Brooklyn Nine-Nine Is Getting a Fifth Season
Just recently announced, Brooklyn Nine-Nine got picked up by Fox for a fifth season.
At a time when so many comedies have gotten cancelled, both in their first season and after a few seasons under their belt, we can have a slight sigh of relief for Brooklyn’s funnest precinct.
Arrested Development fans have been reinforced to hang on to every bit of news on whether new episodes will ever come out.
This is the best and latest indication that a new season is on its way.
NBC Renews ‘Great News’ for Second Season
Perhaps NBC has wised up and will not let another Tina Fey-Robert Carlock series get away from them.
Great News will get 13 more episodes for a second season despite ratings being a little rocky as of late.
On a day where a good majority of freshman comedies got the ax, we’re glad to see that Great News will get a chance to see if it can be worthy successor to 30 Rock and yet another great addition to the Tina Fey canon.
Frankie Shaw is taking her story to the top of the mountain as what started as a short film made the rounds at Sundance and is now going to series with Rosie O’Donnell co-starring at Showtime.
If you’ve gotten a chance to see SMILF (a twist on the well worn slang term MILF), you’d know that this show, along with the return Twin Peaks, could signal a new wave of peak TV programming for Showtime.
Donald Glover and Stephen Glover or, The Glover Brothers, if we may, made their presence known right out of the gate with the award winning Atlanta (Donald created, starred in and wrote the series and Stephen also wrote along with doing some of the music for the show).
Now, they’ll get to take the R-rated comedy box office smash hit action comedy Deadpool and adapt for television on FXx for 10 episodes. At that network, we’re guessing the tone, style, and “blueness” of the humor will be mostly preserved.
At this point, we have no doubt that Glover could get score an EGOT if he wanted.
Mike O’Brien’s “AP Bio” Starring Glenn Howerton Gets Series Order at NBC
We’re glad that Mike O’Brien will have another show on the air and that it’ll involve Glenn Howerton scheming high achieving students.
Does that mean The D.E.N.N.I.S. System from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia find its way into an actual classroom?
Bryan Cranston’s TV Adaptation of “The Dangerous Book for Boys” Ordered to Series at Amazon
As the book is a special kind of “how-to” book, there’d have to be an episode about who knocks, right?
“Psych” Is Being Brought Back in the Form of a Holiday Movie
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen both Psych and a new holiday movie based on a TV series that has our curiosity peaked.
Given the trend of non-traditional detectives that have followed since Psych was on the air, one has to wonder how this will hold up or how much USA Network will update it to fit into today’s Golden Age TV landscape.
By now, you’ve probably caught wind of #FireColbert controversy, which has a certain group of people up in arms against Colbert for this line about Trump:
“…the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c— holster.” Watch the whole monologue here.
There have been accusations that the joke is homophobic, which we vehemently disagree with. The joke may be blue, but it hardly comes across as reflecting negatively on the sexual congress of the LGBTQ community. Even with that line taken out of context and transcribed here, the idea that Colbert should be sacked for this is ludicrous and sounds more like cries from people who already hate Colbert and we’re looking for a reason to launch a #FireColbert hashtag.
The new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai commented on the incident, “It’s a free country, and people are willing and able to say anything these days.” Yet, Pai and the FCC have somewhat changed their tune and will now be looking into the joke and whether it falls under “decency rules” in response to a number of complaints that the FCC has gotten about the joke.
We personally weren’t even going to write anything about this because we saw controversy being made where there wasn’t any controversy to be made.
However, Pai (who was promoted to FCC Chairman by Trump after Tom Wheeler stepped down) announcing that they will be officially looking into the monologue, after he was clearly aware of the “situation” and pretty much dismissed it, seems problematic and unnecessary.
A premise where ex-partners from a creative partnership is well trodden territory, but the pairing of Goldblum and DeVito in this project from Simpsons writer Tim Long is pretty tantalizing. Also, since they’re a music duo, Goldblum will probably be belting out tunes plenty if this goes to series, which will undoubtedly be icing on the cake.
We have to admit that picturing DeVito and Goldblum standing next to each other already kind of makes us laugh.
Melissa McCarthy to Star in Human and Puppets Murder Mystery Comedy “The Happytime Murders”
If Spy was any indication, this might be the next big hit for McCarthy as it has plenty of opportunity for big physical comedy gags and expletive laden burns. That’s in addition to the novelty of having an R-rating and puppets, from Henson Alternative no less, go together.
This being the case, we’re curious to see where exactly this movie will land with the R-rating. For instance, would their murderer perhaps be a leader of a small cult trying to start a race war? How gruesome can the puppet murders be?
It might be too early to tell, but we’d bet that fans of No, You Shut Up! with Paul F. Tompkins might be thoroughly intrigued by this as well.
The Future of Seeso Doesn’t Seem So Bright as Evan Shapiro Steps Down as Head of Seeso
Currently, the only thing confirmed is that Shapiro will be stepping down.
However, there are plenty of murmurs and whispers that, after everything that’s already in the pipeline for this year premieres, Seeso might just close up shop altogether.
That would be an incredibly pity as so much good programming is on Seeso like Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, Take My Wife, plenty of stand-up specials, access to some of the best British and Aussie comedy out there, Hidden America with Jonah Ray, My Brother, My Brother and Me, and way more.
If Seeso does indeed get the ax, one has to wonder where all this content will go and, more importantly, if a new Seeso-ish streaming service or network will take its place, possibly from some other media conglomerate. Adult Swim, TruTV, and TBS can only take on so much more on their already very full plates and yet, there is plenty of Seeso original content that should have a home somewhere.
In any case, Seeso is still up and running for 2017 and you should watch as much of it as you can while you can.
Donald Glover’s Atlanta to Stream Exclusively on Hulu
Ahead of the season 2 premiere in 2018, you’ll be able to stream the first, award winning season of Donald Glover’s Atlanta on Hulu.
All seasons of the show will stream at a time after they air as well making this a great get for Hulu. So, make sure you have access to Hulu somehow if you don’t already.
Soon, there will be big bidding wars for streaming rights and securing rights to shows like Atlanta are just the beginning.
Jordan Peele Just Scored a First Look Deal at Universal Pictures
Peele will get to develop all sorts of films under his Monkeypaw Productions banner with Universal Pictures.
The possibilities are seemingly endless here with the breakout success of Get Out and Jordan’s notoriety gained with Key & Peele.
From hearing this news, we’re imagining the two valets from Key & Peele just going back and forth imagining what Jordan could end up making with this lucrative, high-powered deal.
The House from “A Christmas Story” Now Available to Stay in as a Hotel
The Cleveland house was meticulously decorated to resemble the house from the classic Christmas movie, “A Christmas Story”, as a museum.
Now, for $495 a night or ($1995 a night during peak holiday season) you can stay in the house on the private third floor loft and live out the movie as opposed to watching it a dozen or so times on Christmas Eve on cable TV.
That’s right, you can book it year round and indeed have Christmas in July.
Get more details and book it here.
Past the deadline when the previous contract had expired, the WGA and AMPTP did indeed agree on a deal that prevented a strike (which was made to seem inevitable in the days leading up to this) from happening.
If you remember from a decade ago, Conan O’Brien was spinning a ring on his desk as a segment, The Office was never quite the same, and the whole of the industry biz was shaken as a result of the last WGA Strike for both creators and consumers to a degree no one had anticipated.
Thankfully, your favorite peak TV, bashing Trump for whatever he said that day, and a new comedy that’s perhaps waiting for word on more episodes ordered on the back end are now all safe. It might be hard to appreciate the gravity of this as it the worst scenario was avoided, but you should have, at the very least, a brief, demonstrative sigh of relief.
Now, go back to worrying about all the “other stuff” (North Korea, Obamacare, the Wall, civil unrest in Europe and South America, POTUS seeming dumber than ever, ISIS, etc. etc.).
Toni Erdmann Dominates German Lola Awards
While not getting any love at the Oscars or BAFTAs, the fantastic dramedy Toni Erdmann picked up six Lola Awards (Germany’s version of The Oscars) last week. That includes well deserved wins for best director, best screenwriter, best actor, best actress, and best editing.
If you haven’t seen Toni Erdmann, it’s possibly one of the most heart warming R-rated comedies in recent memory and hopefully this awards sweep will convince you to give it a watch soon.
A “Roseanne” Revival Is Being Shopped Around Right Now
The original cast of Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, and Sara Gilbert are on board for bringing back Roseanne. This revival is indeed being shopped around various networks and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if it found a home pretty fast.
While we can really feel this reboot/revival fatigue setting in, especially with TV these days, a sitcom of the 21st century Roseanne (you know, the one that keeps running for President) and an even more hardboiled, Coen Brothers-esque John Goodman is something we’d be up for.
Such a thing might be unlikely, but you can’t really tell what reboots/revivals will bring these days (i.e. the Archie-based TV series Riverdale hardly resembles your dad’s Archie comics).
Since Trump will not be attending this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner probably because he gets his ego and feelings hurt enough on a daily basis, Danny Zuker, writer and EP on Modern Family, has done us all a favor and whipped up a version of Trump’s speech might be like.
Here’s a fun excerpt:
“Melania couldn’t be here tonight because she’s already been in the same room with me this month and a deal’s a deal! I’m kidding. We’re very much in love. Thank you. It’s very physical and tender. (Hold for the audience to say “awwww” for five minutes.)”
When reading it, you might think it might be overdoing it, but then we’d urge you to revisit Trump’s “performance” at the Al Smith Dinner and see how potentially close to reality this piece could have been.
Read up on this and gain some appreciation for a true comedy icon and tireless artist, Phyllis Diller.
Hopefully, this means that one of the Smithsonian museums will have a whole exhibit/database dedicated to Diller’s jokes.
Could this be a possible spiritual sequel to Adventureland?
It’s most likely not anything of the sort, but we’re excited to see Eisenberg get a role that’s more along these lines as opposed to playing supervillain, Lex Luthor.
TV Series Adaptation of ‘Wag the Dog’ Is in the Works at HBO
Barry Levinson, who directed the 1997 film, Wag the Dog, is attached as director and executive producer of this project while in development.
As we’re 20 years in to the future, HBO wisely will be approaching this as “…an ode to the classic film but moving the weapons of mass distraction beyond politics and into business, entertainment and, yes, nonprofits. In the 21st century with the tools of social media at their hands, nothing is off limits to a small group of operators when it comes to manufacturing reality.“
As HBO’s last political comedy, The Brink, didn’t really get off the ground how they would have liked it to, we’re guessing this is another stab at having something that can be in the same ballpark with Veep while Veep’s on hiatus.
Also, the green light of the series would further the recent trend of mining TV shows from past movies (Lethal Weapon, Dear White People, Scream). Remember, it wasn’t too long ago where “six seasons and a movie” was the dream for TV shows.
BET Is Getting Their Own Late Night Show Hosted by Robin Thede and Produced by Chris Rock
It’ll be called The Rundown with Robin Thede and air weekly with 24 episodes on BET. Thede was the head writer for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and a frequent panelist and Chris Rock is, well, Chris Rock.
There are a lot of developments that we’re curious to see play out here.
First, BET isn’t a place that anyone has associated with late night, but the tides of late night on cable over the last few years have encouraged networks to throw their hat in the ring.
Second, weekly late night shows are growing in number every other week, it would seem, and we hope this isn’t the case of a bubble growing only to burst.
Third, Comedy Central has a Franchesca Ramsey (another Nightly Show alum) show in the works that, if picked up, will undoubtedly have to deal with comparisons to Thede’s show. For that, the strategy of either show will be very interesting.
Fourth, this means late night will now have Trevor Noah, Desus & Mero, Tavis Smiley, and Robin Thede as hosts and thus making late night seem much less white than it was just a couple of years ago.
We be excitedly waiting through the summer to see indeed what happens.
TBS Gives The Detour a Third Season
We’ll get to embark on yet another leg of the lives and times of The Parkers as TBS, today, has given an official renewal for season 3 to The Detour.
With that, husband and wife comedy power couple Jason Jones and Samantha Bee seem like the new Prom King and Queen of TBS.
A New Brent Weinbach Stand-Up Special “Appealing to the Mainstream” Is Now Streaming
To all subscribers of Seeso, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV, you now get the expressed privilege of having access to a brand new comedy special from Brent Weinbach, one of the best weirdos in comedy.
Even though it’s called “Appealing to the Mainstream”, Brent’s comedic voice has always stood uniquely, brilliantly and respectfully on its own and has done so much to our delight for many years.