Videoage International April 2018

14 April 2018 V I D E O A G E T his year, it seems like everything old is new again… again. Following a U.S. TV season that saw huge numbers for reboots like NBC’s Will & Grace and prequels like CBS’s Young Sheldon (a forerunner to its long-running hit The Big Bang Theory ), it’s no surprise that network execs are once again turning to the past to fill future time slots. Of the 74 pilots (45 dramas and 29 comedies) already ordered by the big five networks for the 2018 to 2019 season — 22 from ABC, 18 from CBS, 9 from the CW, 11 from Fox, and 14 from NBC — a rather large percentage are revivals of hits from long ago. NBC has a spin-off of the successful Bad Boys movie franchise starring Being Mary Jane’s Gabrielle Union in the works. Sony Pictures Television Studios is producing the series, along with Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Primary Wave Entertainment, and 2.0 Entertainment. The still untitled series focuses on former DEA agent Syd Burnett — who was last seen in 2003’s Bad Boys II taking down a drug cartel in Miami — as she begins a new job as a detective in Los Angeles and is partnered with a working mom who envies Syd’s single-gal freedom. ABC has two remakes on tap. First up is a female-led reboot of Stephen J. Cannell’s 1981 cult comedy hit The Greatest American Hero that will star New Girl’s Hannah Simone as 30-year- old tequila-drinking, karaoke-loving Meera, an aimless Indian-American woman whose life is forever changed when she is given a super suit and told to protect the planet. Twentieth Century Fox TV will co-produce the series with ABC Studios. The Alphabet Net also has Get Christie Love , which is based on a 1974 Blaxploitation-themed TV movie and the TV series it briefly spawned. Starring Kylie Bunbury (late of the underrated and too-soon cancelled Fox baseball show Pitch ), the drama — a co-production between Lionsgate Television and Universal Television — will focus on an African-American female CIA agent who heads up an elite ops unit. The CW has updated versions of beloved favorites Charmed and Roswell . The original Charmed — which told the story of the Halliwell sisters, goodwitcheswho used theirmagic to fight evil — ran from 1998 to 2006 on The WB (now known as The CW), and starred Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs, Shannen Doherty, and Rose McGowan. The new CBS Television Studios iteration of the series — which has been met with considerable ire from Combs, who recently tweeted that “the show belongs to the four of us,” presumably referring to herself and her one- time co-stars — is being billed as “a fierce, funny, feminist reboot,” and will tell the tale of sisters who discover they are witches while living in a college town. Roswell will also be rehashed at The CW with the help of Amblin TV, Bender Brown Productions, and Warner Bros. TV. The original series —which ran from 1999 to 2002 on The WB and UPN, and starred Shiri Appleby, Katherine Heigl, and Colin Hanks — was a teen soap with sci-fi elements that involved high school, aliens, and drama galore. In this new, as yet untitled version, Grey’s Anatomy ’s Jeanine Mason — who also won season five of Fox’s dance competition series So You Think You Can Dance — will star as Liz Ortecho, the daughter of undocumented immigrants who discovers that the boy she had a crush on as a teen is actually an alien with otherworldly powers. The CW is also putting its considerable weight behind Wayward Sisters , a spin-off of its long- running hit Supernatural . This new show — from Warner Bros. Television — follows fan- favorite Sheriff Jody Mills (played by actress Kim Rhodes), as she leads a group of monster-fighting females whose lives have been forever changed by paranormal attacks. Finally, there’s CBS, which has revivals aplenty planned for fall. Getting the most buzz thus far is a planned 13-episode season of Murphy Brown , an update of the much-loved comedy series which ran for 10 seasons, from 1988 to 1998, and starred Candice Bergen as an investigative journalist at the fictional FYI Network. Bergen will reprise her star-making role in the new show — from Warner Bros. Television and Bend in the Road Productions — which has already received a straight-to-series order from the Eye Network. CBS has also ordered pilots for modern-day versions of 1980s series Cagney and Lacey and Magnum P.I. The former — from CBS TV Studios and MGM Television — follows a pair of female detectives in Los Angeles and is based on the iconic series of the same name that starred Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless. The latter is a new take on the classic Tom Selleck series set in Hawaii. This new incarnation will center on Thomas Magnum, an ex-Navy SEAL turned private eye. CBS TV Studios will co-produce with Universal TV. Aside from reboots, revivals, and reimaginings, the big five networks have also realized that another way to capitalize on name recognition is to simply hire well-known entities to star in their shows in the hopes that the actor’s already established fans will tune in in droves. Castle lead Nathan Fillion will headline ABC’s The Rookie , which tells the tale of John Nolan, the oldest rookie in the Los Angeles Police Department. The show, from ABC Studios and the Mark Gordon Company, has already received a straight-to-series order. Scandal ’s Scott Foley and The Walking Dead ’s Lauren Cohan will star in ABC’s Whiskey Cavalier , an hour-long action dramedy from Warner Bros. Television and Doozer Productions about an FBI super-agent (Foley), who, following a breakup, is assigned to work with a fiery CIA agent (Cohan). Former Dawson’s Creek leading lady Katie Holmes has signed on to an as yet untitled Fox series from 20th Century Fox Television and 3 Arts Entertainment to play an FBI special agent whose life is derailed when her affair with a prominent general is outed. And Saved By The Bell alumMark- Paul Gosselaar will star in another Fox pilot, The Passage , based on Justin Cronin’s best-selling book trilogy about a secret government medical facility experimenting with a dangerous virus that could wipe out all of mankind. It’s from 20th Century Fox Television, 6th & Idaho, and Scott Free. Finally, multi-camera comedies, whose demise has been heralded for the past few years, are making a comeback (probably because they’re cheaper to produce than comedies of the single- camera variety). Of the 29 total comedy pilots that have thus far been ordered, a whopping 16 of them are multi-cams. Examples include NBC’s Abby’s (Universal Television, Fremulon, and 3 Arts), about an unlicensedSanDiegobarwithaunique set of rules; CBS’s IMomSoHard (Warner Bros. Television, CBS Television Studios, and Spondoolie Productions), based on the popular Web series of the same name; Fox’s Cool Kids (20th Century Fox TV, FX Productions, and 3 Arts), which focuses on three guys who are the titular cool kids at a retirement community until a female rebel enters their world; and ABC’s Most Likely To (Warner Bros. Television and Berlanti Productions), which tells the story of Liz Cooney, who had everything in high school, and Markie McQueen, who did not. Two decades later, they’re reunited as single moms living under the same roof. While we won’t know for sure which series will be picked up for next season until Upfronts week in May when the networks officially unveil their schedules, it’s a safe bet that if even a handful of these reboots do well that everything old will be new again — yet again — for the 2019 to 2020 season. By Leah Hochbaum Rosner Reboots Reign for 2018-2019 U.S. Television Pilot Season Road to the L.A. Screenings CBS has ordered a reboot of classic 1980s series Magnum P.I.