What’s the latest news on the small screen?
Television News
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Yeah, I think the split model could be a good way of doing it. Get people onboard with several episodes but also give the show a slightly longer life as part of the cultural conversation.
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On this forum it had led basically to reduced conversation about a show.
I felt the same with the Expanse, the season dropped and vanished in a week, it deserved better.
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I was going to reply, but that would require me to have the faintest idea what you’re all talking about, which I don’t
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_for_the_Lost_City_of_Gold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_and_the_Lost_City_of_GoldAs far as the release schedule for shows, I agree with the weekly release. Also since The Boys now have an after show, it seems foolish to drop all the episodes at once as it would be very difficult if not impossible to have any viewer interaction.
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I was going to reply, but that would require me to have the faintest idea what you’re all talking about, which I don’t
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_for_the_Lost_City_of_Gold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_and_the_Lost_City_of_GoldAs far as the release schedule for shows, I agree with the weekly release. Also since The Boys now have an after show, it seems foolish to drop all the episodes at once as it would be very difficult if not impossible to have any viewer interaction.
I haven’t the faintest idea about either of those. Are they any good?
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i havent seen either but one is about an archaeological expedition and one is about a cartoon character so i posted the links to clear up confusion between the two.
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How many gold city explorer dora movies are there? Will they go the way of the Western?
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So nice to find out that “Raised by Wolves” will be available to me in Canada.
CTV – Sci-Fi Channel, first ep this coming Thursday, then 2 eps on Friday, and 2 eps the following Friday (as far as my PVR scheduled).It’s HBO Max in the US, and drops the first 3 episodes on Thursday September 3rd.
nice to see this as the first search review
‘Raised By Wolves’ is the Most Exciting Sci-Fi Show Since ‘Battlestar Galactica’
…Raised by Wolves swerves all over the place tonally. In a good way! The last time I felt so simultaneously confused and enraptured by a television show was Twin Peaks: The Return…Of course the second search result said “A Grim Bore” and the 3rd said “Fascinating, But…”
For those outside the U.S., check now. With slim pickings lined up for the fall there’s a better chance you can get this for free.
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Game of Thrones’ Benioff and Weiss to adapt sci-fi epic The Three-Body Problem at Netflix
I was mostly negative on this until it mentioned that Rian Johnson is also an EP on it (his first TV show), which gives me some hope.
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Wow people are still mad at Benioff an Weiss? pssshhh imagine giving people years of awesome TV everyone loved, then being hated for something probably beyond their control…
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then being hated for something probably beyond their control…
How was two seasons of a TV show they wrote being shit “beyond their control”?
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It was beyond their control that Martin hadn’t written the rest of their show for them!
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(I mean George RR Martin, not you Martin.)
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(I mean George RR Martin, not you Martin.)
Hey, I’d have been up for giving it a go. Couldn’t have turned out any worse, right?
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even if you think the story was utter shit, the rest of everything else was absolutely amazing
A quote for the back of the DVD.
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the rest of everything else was absolutely amazing.
The on-camera coffee cups were particularly amazing.
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I wish there was a rolling eyes smiley… this one should do it:
Also, for real though, did anyone even notice the cups while watching? Personally, I didn’t…
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I didn’t see the cups as I was distracted by the jugs.
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It was beyond their control that Martin hadn’t written the rest of their show for them!
Focusing on the positive, they were awesome at adapting those novels for TV. Not so great at writing a show without any source material, but that’s not what they’re doing here, after all – they’re doing what they do best, and what has given us like 6 seasons of TV that ranks amongst the best ever.
So, you know, I am entirely fine with them adapting another set of novels, especially one that is already finished :).
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F U C K
Venture Bros. has been canceled.
Unfortunately, it’s true: #VentureBros has been canceled. We got the highly disappointing news a few months ago, while we were writing what would have been season 8. We thank you, our amazing fans, for 17 years of your kind (and patient) attention. And, as always, We Love You.
— Jackson Publick (@jacksonpublick) September 7, 2020
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F U C K
Venture Bros. has been canceled.
Unfortunately, it’s true: #VentureBros has been canceled. We got the highly disappointing news a few months ago, while we were writing what would have been season 8. We thank you, our amazing fans, for 17 years of your kind (and patient) attention. And, as always, We Love You.
— Jackson Publick (@jacksonpublick) September 7, 2020
I was literally just wondering about the show!
Sad and disappointing news. I really wish Adult Swim had given them Season 8 to properly wrap up the series. There was so much left to explore based on the S7 and its finale. It really deserved a tru final season.
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Maybe Hulu or Netflix will pick it up. Or they could do a comic. Annie Wu did designs for the show, she’d make it look right. I just don’t want it to end.
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Or HBO Max since it would keep it in the WB family. It would probably come down to the rights.
I’ll be honest, Season 8 As a comic would be a huge letdown for me. I really don’t think it would do the show justice.
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Oh, it wouldn’t. Comic continuations of cancelled shows have a terrible track record and you need the voice actors especially. But I really want to know how they would have ended it. Hopefully the last season (I’ve seen people say 8 was gonna be the last) gets picked up.
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(I’ve seen people say 8 was gonna be the last)
You could see that they were building to it with Seasons 6 and 7. A lot of major questions had been answered and S8 would have dealt with the fallout and been a good place to wrap it up.
I guess VB will join Metalocalypse as a series that Adult Swim will deny a proper ending.
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I really miss the music… I wish Small would do more stuff, he’s a REALLY good musician. I really liked his Galaktikon stuff, but the last one was in 2017 or so… =(
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We also want more Venture Bros. and have been working with Jackson and Doc to find another way to continue the Venture Bros. story.
— adultswim (@adultswim) September 8, 2020
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Some more heartening Venture Bros news from an HBOMax employee (good call, Todd):
Dear #VentureBros fans, I can confirm that WarnerMedia is in talks to continue the show so it can reach it's final season on #HBOMax.
This is very early talks, but this would be the most likely route for the show to continue on.
— Rythian (@RythianWrites) September 8, 2020
Thread goes on to say that Venture Bros being locked up by Hulu for streaming is a big reason why it was cancelled. So we’ll have to wait out the Hulu contract I guess. Not like Venture Bros fans aren’t used to waiting, though!
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Good news everyone:
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Good news everyone:
Our long international nightmare will soon come to an end.
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Jeeeesus they’re still milking the Walking Dead?? xD
Please tell me there’s at least one of the billion episodes they’ve made where they’re literally beating a (un)dead horse…
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“Paramount is an iconic and storied brand beloved by consumers all over the world, and it is synonymous with quality, integrity and world-class storytelling
It’s cute that he thinks that.
Paramount over here is actually just “what Comedy Central used to be called” and “that channel that shows repeats of The A-Team and The X-Files.”
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Paramount over here is actually just “what Comedy Central used to be called” and “that channel that shows repeats of The A-Team and The X-Files.”
To be fair, Paramount Pictures used to be a reliable source of great entertainment in films. In the 70s and 80s they were on fire with the Godfather films and franchises like Star Trek, Friday the 13th, Beverly Hills Cop, and the Indiana Jones films, among others. More recently they’ve had the Mission: Impossible and Transformers films.
But, yeah, the Paramount Network sucked ass.
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Jupiter’s Legacy: The First Netflix Trailer Exists, and Mark Millar Has Seen It
According to Mark Millar, both the teaser and full trailer for Jupiter’s Legacy exist, and he’s already seen them both.
Millar was responding to a fan on Twitter, who has been waiting for a trailer for some time. Millar has also seen the latest cuts from the series, save for a few places where special effects still need to be added. According to Millar, the eight-part series is “looking beautiful.”
Written by Millar and illustrated by Frank Quitely, Jupiter’s Legacy follows the children of the world’s greatest superheroes as they struggle to live up to their parents’ legacies. The creator’s last update came in July, when he said the FX team was finishing up work on the trailer.
Produced by Mark Millar, Frank Quietly, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Dan McDermott, Netflix’s Jupiter’s Legacy stars Josh Duhamel as The Utopian, Ben Daniels as Brain-Wave, Leslie Bibb as Lady Liberty, Elena Kampouris as Chloe Sampson, Andrew Horton as Brandon Sampson, Mike Wade as The Flare and Matt Lanter as Skyfox. The series has yet to receive a release date.
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If they’d used it for a channel of their old classic movies then I think they’d retain prestige a lot better.
IIRC, Paramount sold off most of their classic movie catalog to Universal a few decades ago, so they don’t have the rights anymore.
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Mike Wade as The Flare
age and distance may have diluted my memory but I did not think Flare was in Legacy. I thought he was from Circle exclusively. Are they combining the two stories?
edit: just looked at the tweet.
I hate to make you jealous
Since When? has he softened since he left MW? He used to LOVE
- to torment people with comments about how good something was that no one else could see.
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I think a show should be designed so it can do both, if I’m honest. Tell a story that feels complete unto itself within a single season, while leaving opportunities to explore characters and ideas further in future.
A bit like with movies that are designed to launch franchises rather than just be good in their own right, it can be frustrating as a viewer to feel like a new show is ekeing out its ideas in service of some grand seven-season plan at the expense of being good in the first place.
It’s no coincidence that many of my favourite TV shows in recent years have been single seasons like Chernobyl or Devs.
Fleabag is a great example of a show that was a successful single-season story but had enough potential to expand afterwards. And The Wire was one of those shows that offered a new and complete story each season (while still building on what came before) so that the viewer wouldn’t be left hanging by a cancellation.
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I’m generally quality over quantity and am quite happy for things to finish rather than limp on but that’s a different point to what I’m making.
Under the Netflix model they have a high chance of never seeing season 3 so I don’t think they should commission that model of series. They should leave it to HBO and others and instead emulate the Danish model.
(As an aside Game of Thrones I think also a weird one in that I think a large part of the reason the last two suffered was a rush to a conclusion, so it could have been better with seasons 8 and 9)
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But both of those shows, imo, dipped in quality towards the end.
To call what happened to Game of Thrones a dip is like calling WWII a skirmish.
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A good television series will tell a complete story within one season, while planting ideas for a potential sequel if it is successful. WATCHMEN is a recent example of this — it wrapped up the main story by the final episode, while leaving secondary threads (Lube Man) for future storylines.
This axiom can be applied to novels, movies, and comic books too. The first Hunger Games novel (and film) told a complete story, but had enough ideas that could be utilized in subsequent books/films if the debut was a success.
The problem with all media entertainment is knowing when to pull the plug. I’m sure we can all recall a franchise that continued well past its expiration date. I think American television and films in particular are guilty of this profit-driven excess.
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I like anthology series like Fargo. Each season tell a complete story but there are connections to other seasons and the movie that give you something extra.
While your mileage may vary, American Horror Story is good about telling a season long story that still ties into other seasons.
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I realise nobody cancels a show that does great, so yes there’s an element of those not getting enough traction (especially Dark Crystal because of the single season).
The specific thing with Netflix though is they’ve said they see no subscriber retention in extending beyond season 2 for the majority of their shows outside the massive hits like Stranger Things or The Crown.
So it’s a bit different to the usual network TV paradigm of if you hit below a certain rating the show will get cancelled. It’s more like if your aren’t in the top 3 highest rated shows on TV you won’t be renewed. Which is fine, it’s their business and the data show that however if that’s the case then don’t pick up the kinds of shows that have 5 year masterplans, are adaped from a saga of books or end on cliffhangers. They need to align the content with the business model.
Something like Jupiter’s Legacy for example, unless it does Stranger Things numbers I hope they have a plan for it to wrap up in two.
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As much as I loved The OA, over two years between seasons did not help it at all. When you have an ongoing narrative, huge delays between seasons really can kill momentum. It’s not like Fargo or True Detective where large time gaps don’t matter much because each season is a standalone story.
I love the Venture Bros. but FUCK, if the creators had moved a bit faster, we probably would have had the final 8th season already and not be hoping for some miracle to finish the series.
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Paramount Network Rebrands, Doubles Down on Movies and Minis
Paramount Network is shifting strategies — and changing names.
Variety has learned that the ViacomCBS-owned cabler is planning to move out of long form series television and instead focus its efforts on made-for-TV movies featuring big name stars. To that end, the network will be rebranded as the Paramount Movie Network. The rebrand will take place globally within the next year.
The current plan is to program 52 original movies per year on the network, or one movie per week. Each movie will have a budget in the low-to-mid-seven-figure range. Once per quarter, the network expects to program a miniseries or scripted series on the scale of its hit drama “Yellowstone,” potentially spinning off characters from those projects into their own films or sequels in the future.
“We’re doubling down on scripted but diversifying with made for TV movies, mini-series and blockbuster series with movie stars like ‘Yellowstone’” says Chris McCarthy, president of entertainment and youth brands for ViacomCBS domestic media networks, in an interview with Variety. “Made-for-TV movies provide all the creative upside and ability to work with great talent, without the full time commitment of a series or feature. Plus, we’re maximizing our investment because we can build a valuable library to use across our streaming, cable and global footprints.” McCarthy, the MTV and VH1 chief who was promoted late last year to oversee the vast majority of ViacomCBS’ cable brands, recently rolled out a like-minded overhaul of Comedy Central — pivoting from scripted live-action half hours and toward adult animation, event programs and specials with high-profile talent such as John Mulaney and original movies.
As part of the programming shift, Paramount Movie Network will move out of unscripted programming. The unscripted shows “Ink Master, “Wife Swap,” and “Battle of the Fittest Couples” will all be canceled. “Cops” had previously been canceled at Paramount Network back in June. Unscripted hits like “Bar Rescue” and “Lip Sync Battle” will live on, but will be moved elsewhere within the ViacomCBS cable portfolio. The network’s scripted series “Yellowstone” will continue as part of the new strategy, having been renewed for a fourth season in February. However, the plan is to present the show as a cinematic experience, possibly programming two episodes in a single night with limited commercial interruptions.
ViacomCBS had previously indicated it planned to program around 100 original movies a year across its portfolio. With 52 on Paramount Network, 20-30 will go to MTV while another 20-30 will go to Comedy Central. Development of the movies will be overseen by Megan Hooper White, who was named executive vice president and head of original movies and limited series for ViacomCBS’ entertainment and youth group back in May. Keith Cox continues to serve as president of entertainment and youth studios. Both White and Cox report to Nina L. Diaz, who heads programming for the entertainment and youth group under McCarthy.
The network’s bigger productions will be produced by Paramount Pictures, while a large portion will be hail from MTV Studios. ViacomCBS will also work with international partners like Network 10, Channel 5, and Telefe on certain films.
McCarthy says the value of films like those he is planning to program is that “they are timeless and they work everywhere.” The shift will also allow the brand to make use of facilities owned by ViacomCBS both domestically and abroad, no small feat in the current COVID environment.
“We have found projects around the world that make a lot of sense that we can tap into, particularly in the made-for-TV movie model,” he says. “It enables us to access our global built-in infrastructure and expertise, particularly our facilities in Latin America.”
The films are also valuable because they are highly repeatable on different platforms, McCarthy says. That is opposed to a long-form narrative series, which requires viewers to have seen all the preceding episodes in order to fully grasp the story and thus commit to watching more in the future.
According to multiple sources, Paramount Network first began paring down its scripted TV development plans at the beginning of the year. In the wake of the Viacom-CBS merger, executives at the rejoined companies began looking for ways to cut costs. At Paramount Network, that included axing multiple projects both in development and those already ordered to series. Among those cut was a series adaptation of the film “Sexy Beast.” The show was given a 10-episode straight-to-series order at the cabler last year. It was announced in July that MTV Studios and creator Darren Starr’ “Emily in Paris,” which was first ordered by Paramount Network in September 2018, would debut its first season on Netflix.
The moves come as McCarthy says he and his group are focusing on content that they own which is produced by their in house studios.
“We are creative builders, not buyers and always have been,” he says. “As our group’s portfolio has expanded, if we don’t own something, we’re transitioning out of it because it doesn’t provide long-term value for the company.”
There are currently few scripted series still on the Paramount Network roster beyond “Yellowstone” as McCarthy’s group focuses on ViacomCBS-owned content. Earlier this year, the network aired the Afghanistan war dramedy “68 Whiskey,” which was recently canceled after one season. That show was produced by CBS Television Studios and Imagine Entertainment. Still to be determined is the fate of Michael Chiklis-led drama “Coyote” from Sony Pictures Television.
Other scripted shows currently set up at Paramount Network include “Mayor of Kingstown” from “Yellowstone’s” Taylor Sheridan, and “Paradise Lost” starring Josh Hartnett, the last of which is currently set to air on both Paramount Network and Spectrum. “Mayor of Kingstown” will likely stay on Paramount Network, where it would make a natural pairing with “Yellowstone.” It was also recently announced that Spectrum and Paramount Network are partnering on a limited series in which Jessica Chastain will star as country music legend Tammy Wynette. The show will air on Spectrum, Paramount Network, and the streaming service Paramount Plus.
“Yellowstone” has proven to be a significant scripted success story for Paramount Network. The show regularly draws an audience of 5-6 million viewers in the Nielsen Live+7 ratings, though it also over-indexes with viewers over 50. The show’s Season 3 finale drew a whopping 7.6 million viewers in Live+3, marking not only the most-watched episode of the show to date but also the most-watched telecast in network history. Including simulcasts and encores, the Season 3 finale drew 10.7 million viewers — indicative of the strategy put in place by McCarthy of playing and promoting programs across multiple brands.
Prior to the reorganization the reorganization that saw McCarthy gain oversight of Paramount Network in 2019, the brand found little success in its push into scripted programming. Limited series “Waco,” about the standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidians was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 2018. But original comedy “American Woman” was canceled after one season. The comedy “Nobodies,” which aired its first season on TV Land, aired its second season on Paramount Network before being canceled.
The series reboot of the dark high school comedy film “Heathers” was set to air on Paramount Network in early 2018, but it was pushed back multiple times in the wake of several mass shootings in the U.S. The entire first season was finally aired over the course of one week in October 2018 with no second season planned.
When rolling out his plan for the future of what was then Viacom in early 2017, months after being named CEO, current ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish, announced that Spike would be be rebranded Paramount Network and identified it as one of Viacom’s core cable channels. He envisioned it as the destination for premium scripted content within the Viacom cable universe, while other brands like MTV and CMT ceased producing scripted originals around that same time. And as Variety exclusively reported in March, Pop TV is the latest network under the ViacomCBS umbrella to largely end its scripted programming.
McCarthy previously told Variety that ViacomCBS brands under his purview have become more of a launch pad for content that can now live in various amounts of platforms.
“We’ve always been about new, now and next,” McCarthy said in June. He went on to stress that the real power is how the company plans to window their content in years to come.
Part of that windowing will be Paramount Plus, the ViacomCBS streaming service. CBS All Access will be rebranded as Paramount Plus in 2021, and will feature a wide range of IP from within the ViacomCBS portfolio on a global scale.
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As much as I loved The OA, over two years between seasons did not help it at all.
I agree and Lost in Space had the same issue but I do want to emphasise this isn’t really a comment on a particular individual show or preference.
It’s the fact that it’s now Netflix’s stated policy that they will end up not renewing the majority of their output after 2 seasons.
In that context it feels like commissioning a longform serial show is a bit like having an 800 seat theatre and trying to book The Rolling Stones.
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As much as I loved The OA, over two years between seasons did not help it at all.
I agree and Lost in Space had the same issue but I do want to emphasise this isn’t really a comment on a particular individual show or preference.
It’s the fact that it’s now Netflix’s stated policy that they will end up not renewing the majority of their output after 2 seasons.
In that context it feels like commissioning a longform serial show is a bit like having an 800 seat theatre and trying to book The Rolling Stones.
With various studios and companies starting their own streaming services, I would think that at some point in the future a lot of licensed content will eventually be absorbed back into the originating studio’s service and/or affiliated linear network. The only series left will be very old ones that may not fit into the target demographics. I think then a service like Netflix may need series that go for longer than two years to fill that catalog. It takes longer to binge a 5-7 year long series than it does for two seasons. It will keep you subscribed longer.
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I could live fine with series getting axed after one, or two or however many seasons it gets but the plague of US TV is execs telling writers they’ll get another series, the writers write with that in mind, then get the rug pulled out from under them, cue cliffhanger to nowhere.
There’s so many shows that has happened and its entirely avoidable.
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I get the feeling that those SH shows and crossovers will start to go away on the CW, and I know that Swamp Thing is going to debut
in a few weeks.Swamp Thing is a reject show from DC Universe. IIRC, they didn’t even get to finish filming the season before it was cancelled. They’re only showing it as they need to show something.
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I get the feeling that those SH shows and crossovers will start to go away on the CW
The correct terminology is “go the way of the western”, Al
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Conan The Barbarian TV Series In Works At Netflix
Netflix has put in development an epic live-action series based on Conan, the iconic sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Robert E. Howard, I have learned.
I hear the project, from Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media, is the first in a deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, owned by Malmberg’s Cabinet Entertainment. The pact gives Netflix the exclusive option to acquire rights to the Conan literary library and develop works across TV and film, both live-action and animated.
The move would fit into Netflix’s strategy of acquiring globally recognizable IP to build an universe of films and TV series, including Roald Dahl’s novels, The Chronicles of Narnia books and comics publisher Millarworld.
A search is currently underway for a writer/showrunner to pen the Conan adaptation and director to helm the project. Malmberg and Wheeler will serve as executive producers on the potential series through their Pathfinder Media.
Pulp fiction author Howard introduced Conan the Barbarian, aka Conan the Cimmerian, in a series of short stories, first published in 1932 in Weird Tales magazine. The Conan stories ushered in a new genre of writing: Sword and Sorcery. Through the years the original tales have inspired over a thousand comic books, one hundred novels, three feature films, two television series, multiple video games, and a vast range of collectibles, toys, and more, worldwide.
The character was most famously played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 feature Conan the Barbarian, which made him a global superstar, as well as the 1984 sequel Conan the Destroyer. In the 2011 Conan the Barbarian reboot, produced by Malmberg, the title role was played by Jason Momoa.
Conan the Adventurer animated series and spinoff Conan and the Young Warriors ran from 1992-94, followed by a short-lived 1997 syndicated action-adventure series, Conan the Adventurer, toplined by Ralf Möller.
Two years ago, a Conan drama series, based on the works by Howard, was in development at Amazon from Ryan Condal, Miguel Sapochnik, Warren Littlefield, Pathfinder Media and Endeavor Content. Wheeler and Malmberg previously produced Syfy’s Blood Drive.
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Season 4 of GLOW has been cancelled
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