Donnie Wahlberg to lead CBS Blue Bloods offshoot / SNL returning with Shane Gillis and Lady Gaga / Elsbeth books Mary Louise Parker and David Alan Grier
PLUS: Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight: Our world will continue after the Netflix movie.
Donnie Wahlberg to lead CBS Blue Bloods offshoot Boston Blue
Wahlberg will reprise his Danny Reagan Blue Bloods character on a series that has his NYPD detective character taking a job with the Boston PD. "Once in Boston, he is paired with Detective Lena Peters, the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family.," reports Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. CBS has given the tentatively titled Boston Blue, from writers Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis, a straight-to-series order with an eye towards it premiering during the 2025-2026 season. Andreeva adds that Boston Blue wasn't created with the intention of being a Blue Bloods spinoff: "While CBS and CBS Studios, which produced Blue Bloods, had explored spinoffs from the popular family police drama, including one that would’ve had Danny Reagan move to Texas and another one with Tom Selleck, Boston Blue was not conceived as a Blue Bloods offshoot,” says Andreeva. “It originated with Sonnier and Margolis, along with JBTV, pitching CBS Studios and CBS a drama that follows a family of police officers in Boston whose eldest daughter is partnered with a new transfer from LAPD. The network ordered a script based off that pitch, sources said. The script was well received at both the network and the studio whose executives saw the Boston family police drama project as an opportunity to make it part of the Blue Bloods universe by bringing in a character from the New York family cop drama."
SNL returns from its SNL50 hiatus with Shane Gillis and Lady Gaga
Gillis will host for the second time on March 1 with musical guest Tate McRae. Lady Gaga, who pulled double duty as host and musical guest in 2013, will pull double duty again on March 8.
SNL50: The Anniversary Special draws was watched by 14.8 million
While that is down from the 23.1 million viewers who watched the 40th anniversary special 10 years ago this month, the Sunday three-hour-plus event marked NBC's biggest primetime entertainment telecast in five years, since 18.33 million people watched the 2020 Golden Globes shortly before the pandemic. SNL50 also had the second-biggest non-sports viewership of the 2024-2025 season, after the 15.4 million that watched the Grammy Awards.
ALSO:
Why SNL icons couldn't attend SNL50: Dana Carvey had the flu and Bill Hader had a “longstanding scheduling conflict"
SNL alum Victoria Jackson slams SNL50 for its Tom Hanks "Black Jeopardy!" MAGA-bashing skit and for sexual vulgarity
John Oliver found it hilarious Last Week Tonight's Season 12 premiere competed against SNL50
“I mean, it wasn’t my idea, but I do find the idea very funny!” Oliver said on The Late Show when Stephen Colbert brought it up, according to The Wrap. “Which do you want to see, as a human being? A celebration of half a century of Saturday Night Live, a joyous celebration of that? Or one man squawking about government eating itself from within?”
Elsbeth books Mary Louise Parker and David Alan Grier
Parker will guest as a decluttering guru named Freya, while St. Denis Medical star Grier will play a mortuary owner who caters to the 1%.
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight: Our world will continue after the Netflix movie
Knight said this morning on BBC Breakfast that the Netflix movie is "a very fitting way to end this part of the Peaky story.” He then added, "this part, yes," teasing: “I’m not allowed to announce it, but I’m just saying that the world of Peaky will continue.”
BBC denies tabloid report that Doctor Who is going on a long hiatus and that Ncuti Gatwa has quit the show
The BBC responded to a The Sun report that Doctor Who was being shelved for five to 10 years due to disappointing viewership, saying in a statement: “This story is incorrect. Doctor Who has not been shelved. As we have previously stated, the decision on season 3 (season numbering for the series was reset for the third time with Gatwa’s debut season) will be made after season 2 airs.”
Hulu orders Mindy Kaling comedy Not Suitable for Work to series
Kaling created the comedy series that follows five work-obsessed 20somethings striving for professional success and, if they have time, personal happiness in Manhattan’s most glamorous neighborhood Murray Hill. The show was previously known as Murray Hill.
The White Lotus' Season 3 premiere draws an impressive 2.4 million viewers
That's up 57% from the 1.5 million that watched the Season 2 premiere in 2022.
Peacock documentary to delve into Matthew Perry's death
Watch the trailer for Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy, which will delve into the late Friends star's final days before his October 2023 death. Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy premieres Feb. 25.
Netflix indicates interest in bidding for the NFL's Sunday afternoon package
Chief content officer Bela Bajaria told Puck News that Netflix is "definitely" interested in bidding on a future NFL package after the streamer aired its first NFL games on Christmas Day. The NFL currently has deals with FX and CBS for its Sunday afternoon games through 2033, but the league could opt out in 2029.
Max is looking into changing the color of its blue logo
According to Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw, Max plans to do away with its blue logo for "something more neutral, likely some combination of black and white." Shaw adds that "the plans aren't final."
Ryan Murphy's Ed Gein Monster series adds Suzanna Son
The Idol alum's role on the upcoming Monster season starring Charlie Hunnam as notorious serial killer Ed Gein is being kept under wraps.
Netflix's Justina Machado-led medical drama Pulse reveals first-look photos and its premiere date
The streamer's first English-language medical procedural, from Zoe Robyn and Carlton Cuse, premieres April 3.
Joe Buck to return to calling a Major League Baseball game for the first time since 2021, but only temporarily
The Monday Night Football broadcaster, who has called the most World Series on TV in history, tells The Athletic that his decision to call the Opening Day game between the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers on ESPN March 27 is a one-off assignment. “I feel like the right way to do it is to act like I’ve been doing it for the past four years, even though I haven’t,” he says. In a tweet, Buck added: “Only doing this because I missed the 'why do you hate the Yankees' shots on twitter (it was twitter then) and add the Brewers fans who think I don’t like Milwaukee or the Packers or cheese. Both sides are WRONG. Anyway, it’s gonna be fun. Can’t wait actually. Saddle up!"
Mindy Kaling honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star
Kaling was honored by her The Office BFF B.J. Novak at this afternoon's ceremony. "You'd be on the walk of talent if they had one," Novak told Kaling. "You'd be on the walk of friendship. You'd be on the walk of compassionate parenthood, but let's face it all of these would be terrible field trips, so here you are instead, very deservedly, a person who means so much to so many on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."
Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura pose as DEA agents to steal from gangsters in Apple TV+'s Dope Thief trailer
Kate Mulgrew, Ving Rhames and Marin Ireland also star in the Ridley Scott-produced drama series created by The Town co-writer Peter Craig. Dope Thief premieres March 14.
New Daredevil: Born Again trailer touts its TV-MA content rating
Premiering March 4, Disney+'s new Daredevil series is strictly for adults.
Netflix unveils the trailer for American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden
The American Manhunt true-crime docuseries franchise is following its recent O.J. Simpson installment with a docuseries on the efforts to find Islamic extremist and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden premieres March 10.
Watch the trailer for Nat Geo's David Blaine: Do No Attempt
The world-renowned magician explores the world through magic in his National Geographic docuseries, premiering March 23.