TV comedy news today as we are in the middle of the casting season for new sitcom pilots! I've announced recently that MURPHY BROWN is returning to the small screens at CBS thirty years after its end, and now we have Jake McDorman cast as her grown up son! Candice Bergen returns as news anchor to a world of cable news, social media, fake news and a very different political and cultural climate, with all of the old cast returning too, from Faith Ford and Joe Regalbuto to Grant Shaud! McDorman will play her millennial adult journalist son Avery, who is following in his mother’s footsteps, perhaps too closely, and has his mother’s competitive spirit and quick wit. Nik Dodani joins the old cast as Pat, the director of social media for the news show who is tasked with bringing Murphy and the gang into the 21st century.
JOSH LAWSON TO LEAD 'WELCOME TO NEIGHBOURHOOD'
Josh Lawson will lead new CBS sitcom
After casting Cedric The Entertainer, CBS has added another lead to
their multicam sitcom pilot WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBOUR HOOD. Josh Lawson
will play Dave, the nicest guy in the Midwest who moves his family into a
tough neighbourhood in L.A. where not everyone appreciates his extreme
neighbourliness. Cedric will play his next door neighbour who regards
the new family with disdain and as a pack of interlopers, while Tichina
Arnold will play his wife who judges them
by their knowledge of Scripture (non existent) and their church
attendance record (shockingly poor!).
DAX SHEPARD TO JOIN
ASHTON KUTCHER'S 'THE RANCH'
Dax Shepard will guest star in about five episodes
And the third blond hunk for today will move to a ranch! You've probably heard that Danny Masterson will no longer be a part of Netflix's multicam sitcom THE RANCH and he will now be replaced by Dax Shepard in the comedy revolving around the dysfunctional Bennett family on their Colorado ranch! He will join the second part of the 20 episode third season as a former soldier who has come to town with some history concerning the Iron River Ranch. He meets the Bennetts and forms an immediate bond with Colt (Ashton Kutcher) and his father Beau (Sam Elliott), but his past has a way of catching up with him. Dax won't be a regular, however, as he will be the lead in another sitcom, BLESS THIS MESS at Fox in which he and Lake Bell play a NY couple which moves to Nebraska to live a simpler life. It doesn’t work out like they planned.
TV day today, starting with an amazing piece of news for all of you who loved Starz' brilliant epic series White Princess last year! The follow up to
This will be third series based on Gregory's books
BBC's White Queen will now get its own follow up in THE SPANISH PRINCESS based on Philippa Gregory’s best selling books The Constant Princess and The King’s Curse.
THE SPANISH PRINCESS will follow Catherine of Aragon, the beautiful
young princess of Spain who was promised the English throne since she
was a child. She arrives in a grey, rain lashed England with her
glorious and diverse court including her lady in waiting Lina – an
African Moor. She is Princess of Wales now, but when her husband Prince
Arthur dies suddenly, the throne seems lost to Catherine. Until she
claims her marriage was never consummated and that as a virgin she may
set her sights on the new heir, the charismatic and headstrong Prince
Harry who will one day rule as King Henry VIII.
MULTICAM SITCOM PILOTS
EMILY OSMENT TO LEAD '25'
Emily Osment is moving to 25 at CBS
Good and bad news from the TV comedy world. Sad news is that Freeform
is ending its sitcom Young and Hungry with the remaining ten episodes
of the fifth season which will air from June 20th. The good news is that
its star Emily Osment has booked a lead role in new CBS multicam sitcom
pilot 25 which follows twenty something Kyle (Matt Shively), who comes
to Austin to finally convince his old best friend from camp, Kate
(Osment), that they are perfect for each other. Unfortunately, she just
got engaged. A lot of guys would give up; Kyle is not one of those guys.
But to Kyle’s surprise, even though he came to town looking for “the
one,” he might end up with much more than that.
TONE BELL AND NINA DOBREV TO LEAD 'FAM' SITCOM AT CBS Another
of our favourite comedians Tone Bell, whose Disjointed has just been
cancelled, will take the lead in CBS multicam sitcom FAM next to Nina
Nina Dobrev will take the female lead in Fam CBS sitcom pilot
Lee Ralph), who
think Clem is a real catch. But he learns that Clem has not been
completely honest about a few key elements in her life: For example, her
father isn’t actually dead — and it drives a wedge of mistrust between
them that might not be easily mended.
'ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE'
BBC MINI SERIES TRAILER!
Over across the pond, BBC has released trailer for Agatha Christie's ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE three part mini series which was postponed so that Edd Westwick's scenes could be reshot with Christian Cooke! Also
Click on the photo to see the whole cast in bigger size
starring Bill Nighy, Matthew Goode, Eleanor Tomlinson, Luke Treadaway, it is set
at Christmas 1954. Wealthy philanthropist Rachel Argyll is murdered at her family estate Sunny Point. Her adopted son Jack Argyll is
Bill Nighy leads the stellar cast in the new mini series
arrested for her murder. He vehemently protests his innocence. The mysterious Dr Arthur Calgary returns from a trip to the Arctic claiming he has proof Jack is innocent.
And if Jack was not the killer, then it must have been somebody else at Sunny Point. But who?
Both great and sad news people coming from George Blagden's King Louis XIV royal court: French epic TV saga VERSAILLES returns to Canal + March 27th with the third season (it will air in USA on Ovation October 3rd)
The third season will sadly be the final one as well
but as Alexander Vlahos, who plays his brother Duke of Orleans, has confirmed today - it will also be the final season! You can check out the magnificent first poster today and stay tuned for the first trailer!
Award winning director Mira Nair has been hired by BBC to helm the eight part TV series adaptation of period set novel A SUITABLE BOY by Vikram
The mini series will be shot in eight episodes
Seth. Set in the 1950s, it follows a young woman’s search for love and identity in a newly independent India. Lata is growing up in northern India in 1951. Her mother is determined to find her a husband, but after her sister’s arranged marriage, Lata is not convinced she wants the same path. Torn between duty to her family and the excitement of romance, Lata embarks on an epic journey of love, desire and heartache as three very different suitors vie for her hand. Her choice will play out against the tumultuous political backdrop of India at a crossroads, looking towards its first independent general election and carving out its own destiny.
'ADRIFT' TRAILER
STARRING SAM CLAFIN AND SHAILENE WOODLEY
Thrilling first trailer has been released for Sam Claflin and Shailene Woodley movie ADRIFT based on the true story of two avid sailors who set out on a journey across the ocean in 1983. Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp
The movie hits theatres in Europe this June
didn't anticipate they would be sailing directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. In the aftermath of the storm,
Sam Claflin will again played an immobile man
Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins, and must find the strength and determination to save herself and the only man she has ever loved.
DAME HELEN MIRREN AND SIR IAN MCKELLEN TO STAR TOGETHER
Ian McKellen worked many times with Condon before
What an amazing duo of thespians will that be! As 'Hollywood Reporter' writes today, Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren are to star together in Bill Condon's adaptation THE GOOD LIAR based on Nicholas Searle's world wide best selling book.
A story about a cat and mouse game, THE GOOD LIAR centres on career
con artist Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen), who can’t resist one last score
when he meets rich widow Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) online. As the
woman opens up her home and life to him, the man is surprised to find
himself caring about her, turning what
Helen Mirren will try to outwit Ian McKellen's Good Liar
should be a cut-and-dry swindle
into a treacherous tightrope walk as all is not what it seems.Condon worked with McKellen on Mr Holmes a few years ago and they were both nominated for Oscars for Gods and Monsters.
'FANTASTIC BEASTS 2' TRAILER
THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD
The movie arrives into cinemas this November
1st trailer has been released for the sequel to that snoozefest FANTASTIC BEASTS: CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD which is out November. At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was captured by Magical Congress of the United States of America, with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure blood wizards up to rule over all non magical beings.
In an effort to thwart his plans, professor Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the
Jude Law plays a younger version of Professor Dumbledore
dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.
I announced a few weeks ago that we are expecting a lavish new epic series from Turkey, and today we have first cast photos from MEHMED THE CONQUEROR (Mehmed Bir Cihan Fatihi) which starts airing on KanalD in Turkey March 20th! Kenan İmirzalıoğlu leads the cast playing the most infamous of all Ottoman sultans. Gürkan Uygun will star as Delibaş, Sedef Avcı as one of Mehmed's wives Sultana Gülbahar, Ertan Saban as Byzantine İmperator Konstantin, İsmail Demirci as Prince Orhan, İdil Fırat as Mehmed's Valide Sultana Serbian princess Despina Mara
The new saga will try to continue the worldwide success of Magnificent Century
I'm not 100% sure who is playing who, as they're changing the info to entice the audience over in Turkey. Stay tuned as I will updating this spotlight with
Idil Firat plays powerful Serbian princess Despina Mara, Mehmed's valide sultana
new character photos as they keep arriving from Istanbul in the following days and weeks!
THE STORY OF MEHMED
In 1451, as Mehmed receives the news of his father's death and goes
from Manisa to imperial capital Edirne, a dream appears in his head: as
the new
Kenan Imirzalioglu plays the title role of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror
sultan he will conquer the apple of the whole world's eye - the
city of Constantinople. But achieving such a big dream cannot be easy,
and big
Popular Turkish actor Ismail Demirci plays Mehmed's brother Prince Orhan
obstacles will emerge. The magnificent Byzantine city has been
besieged many times over the centuries; but no siege weapons were able
to open a
Sedef Avci will play one of Mehmed's wives Sultana Gulbahar
single breach in their strong walls, nor did the Golden Horn
give way to the enormous chain of enemy ships. Moreover, if Mehmed wants
to get the city for
himself, he has to fight not only against the
Byzantine Empire and the Christian world behind him, but also against
the greatest opposition in the
state, mighty Halil Pasha. Two years
after his ascension to the throne, after a two months long siege, Mehmed
carries out his biggest dream and conquers Constantinople and finally
earns name MEHMED THE CONQUEROR which will make him famous throughout
the history.
Although winter is slowly giving up, your trusted spy predicts frost and ice later this month when wintery new mini series THE TERROR starts overt at AMC on March 26th! You can feast your eyes today on the first character photos and atmospheric posters from the 19th century epic thriller featuring a rather stellar cast lead by some of our favourite men from period set projects Ciaran Hinds, Tobias Menzies, Matthew McNulty, Adam Nagaitis, Liam Garrigan, Edward Ashley, Ronan Raftery. They all play the crew of the ship HMS Terror which was
The series is based on the best selling novel by Dan Simmons
found
actually last
year under the sea. Caroline Boulton plays Lady Ann. The series is based on the 2007 best selling novel of the same name by Dan Simmons! The anthology series will describe some other terror in the following seasons.
The Terror will have ten hour long episodes
THE STORY OF THE TERROR
is set in 1847. A crew of a Royal
Naval expedition is sent to find the Arctic's treacherous Northwest
Passage but instead discovers a monstrous predator, a cunning and
vicious Gothic horror that stalks the ships in a desperate game of
survival, the consequences of which could endanger the region and its
native people forever. Faced with treacherous conditions, limited
resources, dwindling hope and fear of the
David Kajganich is the showrunner of the mini series
unknown, the crew is
pushed to
the brink of extinction. Frozen, isolated and stuck at the end of the
earth, THE TERROR highlights all that can go wrong
Nive Nielsen plays the lead female character of Lady Silence
when a group of men,
desperate to survive, struggle not only with the elements, but with each
other. Meet the main characters below:
CAPTAIN FRANCIS CROZIER
Played by Jarred Harris, Captain of the HMS Terror and second in command of the expedition, Francis Crozier is a peerless sailor who has reached his glass ceiling in Her Majesty's Royal Navy.
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN
Played by Ciaran Hinds,Captain of HMS Erebus and commander of the expedition, Sir John Franklin is an experienced leader with a blemished record in the Royal Navy.
CAPTAIN JAMES FITZJAMES
Played by Tobias Menzies, James Fitzjames is a rising star in the British Royal Navy and has secured John Franklin's confidence in spite of his never having sailed in the polar regions before.
DOCTOR HENRY GOODSIR
Played by Paul Ready, the most junior of the expedition's four doctors, Henry Goodsir is a gentle, moral soul who is of the first to realize something supernatural is at play.
CORNELIUS HICKEY
Played by Adam Nagaitis, Cornelius Hickey is a young petty officer whose rank on the ships should keep him invisible to the officers. But Hickey is not quite what he seems.
THOMAS BLANKY
Played by Ian Hart, Ice Master of Terror and longtime friend of Francis Crozier, Thomas Blanky has the experience to be a captain but prefers the thrill and challenge of battling the constant puzzle of the Arctic ice.
Comedy updates this Saturday: NBC is rounding up the cast for their multicam sitcom FRIENDS IN LAW. It will centre on Brian (Devere Rogers) and Jake who are polar opposites and must quickly figure out how to coexist when their respective best friends, Margaret (Nicole Parker) and Randy (John Gemberling), decide to get married.
FOX HAS 'DADDY ISSUES'
Fox has hired Frasier and Hot in Cleveland star Jane Leeves to star in their comedy DADDY ISSUES opposite Erin Foster and Don Johnson about Andi (Foster), who refuses to settle down, and her friendship with her playboy
Always divine Jane Leeves will be the mother in Daddy Issues
dad, Roman (Johnson). Andi’s world is turned upside down when she discovers her dad’s fallen in love with her best friend. Jane Leeves will be his trendy ex wife and her mother.
Jake Choi will be a fresh single dad in Single Parents
ABC HAS 'SINGLE PARENTS
ABC is developing a pilot for comedy series SINGLE PARENTS written by New Girl creator which revolves around a group of dysfunctional single parents who lean on one another as they raise their kids, look for love and ultimately realize survival is only possible with the help of one another. Kimrie Lewis will play a hippie single mother, while Jake Choi will be a sleep deprived dad whose wife leaves for college and he has to raise their son alone. Taran Killam is a single day with a daughter who forgot how to be a man, Leighton Meester a
Taran Killam will forget how to be a man overly devoted to his daughter
single mom of an overly attached son, while Brad Garrett will be a rich, old school type of parent with traditional views.
NEW 70'S SET SITCOM FROM LAST MAN STANDING CREATOR If you miss one of the best sitcoms ever Last Man Standing, its
creator Tim Doyle is preparing a new one at ABC set in the 1970s and
revolving around an
Sam Straley will be the oldest son of the family
Irish family with a working class dad (Walking Dead's Abraham - Michael Cudlitz), traditional mom (Mary McCormack) and
eight boisterous sons who navigate changes big and small during one of
America’s most turbulent
Gorgeous Caleb Foote will be one of the sons
decades. The sons will be played by Sawyer
Barth, Caleb Foote, Christopher Paul Richards, Jack Gore and Sam
Straley as the oldest son.
'ROSEANNE' REVIVAL
CHECK OUT THE NEW TRAILER!
Roseanne returns this month to ABC
Meanwhile, you can check out a trailer for ABC's comeback series ROSE- ANNE which returns March 27th with nine episodes and double opening! Starring Roseanne Barr and John Goodman and the entire old cast, it will explore life, death and everything in between through the relateable, hilarious and brutally honest lens of the Conner household. With the inimitable Roseanne at its epicentre, fresh stories
The entire old cast is returning to the popular sitcom
that tackle today’s issues and even more laughs from a cast and crew that haven’t missed a beat, audiences old and new will celebrate the homecoming of America’s favourite working-class family.
TO LEAD GEORGE CLOONEY'S WW2 MINI SERIES 'CATCH 22'
We're sticking to period set TV series today, starting with an announcement that Christopher Abbott has been cast as the lead in George Clooney's
Yes, Christopher does look like Kit Harington's prettier twin
mini series CATCH 22. Set in WW2 Italy it follows artful dodger Yossarian (Abbott), a US bombardier, who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy, but rather his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of CATCH 22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specifies that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers which are real and immediate is the process of a rational mind; a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but a request to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty. Clooney will direct and play a colonel.
'HIS DARK MATERIALS'
TOM HOOPER TO HELM, DAFNE KEEN TO LEAD AT BBC
BBC is adapting Dark Materials into mini series
BBC has found a director and actress for their eight part series
adaptation of HIS DARK MATERIALS saga from Philip Pullman! Tom Hooper
(The King's Speech) will helm and Wolverine's daughter Dafne Keen will
star as Lyra, a girl from a parallel universe, in which science,
theology and magic are entwined. Her search for a kidnapped friend
uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children and turns into a
quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. She is later on
joined by Will, a boy who possesses a knife that can cut windows
between worlds. As Lyra learns the truth about her parents and her
prophesied destiny,
Dafne Keen will lead the cast as Lyra whom you've seen in Golden Compass
the two kids are caught up in a war against
celestial powers that ranges across many worlds! This epic has three
books - Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass!
'THE DURRELLS' SEASON 3
TO START NEXT SUNDAY!
Meanwhile, ITV has set Sunday March 18th as the returning date for their mega popular series THE DURRELLS with its third season! You can check out the hilarious trailer for it below. Set in the period before WW2 it follows
The Durrells are based on the beloved series of British books
Keeley Hawes as a British mother who decided to relocate herself and her four kids over to an abandoned villa on Corfu and start life from a scratch there. As you can see from the trailer her oldest son Larry (Josh O'Connor)
The third season of The Durrells returns next Sunday on ITV
will continue writing a new novel, her second son Leslie (Callum Woodhouse) will be seducing local women, her daughter Margo will enjoy love with Zoltan who appeared in the second season. Her youngest son Gerry
Tons of laughs and bright sun in the new season of The Durrells
will obviously continue to develop his little ZOO bringing new animals into their backyard! And Louisa Durrell will obviously try to hit it of with their Greek family friend?
