By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 10, 2024 |
By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 10, 2024 |
A lot of cancellations and renewals to talk about this week, but let’s start with the biggest: FX has signed Hiroyuki Sanada, star and producer of FX’s limited series Shōgun, to return as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. Shōgun hasn’t officially been renewed yet, but it seems like it’s all but official. They will need to change the category from limited series to drama, but this is both a surprise and not. It was meant to have a limited run, but it’s also the biggest series FX has probably produced since Snowfall. I’m personally on the fence. It was a perfect first season and should be left alone. But also, I am excited to watch a second season, as long as they maintain the quality of the first.
Elsewhere, Night Court has been picked up for a third season, which is not surprising. I continue to watch it for John Larroquette and for the opportunity to turn off my brain for 22 minutes, but it’s not a good sitcom. The lead-out, Extended Family, isn’t a good sitcom either, but it has been canceled. Ratings were dismal, although I watched most weeks out of loyalty to Donald Faison (and a love of Abigail Spencer dating back to Rectify). C’est la vie.
NBC has also picked up another season of Deal or No Deal Island, which I haven’t watched, but I hear from someone who has that it is decent scroll-on-your-phone television. I have been tempted to watch for Boston Rob, but not that tempted. I still don’t even understand the rules of Deal or No Deal. Lopez vs. Lopez has also been picked up for a third season and will likely be paired with Reba McEntire’s new sitcom, Happy Place.
I wish I’d given Nasim Pedrad’s Chad a chance, but it was stranded out on TBS before TBS programming was streamable, and then it moved over to Roku, which I don’t pay much attention to. Alas, it has been cancelled after two seasons and what feels like the last five years.
Showtime has renewed The Chi for a seventh season, which is not a surprise. On the same streaming platform, Paramount+ has renewed Lioness for a second season, which is a surprise, mostly because that show was terrible. I suspect, however, that Paramount+ is not yet ready to get on Taylor Sheridan’s bad side.
In my favorite surprise of the week, Peacock has renewed Ted, the series that no one wanted but that everyone begrudgingly fell in love with after we were berated into watching it by people who couldn’t stop raving about it. Seriously, it is one of the funniest shows in recent memory and also has a much bigger heart than you might expect.
Netflix is renewing Heartbreak High for a third and final season. I’ve never heard of it. Should I have?
Meanwhile, this is not a renewal, per see, but it looks like Netflix is likely to pay an enormous amount of money to stream two live NFL games on Christmas Day, which falls on a Wednesday this year. That is going to mess up a lot of team schedules, but it’s probably a smart move on Netflix’s part to dip its toe in NFL waters and see exactly what kind of audience it can command. Massive, is my bet.
Oh, one last thing, because I found the Frasier reboot unexpectedly delightful: Peri Gilpin, who plays Roz Doyle, will return as a cast regular in season two.
This just in: Not Dead Yet has been cancelled after two seasons. Bummer. I liked it. It was cute. ABC, however, did pick up The Conners for a seventh and final season, although the episode order is expected to be less than 10.