High Potential renewed for Season 3 as showrunner exits / ABC renews 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Nashville / Heated Rivalry creator to make Alexander the Great teen series for Netflix
PLUS: Scott Patterson on why he left Sullivan’s Crossing after three seasons: “The creative differences were becoming untenable."
High Potential renewed for Season 3 as showrunner Todd Harthan exits
The Kaitlin Olson-led hit ABC crime dramedy is losing Harthan, who is leaving to focus on Eragon, the live-action adaptation of Christopher Paolini’s YA book series The Inheritance Cycle. Created by Drew Goddard based on the French series HPI, High Potential has had Harthan at the helm since Season 1. In January, Harthan told Deadline the end of Season 2 will be a “just as satisfying, if not even more exhilarating push-off into a potential Season 3. What we’re plotting and planning, it has a different flavor than what we did last year, but I think it’s gonna be even more personal, even more propulsive, even more surprising than what we did in Season 1, because we’ve learned some things and the characters have gotten richer.”
ABC renews 9-1-1 for Season 10 and 9-1-1: Nashville for Season 2
The two Ryan Murphy series weren’t shoe-ins for their respective renewals, says Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. “9-1-1 remains one of ABC’s most watched scripted series, recently logging its best multi-platform audience since the season premiere,” says Andreeva. Still, it is an expensive nine-year-old drama series filming in Los Angeles with a big star as the lead, Angela Bassett, and noisy, big-production yearly stunts.” Andreeva adds: “It has been a rollercoaster ride for 9-1-1: Nashville. After a solid start, the spinoff hit bumps, with the ratings tapering off and hitting a low in the fall finale and staying low in its winter return, holding just over half of its sizable 9-1-1 lead-in. Undergoing a course correction, including some retooling, Nashville has started to hit its stride, hitting series highs in both total viewers and adults 18-49 with its January 29 episode. The momentum has continued since, with its timing solidifying the series’ renewal chances.”
Scott Patterson on why he left Sullivan’s Crossing after three seasons: “The creative differences were becoming untenable”
“Every actor knows what it’s like to fall in love with a character and a story. I fell in love with Sully and have nothing but fondness for him,” Patterson, who plays Harry “Sully” Sullivan on the Canadian drama series that airs on The CW, said in a statement to Deadline. “The creative differences were becoming untenable and I just sadly realized that the show was not something that I could agree to continue. It’s unfortunate that it is now being implied that they moved on from me/Sully when the fact is the complete opposite, and those who sadly already have spoken out are also fully aware of this fact, and yet chose to say otherwise. I was not intending to make any statement but the fans of the books and the show deserve to know the truth as I have always been respectful of those who support this industry by watching and loving these characters we are so dang lucky and blessed to portray and bring to life. I really enjoyed Sully and fought for his voice and his character. The richness and depth of Sully, whom the fans of the books all know and love, is so multi-layered and interesting. The fans deserved better than to think the embodiment of this character, me, would just disrespect not only the show, but them. In the end, we’re all fans of these characters and stories, and I’ll always support and defend the truth.”
Heated Rivalry creator Jacob Tierney to make an Alexander the Great teen drama series for Netflix
Tierney and his fellow Heated Rivalry executive producer Brendan Brady are teaming with Jason Bateman on drama series Alexander. “Like Canadian hockey drama Heated Rivalry, which was based on Rachel Reid’s novels and for which Tierney wrote and directed all six Season 1 episodes, he also will write and direct Alexander, an adaptation of the 2009 novel The Golden Mean by another Canadian author, Annabel Lyon,” says Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. “In Alexander, as the Athenian empire crumbles, the world’s greatest mind, Aristotle, arrives in Macedonia to tutor a volatile young prince Alexander. Amid palace intrigue, forbidden love, brutal war and ruthless ambitions, their unlikely friendship shapes an empire and alters the course of history.”
Savannah Guthrie makes an off-camera visit to Today as NBC says she’ll return as some point
Guthrie was at the Today show studio this morning for the first time since her mother Nancy Guthrie disappeared on Jan. 31. “Savannah Guthrie stopped by the studio this morning to be with and thank her Today colleagues,” NBC News said in a statement. “While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home.” ALSO: Jenna Bush Hager tears up on-air over Savannah Guthrie’s return.
The White Lotus adds French actors Vincent Cassel, Corentin Fila and Nadia Tereszkiewicz for Season 4
Westworld alum Cassel is returning to HBO as one of the locals in the France-filmed fourth season of the Mike White hit.
CBS Mornings executive producer Shawna Thomas to exit as the CBS News morning show is set to become softer
Thomas, “who has guided CBS News’ morning program through several major transitions since joining as executive producer in 2021, is making one of her own,” says Variety’s Brian Steinberg. “The journalist, who has won plaudits for her entrepreneurial career and hard-won knowledge of Washington, will leave CBS Mornings, part of what is expected to be another overhaul of the program that may have it embrace some of the frillier trappings of the daypart that it has previously avoided.”
David Ellison vows CNN will maintain its editorial independence under Paramount’s ownership
Ellison was asked about fears at CNN while on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning. “So, look, I’ve said this since the beginning, which is, you know, for — when it really comes to — editorial independence will absolutely be maintained. It’s maintained at CBS. It’ll be maintained at CNN,” said the Paramount CEO. “And, really, who we want to talk to is the 70% of Americans and really around the world that identify as center-left, as center-right. And we want to be in the truth business. We want to be in the trust business. And that’s not going to change.” ALSO: CNN team enters Iran in reporting on the Iran War.
CBS News postpones Vice President JD Vance’s March 14 town hall due to Iran War
CBS News’ Things That Matter: A Town Hall with Vice President JD Vance, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 14, has been postponed indefinitely.
Paramount+ orders relationship dating series Making Love from Love Is Blind creator
Premiering in 2027, Chris Coelen’s Making Love is a “bold new relationship experiment, where singles take their destiny into their own hands and attempt to turn their desires into a lifetime of love,” says Paramount+. The logline asks: “Can you find the person you’ve always dreamed of?”
Netflix greenlights comedy series I Suck at Girls from Abbott Elementary showrunners
Kayo Martin, Jeremy Ray Taylor and Laila Pruitt will star in the comedy series based on Abbott Elementary co-showrunner Justin Halperin’s memoir I Suck At Girls, co-written with fellow Abbott showrunner Patrick Schumacker with Bill Lawrence on board as an executive producer. “The series revolves around three awkward high school sophomores — Steven (Martin), Garrett (Taylor) and Anna (Pruitt) — who stumble through the messy world of teenage romance and identity, learning that sucking at girls is just part of growing up,” per Deadline.
Inside Out characters will appear on ESPN’s NHL real-time animated alt-cast game
The April 5 game between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers will feature a real-time game featuring Inside Out character vs. animated players. “The complementary Inside Out Classic will feature animated players skating alongside Inside Out characters and leverage two types of tracking technologies — NHL EDGE positional data (NHL Puck and Player Tracking) and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations — to present the action on the ice,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Watch the trailer.
Below Deck alum Emile Kotze files $850 million suit against Bravo
Season 3 Below Deck star Kotze’s federal lawsuit against NBC Universal alleges he didn’t know he was signing up for a reality show, and that producers edited the footage in a “highly misleading manner to craft a false, defamatory portrayal” of him to make him “immature, incompetent, and sexually aggressive,” according to TMZ. Kotze also alleges he was manipulated into embarrassing scenarios. TMZ adds: “The producers scoff at the lawsuit ... they say most of the claims were brought past the statute of limitations, and are ‘unsupported by any plausible factual allegations.’”
Investigation Discovery orders Evil Lives Here spinoff My Child the Killer
The docuseries Evil Lives Here: My Child The Killer “will explore the stories of parents whose children have grown up to have committed horrifying crimes,” per Deadline. “It will center on the parents who have been forced to confront the unthinkable truth: the child they loved and trusted has grown into a monster; the series will feature first-person interviews with these parents. These include a shattered mother who is haunted by what she could have done differently to a father who must come to terms with the reality that his son is a convicted serial killer.”
New batch Oscar presenters include Robert Downey Jr., Anne Hathaway, Paul Mescal, Will Arnett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Gwyneth Paltrow
They join a list that includes Adrien Brody, Javier Bardem, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Chase Infiniti, Mikey Madison, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Maya Rudolph and Zoe Saldaña.
Four join Samuel L. Jackson on Taylor Sheridan’s Frisco King
Asa Germann, Kai Caster, Lilah Pate and Savanna Gann will be series regulars on the Paramount+ Tulsa King spinoff.
Eric Dane’s posthumous memoir will be published in November
The late Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria star’s My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments will be published on Nov. 3 as part of Maria Shriver’s book imprint. “I want to capture the moments that shaped me — the beautiful days, the hard ones, the ones I never took for granted — so that if nothing else, people who read it will remember what it means to live with heart,” Dane said before his death, in a quote shared from the publisher.
AMC developing drama series The New Gothic from Hilarie Burton
Hilarie Burton Morgan is expanding her relationship with AMC Networks with a drama series set in the South, which she is writing with her frequent collaborator Nick Gray. “The New Gothic redefines the legendary storytelling of the American South as it follows the collision of the enterprising Bloom family with the resurrected Mississippi Mafia,” per Deadline. “Set in a landscape stained by red clay and bad blood, villainy is commonplace. But power is singular.”
HBO Max makes Heated Rivalry-inspired dumplings
The streamer has posted a TikTok video of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov as dumplings.
The Kitchen stars to reunite for a Food Network special
After ending their 11-year run in December, the stars of The Kitchen will be back for a one-off special. “We are filming a special episode of The Kitchen. It’ll be on the air,” Jeff Mauro said on Katie Lee Biegel’s podcast All On the Table, hinting that it would air in March.
Beef Season 2 trailer has Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan facing off against Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny
Creator Lee Sung Jin’s drama series returns April 16 with eight 30-minute episodes.
Steve Martin asks Lorne Michaels “So… are you going to retire?” in Lorne documentary trailer
Filmmaker Morgan Neville’s documentary on the SNL creator and longtime boss premieres in theaters on April 17.
James Marsden moves in on Jon Hamm’s turf in Your Friends & Neighbors Season 2 trailer
The Apple TV dark crime dramedy returns April 3 with one episode, followed by a weekly release.
Hulu unveils the trailer for The Handmaid’s Tale sequel The Testaments
The streamer returns to Gilead on April 8.
Homelander chases immortality in The Boys’ final season trailer
The Amazon Prime Video superhero series’ fifth and final season premieres April 8 with two episodes, followed by a weekly rollout.
Apple TV’s Twisted Yoga trailer delves into the dark truth of a global yoga empire
“Ex-members of a tantric yoga school speak out about how they went from searching for wellness and community to fearing they’d joined a cult, and seeking justice for alleged abuse and manipulation at the hands of a self-styled guru,” reads the official description for the three-part docuseries, premiering March 13.
Watch the trailer for HBO French thriller series Privileges
The hotel-set series premieres March 27.