TV news roundup for Week 43+ of 2018
Welcome to the weekly TV news round-up where we go into the latest TV news regarding renewals, cancellations, and pick-ups. This week we are a bit later than you are used to, but we make it up to you with more to talk about.
Renewed
Netflix has renewed comedic drama Atypical, about a family with an 18-year-old son on the autistic spectrum, for a third season of ten episodes.
Netflix also renewed Matt Groening’s (The Simpsons, Futurama) animated fantasy comedy series Disenchanted for a host of new episodes to be released in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
CBS All Access has renewed Strange Angel, which is about rocket scientist/occultist Jack Parsons, for a second season. The series is based on the 2006 biography Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendle. Jack Raynor (Sing Street) will return as “Jack Parsons” somewhere in 2019.
Cancelled
If the above Netflix renewals made you think the cancellation onslaught has ended, think again! Latest victim is true crime mockumentary series American Vandal after two seasons. The Peabody Award for Television winning series might not be out yet, as there is talk that producing studio CBS Studios is looking for a new broadcaster.
Picked up
CBS All Access can soon be called “the Star Trek streaming service” as they have ordered Star Trek: Lower Decks! A half-hour animated comedy in development from Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan. The series “will focus on the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships.” We would not be surprised if the title and concept have been inspired by The Next Generation episode “Lower Decks.” It will be the fourth Star Trek series on CBS All Access, next to Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Short Treks, and the upcoming Jean-Luc Picard series starring Patrick Stewart. The new series is not the first time Star Trek went animated, as there was of course Star Trek’s continuation Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1975). In 2006 there was also Star Trek: Final Frontier, a never-produced animated series that would be set on a new USS Enterprise in 2528 (maybe the Enterprise-I, going with that date?), two centuries after Star Trek: Nemesis.
The Hollywood Reporter knows that Fox has picked up animated comedy Duncanville for a first season of 13 episodes. The series will focus on 15-year-old “Duncan” and his family and friends. Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) will voice the lead character as well as his mother “Annie.”
Other developments
Fox’s upcoming vampire drama The Passage, based upon Justin Cronin’s vampire novel trilogy of the same name, has received a premiere date. The first episode will air in the US on Monday, January 14.
Warner Bros. TV/DC Comics’ Batman TV prequel series Gotham has gotten two additional episodes from Fox. The fifth and final season will now have 12 episodes and the series as a whole will now hit the pleasant 100 episodes mark. The final season of Gotham will start Thursday, January 3 and will be followed in the schedule by Star Trek homage series The Orville.
Good news for those who missed Klingons with hair in Star Trek: Discovery Season 1! L’Rell portrayer Mary Chieffo has posted a photo of her in Season 2 with hair.
New Chancellor, who dis? pic.twitter.com/4kRiZDM1Zw
— Mary Chieffo (@marythechief) October 21, 2018
If actor David Cross is to be believed on the Late Night With Seth Meyers Podcast Netflix’s Arrested Development currently on hiatus Season 5 will be the comedy’s last. Cross: “I’ve learned to say ‘Never say never,’ but I can’t see it happening again, I think for a number of reasons.” One of these reasons could be actor Jeffrey Tambor’s sexual-harassment allegations.
After two seasons time travel series Timeless will have a last hurrah on NBC via a TV movie. We already knew that, but it is now revealed when the TV movie will air. Set your alarm clock for Thursday, December 20 at 20:00 US time (19:00 for central US).
Executive producer of Netflix’s animated video game adaption Castlevania (Season 2 has just been released!) Adi Shankar has an interesting message to share as you can read below. He promises us to reveal what he’s in talks about on November 16, but with words like “iconic Japanese gaming company” Nintendo becomes a prime suspect. After all, they have multiple iconic franchises, one of which is Metroid. And let there just be an action-adventure videogame subgenre called “Metroidvania.” But anyway, it’s probably something from SEGA.
Trailers
Facebook’s streaming service attempt Facebook Watch has released a trailer for their next original series, Queen America. The series stars Catherine Zeta-Jones (Dad’s Army (2016)) and Victoria Justice (Victorious) as a pageant coach and pageant trainee respectively.
In a video showcasing the upcoming content for November, Netflix has revealed the release dates of Season 3 of Canadian adventure series Frontier, starring Jason Mamoa (Stargate: Atlantis, Aquaman) on Friday, November 23, and animated comedy F is for Family Season 3 on Friday, November 30.
Amazon Prime Video has released a trailer for Season 2 of comedic period drama The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The series stars Rachel Brosnahan (The Finest Hours, Manhattan) as a 1958 American housewife who takes to New York City’s stand-up comedy stage. Season 2 will premiere on Monday, 5 December.
American broadcaster PBS has released a first teaser for the third series of their co-produced period drama with UK broadcaster ITV Victoria. (Apologies for the quality, it’s the best video we could find that was not geolocked.) The series starring Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) as Queen Victoria is slated to return on PBS on Sunday, January 13. An airdate for the series on ITV we could not find, but we assume it will be the same date, if not before it.
A promo has been released for the second Star Trek: Short Treks episode, called “Calypso.” The four-part monthly CBS All Access series will release the episode on Thursday, November 8. We also understand that Netflix has not picked up the rights for this Star Trek series. Hopefully, they will change their minds, as they have all other series, including Star Trek: Discovery of which Short Treks is a spinoff.
That’s it for this week (and a bit), but join us next week when we round-up the TV news of that week.
