Today In Entertainment

JANUARY 30, 2021

What's news: How the pandemic impacted "Peak TV," Wonder Years reboot a go at ABC, Kate & Allie reboot a go at NBC, a Cloverfield sequel is in the works, Sundance dealmaking begins, Coachella canceled, Apple's WeWork series lines up Jared Leto, Dear Evan Hansen gets dated. Plus: How award show producers adapted mid-pandemic, and remembering The Standard. --Alex Weprin

 How The Pandemic Hit 'Peak TV'

►The pandemic hit "Peak TV." An update: The total volume of scripted originals TV series has declined for the first time in a decade. According to data supplied annually by Disney-owned FX, the total number of scripted original series on broadcast, cable and streaming outlets totaled 493 in 2020. That's down 7 percent from 2019's record-high of 532.

--The decline is likely driven by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which halted production across the globe for a big chunk of 2020. The financial strain brought on by the pandemic also prompted a handful of scripted series to be "un-renewed" after factoring in things like filming logistics, rising costs of production and talent schedules. The details.

►Lee Daniels' The Wonder Years update is moving forward at ABC. The Disney-backed broadcast network has handed out formal pilot orders to three comedies, including the reboot of The Wonder Years featuring a Black family from the Empire co-creator. While the original series starred Fred Savage and revolved around a white middle-class family in the 1960s suburbs, ABC's new take focuses on how a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama, in the turbulent late '60s made sure it was "the wonder years" for them, too. The story.

+Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis are back in business at ABC. The broadcast network has handed out pilot orders to two dramas, including anthology Epic from the Once Upon a Time creators. Epic is described as a romantic anthology that reinvents fairy tales for a new audience. Sources say it will be focused on Disney properties as their former ABC drama explored Snow White and other iconic characters.

--Elsewhere, ABC's second drama pilot order is for Queens, a hip-hop drama from Zahir McGhee. The potential series revolves around four estranged and out of touch women in their 40s who reunite for a chance to recapture the fame and swagger they had as Nasty Bitches — their '90s group that made them legends in the hip-hop world. The story.

+And at NBC: The network has given a put pilot commitment to a remake of Kate & Allie, about two best friends who raise their kids in the same household. The original series, which starred Jane Curtin and Susan Saint James, ran from 1984-89 on CBS. More.

+Apple is officially moving forward with its WeWork TV series, WeCrashed. Based on the Wondery podcast of the same name, Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto will star in the limited series from creators Lee Eisenberg (Apple's Little America) and Drew Crevello (The Long Dark). Produced in-house at the tech giant's recently launched Apple Studios, This Is Us duo John Requa and Glenn Ficarra will direct and exec produce. The story.

+On My Block is coming to an end. Netflix has renewed its breakout comedy from co-creator Lauren Iungerich for a fourth and final season. The final round of 10 episodes (up two from season three) will resume in early March. It's unclear if the final season will air this year or next. The story.

+Sara Gilbert is headed to HBO Max to star in a pilot at the streamer. Gilbert (The Conners) is one of seven actors to join the cast of Verbatim, a potential anthology series that dramatizes real events by taking dialogue from primary sources and presenting it verbatim. More.

+Willow, the Disney+ fantasy series based on the 1988 movie, has found a new director for its pilot. Jonathan Entwistle, known for the well-regarded series The End of the F***ing World and  I Am Not Okay With This, has been tapped to direct the pilot for the show that is set after the events of the film. More.

+Jennifer Schuur is putting down deeper roots at HBO. Schuur, an executive producer of My Brilliant Friend and co-showrunner of the forthcoming In Treatment revival, has renewed her overall deal at the premium cable outlet. She first signed with HBO in 2019. More.

 A 'Cloverfield' Sequel

►Cloverfield, the J. J. Abrams-produced horror hit released in 2008 that launched filmmaker Matt Reeves on the path of genre auteur, is getting a sequel. Abrams’ Bad Robot banner and Paramount Pictures have tapped rising British scribe Joe Barton to pen the script for the project, which, unlike its predecessor, will not be in the found footage format, according to sources. The story.

+In othe film news: Universal is set to open Dear Evan Hansen, its adaptation of the Broadway musical that stars Amy Adams, Julianne Moore and Amandla Stenberg, on Sept. 24, 2021. The Stephen Chbosky-directed movie will take the place of an Untitled Universal event movie amid a Hollywood release date shuffle sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. The story.

►Sundance dealmaking begins: In a seven-figure deal, Neon has acquired the North American rights to Sundance title Flee, an animated doc from Jonas Poher Rasmussen that counts Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as executive producers. Flee, which premiered opening night of the fest, tells the story of Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym) as he grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon to be husband. The story.

+Sundance reviews: Homeroom... I Was a Simple Man... Playing With Sharks... In The Earth... On The Count of Three...

►Coachella canceled: The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Country Music Festival planned for April 2021 have been canceled, according to Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the public health officer for Riverside County where the festivals are held annually. Kaiser made the announcement via Twitter on Friday, citing the pandemic as the cause for cancelation. No new dates have been announced at this time. Coachella had been planned for April 9-11 and 16-18 and Stagecoach was set for April 23-25. More.

 Weekend Reads

►Lessons learned in the COVID-19 era: Awards show producers sound off on audiences, safety and virtual elements. While the Emmys received attention for how it adapted amid the pandemic, numerous other events have been forced to adjust to a brave new blend of live and remote, masked attendees and fewer, socially-distanced people on site, Hilary Lewis writes.

--"Each show we built upon the last one and by the time we got to the AMAs, we had a little more confidence of, 'We know we can do these shows safely and here's what the process looks like.' So we were able to fine-tune some things and the testing and the sanitization and schedule changes because of social distancing. All of that was hard the first time we had to do it, but we realized we can make these adjustments, and it just got a little bit better each show," [Dick Clark Productions executive vp Linda] Gierahn said. The story.

►How my uncle, Hank Aaron, guided my career path. Hustle every inning, be a dream-maker for others and never give in to a setback: Wonya Lucas, Crown Media Family Networks president and CEO, credits the baseball legend, who died Jan. 22 at 83, with life lessons that have guided her own trailblazing path to success, in a guest column for THR. The column.

►Funny or Die CEO Mike Farah remembers the Standard Hotel as "quintessential Hollywood." The hotel, which closed on Jan. 22, was "a creative community of like-minded dreamers" when the entertainment exec worked there in the early 2000s as a food expeditor. The guest column.

►TV Long View: Even in a down year, the NFL's ratings are untouchable. Despite losing more than a million viewers in the regular season, the league actually increased its margin over other programming in 2020, Rick Porter writes. The column.

►Awards Chatter podcast: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Paul Greengrass, who reinvented the action genre, reflects on his roots in TV, his fascination with terrorism and his latest film News of the World, a Western which marks his second collaboration with Tom Hanks. Listen.

In other news...

--John Malkovich, Thomas Mann and Shane West are toplining The Chariot, director Adam Sigal's sci-fi comedy now shooting in Little Rock, Arkansas.

--Delroy Lindo, the versatile character actor who gives a career-best performance as a PTSD-afflicted Vietnam vet in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods, will be the recipient of the American Riviera Award at the 36th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

--Canadian TV industry under fire for not measuring BIPOC audiences: "It's as if we're invisible."

--Are you ready for some (more) puppies? Animal Planet and streaming service discovery+ have scheduled a lineup of new Puppy Bowl programming leading up to Puppy Bowl XVII, which airs annually on the same day as the Super Bowl.

--In one of her last public appearances before she died, Cicely Tyson sat down for an interview on Live With Kelly and Ryan. The interview was taped on Wednesday for a planned Friday airing and after Tyson died, Live chose to proceed with airing the interview, albeit with a few onscreen notes about when the segment was recorded and a new video tribute from host Kelly Ripa at the top of the show.

--Mitchell Krauss, a Middle East correspondent for CBS News who was wounded in the 1981 assassination of Egypt president Anwar Sadat, died Jan. 27 of kidney failure in a hospital in Rhinebeck, New York. He was 90.

--Wendy Williams: The Movie star Ciera Payton talks fainting, the Tyler Perry bubble and costume... enhancements.

--UTA has signed true crime writer, director and producer Tiller Russell for representation.

What else we're reading...

--"CBS hires Proskauer Rose to investigate alleged misconduct by CBS TV stations heads" [LA Times]

--"They're flocking to America to make a fortune playing video games" [NY Times]

--"Justim Timberlake's big-screen reboot" [Vanity Fair]

--"Why does Hollywood think all archaeologists are hot?" [The Ringer]

Today's birthdays: Christian Bale, 47, Gene Hackman, 91, Olivia Colman, 47, Kid Cudi, 37.

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JANUARY 30, 2021

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