Stick title, premiere date and first-look photos
In Stick, Wilson plays a former pro golfer who trains a young phenom (Peter Dager) in Stick, premiering June 4. Marc Maron, Timothy Olyphant, Judy Greer also star with cameos from pro golfers Collin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley, Max Homa and Wyndam Clark.
Lifetime sets TV movies with Keshia Knight Pulliam, D.B. Woodside and Claire Qute
Elisabeth Rohm will produce and direct Pulliam in Wife Stalker, premiering March 29. Woodside and Qute will star in Taken at a Basketball Game, premiering March 15.
Dexter: Original Sin's finale was up 27% from the premiere
About 2.68 million watched the Dexter prequel series' finale over the weekend.
Marvel Television pauses development on three projects: Nova, Strange Academy and Terror, Inc.
According to Deadline's Matt Grobar, "these projects were never officially greenlit, and may still come to fruition at some point. The studio has simply shifted its priorities at the moment. We’re told the decision is also reflective of a new model for producing television that’s emerged at Marvel in recent years. Originally, Marvel approached series development in much the same way it handled features: a slate was announced, and what was teased was more or less what got made. A couple of years ago, senior leadership decided to retool the development process, as they were also revamping their new Daredevil series, Born Again. Marvel’s new approach to TV development is more traditional, with many more projects being developed than will ultimately be made, and showrunners being brought in to oversee each. Shifting to a more typical greenlight process made sense, as the studio looked to maintain audience engagement amid new realities facing the industry."
YouTube is planning a cheaper premium tier for people who want to watch ad-free programs and podcasts
The "premium lite" tier will target viewers who primarily want to watch programs other than music videos, according to Bloomberg. Currently, YouTube Premium costs $13.99/month for an individual plan and $22.99/month for a family plan.
Alexander Skarsgård's Murderbot gets an Apple TV+ premiere date and first-look images
Skarsgård plays the title role in Apple's adaptation of Martha Wells’ bestselling book series The Murderbot Diaries, premiering March 16.
Kevin Bacon is an undead bounty hunter in the first look at Amazon’s The Bondsman
Bacon will play Hub Halloran, a bounty hunter resurrected by the Devil to capture demons who have escaped hell, in the Prime Video limited series premiering April 3.
The View's Whoopi Goldberg sidelined by the flu
"Whoopi is still out with the flu. It's going around, be careful," Joy Behar said in announcing this morning that Goldberg had missed out on her second consecutive show.
Matteo Lane's new standup special gets a Hulu premiere date
Premiering May 16, Matteo Lane: The Al Dente Special marks the comedian's first standup special for a major platform after several self-released specials.
Conan O'Brien argues with Oscar in an extended Academy Awards promo
"I'm sorry I'm not an iconic award," Conan cries in his first lengthy promo for the March 2 ceremony.