The Rainmaker renewed for Season 2 / High Potential is the first 10 p.m. drama to hit No. 1 since ER / Johnny Carson was born 100 years ago today

PLUS: ESPN unsubtly removed an ESPN BET promo during Get Up as it tackled the FBI’s NBA gambling arrests.

USA Network renews The Rainmaker for Season 2
The legal drama based on the John Grisham’s 1995 novel of the same name has been picked up for a second season that will premiere in 2026. The renewal news comes one week after The Rainmaker’s Season 1 finale. “The verdict is in — The Rainmaker is returning for season two on USA Network,” said Val Boreland, president of entertainment at Versant. “Along with our brilliant showrunner Michael Seitzman and our partners at Lionsgate and Blumhouse, we’re thrilled to build on the momentum and deliver another compelling chapter of this gripping legal drama for our viewers.”

High Potential is the first 10 p.m. drama to hit No. 1 since ER in 1999
With its second season, the Kaitlin Olson-led ABC crime drama is the No. 1 entertainment series this fall. The last time a 10 p.m. drama was No. 1 was ER during the 1999-2000 season.

ESPN unsubtly removed an ESPN BET promo during Get Up as it tackled the FBI’s NBA gambling arrests
A chyron promoting ESPN’s gambling brand was removed from Get Up’s chyron in the middle of a discussion on the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and active Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier. “If ESPN leadership was hoping no one would notice the promo quite literally disappearing mid-broadcast while watching the show (or that no one would record it and aggregate it for the internet), well, that’s a little naive, isn’t it?” says USA Today’s Robert Zeglinski. “Someone tell the good folks at ESPN that once something like that makes it to air, it’s going to be near impossible to simply scrub after the fact. People pay attention! Their eyes wouldn’t lie to them! If the network wanted to avoid looking uncouth amid a massive criminal scandal, it would’ve updated its regular broadcast screen before going live.”

ESPN stuck with First Take this morning as the FBI announced NBA gambling indictments
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier’s arrests this morning shocked the sports world, prompting the major cable news networks to cover FBI Director Kash Patel’s news conference live. “But if one were to pop on ESPN in the 10 a.m. hour, you’d find Stephen A. Smith and his panel discussing the NFL like it was any other day,” says Mediaite’s Zachary Leeman. “Smith did address the news following the press conference and argued on First Take that it is part of a larger revenge plan by President Donald Trump that he suggested could affect other sports leagues. Pundits were floored by the fact that ESPN was not carrying the press conference. ESPN is financially involved with sports betting companies and has its own sportsbook.” ALSO: First Take desperately missed a full-time host amid NBA betting scandal news.

Wicked to make its broadcast TV debut on NBC ahead of Wicked: For Good’s theatrical release
The Jon M. Chu-directed 2024 film starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda will air on NBC on Nov. 19, two days before its sequel Wicked: For Good hits theaters.

9-1-1: Nashville actress Isabelle Tate dies at age 23, days after making her acting debut on the ABC series’ pilot
Tate, who played Julie in the 9-1-1 spinoff’s pilot episode that aired on Oct. 9, died in her sleep on Sunday. “We’re told Isabelle suffered from a rare progressive neuromuscular disease which confined her to a wheelchair,” reports TMZ. “Her agent says the disease affects the legs but can also affect internal organs such as the lungs and heart. Because of the disease, Tate had basically given up on her dream of acting ... until she got the 9-1-1 role -- her first big booking which was just perfect for her.”

Netflix confirms Stranger Things’ series finale will screen in theaters for a limited time
Screenings will take place in over 350 theaters in the U.S. and Canada starting on December 31 at 5 pm PT, the same time the series finale drops on Netflix globally, through Jan. 1, 2026. “While rare, stunt theatrical engagements for hit TV shows are not unprecedented,” says Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. “Netflix held screenings of Stranger Things 4: Volume 2 in various cities across North America on "‘Stranger Things Day’ (Nov. 6) 2022, months after the installment’s streaming premiere. This means that the Season 4 and Season 5 finales of Stranger Things — both movie-length, spanning 2+ hours — will have had a short-window theatrical run. HBO released at least two episodes of Game of Thrones in theaters after their TV premieres, also for promotional purposes, including to hype a DVD release. Debuting an episode of a TV show in theaters and on streaming has not been done before. It resembles the day-and-date movie release strategy where films are simultaneously released in theaters and on streaming platforms or VOD the same day.”

CNN announces a Louvre heist quickie documentary for its new CNN All Access streaming service
The Heist: The Louvre’s Stolen Crown Jewels will premiere on CNN All Access on Sunday, one week after the heist that shook Paris.

NCIS: Tony & Ziva creator cut a “very dark” season finale ending in case there’s no Season 2
“There was a very different ending to the finale that we shot, and I decided to cut it,” creator and showrunner John McNamara tells The Wrap, explaining he hopes to use the “very dark” cliffhanger footage to kick off a new adventure in a potential Season 2. “The final moment we went with is a credit to (Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly). They are the ones who made that scene work, giving it a weight and power that I didn’t realize it had when it was on the page,” he said. “Once I saw the footage I was like, ‘That’s the ending.’” ALSO: John McNamara on the prospects for a Season 2 renewal: “I am really, really, really, intensely superstitious about these things.”

Johnny Carson was born 100 years ago today
To celebrate the centennial of Carson’s Oct. 23, 1925 birth, LateNighter has gathered 100 moments from his legendary 1962-1992 run as host of NBC’s The Tonight Show. Carson died in January 2005 at age 79. As LateNighter notes, “for three decades, from 1962 to 1992, Carson guided the nation through triumph and tragedy—calming and comforting us with laughter, wit, and wonder. He didn’t just host television’s most enduring franchise; he defined what late night would be for generations. Carson’s genius was in his range. He could perform a sketch as the Great Carnac, banter with a precocious kid or a flustered zoo guest, and then turn on a dime to reveal a quiet, human warmth that disarmed everyone—celebrities and civilians alike. The chemistry with his audience was pure magic: they trusted him to be sharp, but never mean; silly, but always in control. Urbane and sophisticated but somehow also folksy. For millions, that mix made him not just the King of Late Night, but television’s moral center.”
ALSO:

• Johnny Carson’s alma mater, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, is celebrating his centennial with a series of events

• Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago announces a special Johnny Carson exhibit

• Daily Variety podcast looks back at Johnny Carson’s life through the pages of Variety

Netflix orders Jane Schoenbrun’s series adaptation of graphic novel Black Hole
In a competitive situation, Netflix has given a straight-to-series order to the I Saw the TV Glow writer-director’s adaptation of the Charles Burns comic book limited series. This is the first attempt to adapt Black Hole for TV after failed attempts to turn it into a movie. Here’s the official logline: “There’s an old myth that haunts the seemingly perfect small town of Roosevelt: if you have sex too young, you’ll contract the ‘bug,’ a virus that literally turns you into a ‘monster’ from your worst nightmares. Absurd, right? That’s what Chris always assumed, until, after one reckless night at the beginning of senior year, she finds herself infected. Now she’ll be cast out to the woods to live with the other infected, where a chilling, new threat emerges: a serial killer who’s hunting them one-by-one.”

The Athletic and Amazon partner on The Athletic Show
The New York Times-owned sports news website is getting the TV treatment, but only for customers with Fire TV and other Amazon devices. Launching on Saturday, The Athletic Show is a weekly 30-minute video series covering the hottest topics in sports.

Derek Hough denies Ryan Seacrest’s claim he jumped on the wheel during a Celebrity Wheel of Fortune commercial break
“Btw, this is 1000% NOT true,” Hough wrote on his Instagram Story Wednesday, beneath a screenshot of Seacrest’s remarks. “I would never disrespect a set like that however awesome that would’ve been to be ‘spun around it like a cake ornament’ haha.”

Conan O’Brien: I learned President Richard Nixon watched my Late Night debut months before his death
Conan says Nixon in Winter biographer Monica Crowley told him the 37th president of the United States told her that he watched his debut as David Letterman’s successor in September 1993. “I like it. It’s madcap,” Crowley quoted Nixon as saying, according to Conan. Nixon died seven months after Conan’s debut at age 80 in April 1994.

Jeff Probst: Why Survivor 50 doesn’t have any contestants from Survivor: Winners at War
“We made a decision not to bring any of the winners from Winners at War because we had just seen them and it was a big season,” says Probst on his On Fire podcast of Season 40, whose cast included Boston Rob Mariano, Sandra Diaz-Twine and Parvati Shallow.

Reba McEntire to host NBC’s Christmas in Rockefeller Center
“I’m really excited to get to go to New York City in December. I’ve never been there in December,” McEntire tells People of the Dec. 3 live special that will also stream on Peacock.

HBO announces a premiere date for One to One: John & Yoko
Premiering Nov. 14, the film from Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald offers a rare and revelatory inside look at the creative efforts and political activism emerging from John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s first year in New York City in the early 1970s.

Kelsey Grammer films a series of cringey Frasier promotional videos for Amazon
Watch Grammer as Frasier Crane answer burning Gen Z questions in promoting all 11 season of Frasier joining Amazon Prime Video.

Kim Kardashian reveals she’s been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm on The Kardashians’ Season 7 premiere
In a clip of today’s season premiere, Kardashian is seen going into an MRI scanner and later tells her family, “There was a little aneurysm.”

Netflix documentary looks back at 100 years of The New Yorker
Oscar-winning director Marshall Curry’s The New Yorker at 100, premiering Dec. 5, will go inside the offices of the iconic magazine, which is celebrated its 100th anniversary in February. According to the official description, Curry was allowed “unprecedented access to its newsroom at a pivotal moment for all media, offering a rare look at what it took to publish a century of intrepid journalism, generation-defining fiction, and unforgettable cartoons.”

Tiffany Haddish goes on a real-life Girls Trip in the trailer for Peacock’s Tiffany Haddish Goes Off
The six-part docuseries, premiering Nov. 13, follows Haddish and her three closest childhood girlfriends as they “travel together on a 4-week-long adventure exploring Africa and their connection to the continent,” per the official description. “We’ll see them bonding, confiding, confessing, and growing on this journey. This raw, vulnerable and unpredictable version of Tiffany Haddish leaves the viewer crying with laughter and sobbing from heartfelt, relatable, real-time self-healing.”

Amazon releases the first trailer for drama series Malice, starring David Duchovny, Jack Whitehall and Carice van Houten
Premiering Nov. 14, Malice stars Whitehall as Adam, “a charismatic tutor who charms his way into the life of the wealthy Tanner family while they’re on holiday in Greece. When the family’s nanny falls dangerously ill, Adam orchestrates his way in to their London home and his true vengeful nature begins to emerge...”

Selling the OC unveils its Season 4 trailer
The Selling Sunset spinoff returns to Netflix on Nov. 12.

Watch the trailer for The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday
Baron Davis, Cheri Oteri, Oliver Hudson and Janelle James are among the celebrity bakers for The Roku Channel special, premiering Nov. 3.