Category: Television

Happy Endings Canceled by ABC

What’s the opposite of ah-mah-zing?

Happy Endings has been canceled by ABC after three seasons.

The network’s decision to not renew the ensemble sitcom, which stars Elisha Cuthbert, Damon Wayans Jr. and Adam Pally, doesn’t come as much of a surprise given the show’s multiple timeslot changes this season.

Back in April, our sources told us it was likely that Happy Endings was a goner, saying ABC execs were “incredibly disappointed it didn’t do better.”

But all hope is not lost, fans of awesome comedy as USA Network is reportedly interested in picking the series up. We’ll see if it gets a happy ending of it’s own.

NBC Picks Up Community, New James Spader Drama and Two More Shows

Cool cool cool!

Good news, Community fans: Thursday’s season finale was not a series finale as NBC officially picked up the cult favorite sitcom for a fifth season. Way to not Britta-it, NBC! So glad the network opted out of the darkest timeline! Six seasons and a movie is still alive! [Insert another Community-related joke here!]

The renewal news comes after Community’s season four finale went up in the ratings, attracting 3.1 million viewers and a 1.3 in the demo.

NBC also has picked up Blacklist (starring James Spader), Night Shift and Welcome to the Family.

Community’s pickup may come as a bit of surprise given the beloved sitcom’s recent troubles: After showrunner Dan Harmon was left the series, the season four premiere was pushed from October 2012 to February 2013. And speaking of trouble…

One member of the Greendale gang who won’t be returning for season five? Chevy Chase, who exited the series in November after an outburst on set, in which he voiced his negative opinions regarding the show.

NBC also renewed Parks and Recreation, but canceled four comedies, including Whtiney and Up All Night. Matthew Perry’s Go On was axed as well.

’24’ return scoop: 13 episodes planned

With Kiefer Sutherland and Fox plotting the return of Jack Bauer, we’re hearing some additional details about the plan.

You already figured this out, but now we can say with certainty: Touch isn’t coming back for a third season. The mystical drama was shifted to Friday nights this season where it struggled in the ratings. Even without a 24 revival, it was considered pretty much dead in the water.

For 24 miniseries/limited series, we’re hearing Fox is actually currently looking at a 13-episode order for the show. For a cable series, that’s actually a full season (heck, for HBO’s Game of Thrones, it’s more than a full season). So that would be a pretty significant potential order to bring back Bauer.

Fox had no comment. Hopefully there will be clarity at the network’s upfront presentation Monday.

Of course, a 13-episode order does raise the question: Will 24 continue in its real-time format, but just follow Bauer over the course of 13 hours? That would sort of botch the title, though, right? Or will Bauer face another 24-hour adventure, but the narrative will skip time? It would be great to see Bauer get on L.A.’s 405 freeway at the end of one episode and arrive at his destination two hours later at the start of the next episode — now that would be realistic action!

Of Course Steve Carell Will Be on the Office Finale

Steve Carell will be back for The Office’s finale, just like we all thought he would be. TVLine reports that Michael Scott’s reappearance will be “more of a cameo” than a full-on guest role, but even so: Good move! Also, duh! It would be so weird to end that series without one final appearance from Michael, especially since the finale will be a “reunion” show. Bring back Michael, have Angela and Dwight get married, go full-schmaltz, and call it a day, folks.

Kristen Wiig and Ben Affleck to host ‘Saturday Night Live’

Former Saturday Night Live cast member Kristen Wiig is returning to her old stomping grounds to make her debut as host of the show on May 11, NBC has announced. Rounding out season 38 of the legendary sketch show will be Ben Affleck, who will make his fifth appearance on SNL‘s May 18 finale.

NBC has also confirmed the widespread rumor that Kanye West will make his fifth appearance as the show’s musical guest on the May 18 episode, though it remains unclear whether the rapper, who has been in Paris working on his next album, will premiere any new music.

Vampire Weekend will provide the tunes during Wiig’s hosting gig.

Both Wiig and Affleck have a busy few months ahead.

Wiig has multiple projects hitting theaters in the next few months, beginning with the summer’s animated sequel Despicable Me 2. Later this year, we’ll see her in the flesh in Girl Most Likely, Anchorman: The Legend Continues, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Affleck, whose most recent turn behind the camera Argo took home the Oscar for Best Picture earlier this year, is on screen now in To the Wonder and can next be seen in the September drama Runner, Runner.

‘Futurama’ cancelled again

Animated comedy series Futurama has been axed again, three years after returning to the small screen.

The show, created in 1999 by The Simpsons mastermind Matt Groening, was initially scrapped by bosses at America’s Fox network in 2003 following a sharp decline in ratings.

It was revived by Comedy Central executives for a new series in 2010, but now they have announced that its current season seven will be its last on their channel.

The remaining episodes will air this summer before wrapping up for good on September 4, according to EW.com.

However, Groening is hopeful Futurama will be picked up by another network for the future: “We would love to continue. We have many more stories to tell.”

Faith Hill Steps Off the Gridiron, Will No Longer Sing Sunday Night Football Theme

Weekends just won’t be the same now. At least during football season.

Faith Hill has announced that she will no longer be heard singing the theme for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” before each game.

“Amazing 2 have been part of SNF – an honor. I’ve just let everyone there know it’s time 2 let someone else rock the open,” she tweeted on Monday, adding: “Difficult decision. Kinda emotional. Love all you guys at SNF–I’ll be watching!!!”

Sunday Night Football producer Fred Gaudelli, in turn, tweeted to the country singer, “Great love and appreciation to @FaithHill for six great years of rocking the SNF open.”

No word yet on who will be replacing Hill.

Heather Graham Joins ‘Californication’, Mary Lynn Rajskub Also Books Arc

Heather Graham (The Hangover) is set for a season-long arc on the upcoming seventh season of Showtime‘s Californication. Additionally, 24 alumna Mary Lynn Rajskub has been tapped for a three-episode arc. Graham will play a woman from Hank’s (David Duchovny) past whose arrival upends his life, while Rajskub will play a neurotic writer. They join another major new Californication recurring, Michael Imperioli.

Production on Season 7′s 12 episodes begins later this month for premiere next year. Graham, repped by Gersh and the Schiff Co., will next be seen in the Sony Pictures Classic release At Any Price and will reprise her role in the third Hangover movie. Rajskub, repped by Levity and Innovative Artists, is a regular panelist on Chelsea Lately and will next be seen in the film Toys House.

‘Arrested Development’: New season to debut May 26 on Netflix, extra episode added

Ladies and gentlemen, start the engines to your stair cars: The Bluths have been given an air date — and an extra episode.

Netflix announced today that the upcoming season of Arrested Development will debut on May 26 at 12:01 am PT, which marks the cult comedy’s return to TV after a three-season run on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Similar to its strategy with original series House of Cards, the streaming service will release all 15 new episodes of Arrested simultaneously. (Netflix joked that it had made a “huge mistake” in the number of episodes, a reference to its January announcement that the new season would consist of 14 installments, which was already an upgrade from the original tally of 10.)

Series creator Mitchell Hurwitz has said that this “anthology” of episodes is designed to serve as a prequel to a long-rumored movie that he and the fully reunited cast (which includes Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, David Cross, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, Jeffrey Tambor and Alia Shawkat) are still hoping to make. Each installment will focus on a particular character, with other primary characters making appearances in that episode.

Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Conan O’Brien, Isla Fisher, and John Slattery are among the guest stars that will pop up in this batch of episodes.

It is unclear whether Netflix will remain the home for new seasons of Arrested beyond this one, should Hurwitz & Co. decide to create more episodes before shooting a movie. In a late-February conference call with investors, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that he did not “anticipate” that the company would make additional seasons, though a Netflix spokesperson later said that it remains hopeful for such a scenario.

It’s official: Fallon in, Leno out

NEW YORK – Jimmy Fallon will take over from veteran Jay Leno next year as host of the NBC flagship talk program “The Tonight Show,” NBC said on Wednesday, bringing a younger feel to the competitive late-night landscape on U.S. television.

Leno, 62, will wrap up what will be 22 years as host of “The Tonight Show” in the spring of 2014 – some seven months before his contract was officially due to end.

Fallon, 38, the current host of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” will “transition into new hosting duties on ‘The Tonight Show“’ after Leno ends his run, NBC said in a statement.

The network also said it was moving “The Tonight Show” from its Burbank studio, outside Los Angeles, to New York, where it began in 1954.

No specific date was announced, but the change will take place in conjunction with NBC’s broadcasts of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, next February.

Wednesday’s announcement ended months of speculation and followed a skit on Fallon’s show by him and Leno on Monday night in which they played down reports of rivalry and made fun of the rumor mill.

Leno, who was replaced by Conan O’Brien in 2009, only to return a few months later in a public relations debacle for the network, congratulated Fallon.

“I hope you’re as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you’re the old guy,” he said in a statement.

Fallon, who started out on the long-running “Saturday Night Live” comedy show in 1998, said, “I’m really excited to host a show that starts today instead of tomorrow,” referring to his current program’s post-midnight start time.

“We are purposefully making this change when Jay is number-one, just as Jay replaced Johnny Carson when he was number-one,” said Steve Burke, NBCUniversal’s CEO.

RATINGS LEADER

“The Tonight Show” has maintained a hold on U.S. popular culture for decades, offering a forum for celebrities to promote their latest ventures and a springboard to fame for many standup comedians.

The program currently leads its three late-night rivals in overall audience, attracting about 3.5 million viewers, compared with about 3 million for CBS rival David Letterman.

But the average age of viewers for Leno and Letterman, 65, is in the mid-50s – higher than the 18-49 demographic preferred by advertisers.

ABC upped the stakes in January by moving Jimmy Kimmel, 45, to the late-night slot in a bid to grab a younger audience. Kimmel’s ratings have challenged both Letterman and Leno in the 18-34 age group, while his overall audience is about 2.6 million, according to the most recent Nielsen data.

Kimmel proffered a winking posting via Twitter on Wednesday, saying, “congratulations to my dear, sweet zjimmyfallon – a formidable rival and an incredible lover.”

NBC said “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” producer Lorne Michaels would serve as executive producer of the relocated show. It will be broadcast from NBC headquarters in New York’s Rockefeller Center.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, welcomed the show’s return to New York.

“We couldn’t be happier that one of New York’s own is bringing the show back to where it started – and where it belongs,” Bloomberg said in a statement referring to Fallon’s Brooklyn roots.

Carson, who hosted the program from 1962 to 1992, moved the show to Southern California in 1972.

NBC said that programming plans for the 12:35 a.m. time slot now filled by Fallon’s show would be announced soon.