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'Fresh Prince of Bel Air,' But a Dark Drama, Plus All the TV News You Need to Know

By Dustin Rowles | TV | August 11, 2020 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | August 11, 2020 |


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— A bidding war has apparently broke out over Bel Air, a dramatic adaptation of Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air, based on a viral video created by Morgan Cooper last year.

Cooper will co-write the script, direct and be credited as a co-EP. Will Smith will produce. It’s currently being shopped, and HBO Max and Netflix are among the bidders. It feels like a gimmick, but one with some real potential.

— Zac Efron has signed up to star in a remake of the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby for Disney+. A director has not yet been named, nor have the other two men.

Stay Tuned, a 1992 film starring John Ritter and Pam Dawber about a husband and wife who get sucked into their television and inhabit different worlds, is being adapted into a TV series. Ian Goldberg, a co-showrunner of Fear the Walking Dead is developing it, which means (for me, anyway) that maybe Fear the Walking Dead will either get a new showrunner (please!) or it’s on its way out?

— Peacock is launching two more late-night talks shows, both weekly. One will star Pajiba favorite Amber Ruffin and the other will be hosted by Larry Wilmore. Peacock has ordered 9 eps of The Amber Ruffin Show, which will entail Ruffin’s “signature smart-but-silly takes” on the news. It has ordered 11 episodes of Wilmore’s untitled show. Jenny Hagel — who does “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell” with Ruffin — will produce, along with Seth Meyers and Seth’s head writer, Mike Shoemaker. They’ll both debut in September.

— Speaking of Peacock, it announced that a MacGruber TV Series is coming in 2021. Although I loved the SNL recurring skit, I did not like the movie, despite watching it in an audience with Val Kilmer. It’s such a beloved movie, however, that I am not dumb enough to announce publicly that I disliked it. Oh …

— You know what I do love? A.P. Bio, which I came around hard on after it got past its growing pains. Here’s the trailer for season three, also on Peacock. It rolls out on September 3rd, and my only misgiving with it is that Elizabeth Alderfer — the fantastic season 2 love interest — does not appear to be returning for season 3. Bummer.

Fargo season 4 starring Chris Rock has a premiere date now. We’re looking at September 27th on FX.

— I mentioned that the CW’s attempt to rebroadcast the spectacular Taskmaster failed after the panel show pulled in low ratings. It was bumped from the schedule after one episode, but it’s been pushed to CW’s streaming service, CW Seed. (Just go watch it on YouTube, where it is free).

— Disney has rebranded 20th Century Fox TV, dropping the Fox, as it did with the movie studio, because no one wants to be even accidentally associated with Fox News. Now it’s simply 20th Television.

— Finally, for what it is worth, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar is putting pressure on Amazon to add the HBO Max app to Amazon Fire by the holidays, arguing that consumers may opt for the Google Chrome or the Apple TV this fall if Fire doesn’t make a deal.



Header Image Source: Getty Images