TV Development for 4/12/16: Spike Orders Adam Carolla Live Series, MadTV Returning, Also Freeform Sets ‘Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger’
Among the other items announced this week are a new sitcom for MTV, an adaptation of the novel Famous In Love for Freeform, a new comic book show from Skydance, and a TV movie about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. As usual, there’s plenty more, so click the link to read on. (SSN)
Peabody Awards Name Their Finalists, as Well as Special Honors For Jon Stewart and David Letterman
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and legendary former late-night host Letterman will be among the honorees at the 75th annual event. In addition, 60 finalists have been set by the awards’ board of jurors. From that field, 30 winners — the Peabody 30 — will be revealed beginning next week and honored at the Peabody Awards ceremony in New York May 21st. Among the finalists are shows from ABC, FX, Amazon, HBO, Showtime, USA Network and Lifetime. (VAR)
Ending At Just the Right Time: Showtime Announces Season Five Of ‘Episodes’ Will Be Its Last
The premium cable network announced yesterday that the show will begin production on its final seven episodes next week, with co-creator Jeffrey Klarik directing all of them as the series will wrap its run in 2017. The final season off the show, which stars Matt LeBlanc playing a version of himself, will run seven episodes. No premiere date has been determined. (LF)
Meanwhile, In What Should Be a Surprise To No One, Fox Wants a Sixth Season Of ‘New Girl’
It took a few extra weeks of negotiations, but the sitcom has secured a renewal for a sixth season. Created by Liz Meriwether, show is Fox’s longest-running live-action comedy on the air. Show was one of the first broadcast comedy series to ditch the traditional off-network syndication route for a rich deal at Netflix. (DH)
That Netflix National Lampoon Movie Just Keeps Getting More and More Impressive, as Paul Scheer Joins the Cast
The League alum has been cast as Paul Shaffer in A Futile & Stupid Gesture, which tells the tragic story of National Lampoon co-founder Doug Kenney. Will Forte will play Kenney, with Domhnall Gleeson, Joel McHale, John Gemberling, Rick Glassman, Jon Daly, Seth Green, Thomas Lennon, Martin Mull and Matt Walsh already cast. David Wain is directing the film, which goes into production this week. (TW)
Bad Robot’s ‘God Particle’ Lands John Krasinski as an Astronaut
The original micro-budgeted sci-fi tale has cast Krasinski as one of the lead astronauts, joining the already-cast David Oyelowo and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The plot revolves around an American space station that, after an accident with a particle accelerator, suddenly finds that Earth has vanished altogether. Things get stranger when they then they pick up traces of another space station nearby. (CS)
‘Mad Men’ Star Kiernan Shipka Lands a Big Film Role, Opposite Burt Reynolds In ‘Dog Years’
Adam Rifkin’s dark comedy is centered on an aging, former movie star,(Reynolds), who is forced to face the reality that his glory days are far behind him when he’s invited to receive a lifetime achievement award from a tiny East coast film festival. Embarrassed, he bails on the award and forces the emotionally unstable girl assigned to be his driver, (Shipka), to take him on a soul searching tour of the landmarks of his youth. Production is set to begin next month. (TB)
FXX Seeks More ‘Man Seeking Woman’, Orders Up a Third Season
Cable network and FX offshoot has picked up a 10-episode third season, alongside recent pickups of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and You’re the Worst. Show follows the exploits of Josh Greenberg (Jay Baruchel) as he navigates dating in a surprisingly real way for a show that leans heavily on the use of the surreal, and escalates normal situations visually and narratively to extreme heights that, frankly, better represent how they feel emotionally. (COL)
Christina Hendricks and Tim Roth Return To TV For Rowan Joffe’s New Drama Series
Joffe is show running the new Sky Atlantic series Tin Star. Set in a remote mountain town filled with migrant oil workers, Tin Star finds a police chief (Roth) who has to confront a rising tide of crime. He suffers a dreadful attack, and the fallout leads him on to a self-destructive path, ending with the creation of a ruthless alter ego. Series will kick off filming in the next few weeks. (EMP)
‘Star Trek Beyond’ to Get Barco’s Tri-Screen ‘Escape’ Treatment
Twenty minutes of VFX-intensive action from Paramount’s upcoming sci-fi adventure film will be presented in Barco’s new tri-screen panoramic presentation called Escape to enhance theatrical box office and compete with Dolby Vision and IMAX laser projection. (IW)