Tag Archives: renew

FOX renews ‘Fringe’ for fourth season [Update: official press release statements]

HOLY PARALLEL UNIVERSE, BATMAN! Executive producer J.H. Wyman has announced via Twitter that Fringe has been picked up for another season! In so many words he said:

“Fringe was picked up!!!! Thanks Fringedom!”

A FOX spokeswoman confirms that the show will return next fall in full force–that’s right, meaning a full, 22 episode fourth season will be underway. CELEBRATION TIME, commence.

Oh, and take that Friday nights; guess you’re not the night where all shows go to die after all.

Update: Jump after the break to find the official press release celebrating the Fringe-tastic news.

[Via Twitter] Continue reading FOX renews ‘Fringe’ for fourth season [Update: official press release statements]

NBC renews ‘Community’, ‘Parks and Recreation’, ‘The Office’

Fantastic news everybody: NBC has renewed Community, Parks and Rec, and The Office for a third, fourth, and eighth season, respectively! NBC’s other staple comedy 30 Rock was renewed for a sixth season late last year. It will surely be interesting to see how The Office performs without its star Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) and I’m equally looking forward to the return of the Greendale and Pawnee gangs. These shows have proved time and time again that they’ve found their stride. I am beyond elated that NBC has saved these shows from sitting on the cancellation fence and determined their value residing in the network’s Thursday night comedy lineup.

NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt: “Along with 30 Rock, they represent the best of what the NBC comedy brand stands for in terms of originality, wit, and sophistication. The Office continues to fire on all cylinders on the most competitive night of television; Parks & Recreation has come into its own this season as the rightful companion to The Office; and Community is one of the freshest comedies on any network and a solid foundation for Thursday night.”

Greenblatt has ordered 13 comedy pilots each vying for a spot in this talented lineup. Things are not looking up for Outsourced and midseason player Perfect Couples.

For those of you who follow the ratings game: The Office averages a 4.0 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 7.7 million viewers; Parks and Rec sees a 2.8/7 and 5.5 million viewers; Community gets a 2.1/6 and 4.7 million.

[Via Deadline; EW]

FOX renews ‘American Dad’ for seventh season

Good morning USA! I got a feelin’ that it’s gonna be a wonderful day. That it is for animator/creator Seth MacFarlane. The man known for dominating FOX’s “Animation Domination” lineup with his imaginative and relevant comedies must be feeling an enormous sense of relief after hearing today’s news that American Dad will be joining long-time staple Family Guy and newcomer The Cleveland Show for the 2011-13 TV seasons. No, that’s not a typo and I’ll explain why. The Smiths have been guaranteed a seventh season with a full 22-episode order. However, because FOX has ordered two new animated shows Allen Gregory and Napoleon Dynamite (yes, based on the movie) for next season, scheduling only an undisclosed portion of American Dad episodes will air in 2011-12, and the remaining eps will overflow into the 2012-13 season. And believe it or not, this is the way the show has aired since the 2005 Super Bowl. So no harm done here. Packaged with this news of renewal is a hint of what’s to come later this season; upcoming guest voices include Anjelica Huston, Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Burt Reynolds, and Cee-Lo Green.

“This is fantastic news,” said Roger the Alien in a statement. “But you do realize I’m not real, right?”

[Via Deadline]

Nickelodeon renews ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ for season number nine

Nickelodeon, my favorite network growing up, just decided to greenlight another season of one of my most treasured cartoons, SpongeBob SquarePants.  When the 26-episode ninth season airs in 2012, it will breeze past the coveted 200 episode milestone.  Says Brown Johnson, President, Animation, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group: “SpongeBob‘s success in reaching over 200 episodes is a testament to creator Stephen Hillenburg’s vision, comedic sensibility and his dynamic, lovable characters.  The series now joins the club of contemporary classic Nicktoons that have hit this benchmark, so we’re incredibly proud.”  Hillenburg, who still serves as an executive producer, handed off day-to-day responsibility to director/writer Paul Tibbitt after the series found its long-lasting success.  “We never imagined we would be on for that long but we’re going to keep going,” Tibbitt said.  “The trick is to try to keep the episodes funny and simple and press from there.”

SpongeBob has ranked as the #1 animated TV series with children (ages 2-11) for a whopping ten consecutive years.  Season 9, I’m ready!

[Via Deadline; EW]

FOX renews ‘The Simpsons’ for Season 23

Shocker, right?  Next September FOX will air the 23rd season of The Simpsons, the longest running comedy in TV history.  During the next season the animated show will hit a major milestone–500 episodes aired.  In fact, the series will reach episode 515 when it closes out its next season in May 2012.  But its still got a ways to go if it wants to become the record holder for most episodes aired; it’ll have to surpass Gunsmoke‘s 635 episodes!

“Like many 22-year-olds, The Simpsons is extremely happy remaining at home, on Fox, and hopes it doesn’t have to go out into the real world for many years to come,” said executive producer Al Jean.

[Via Deadline; IGN]

HBO’s ‘Bored to Death’ & ‘Eastbound & Down’ coming back for third season

HBO’s current Sunday night lineup is safe.  Boardwalk Empire was picked up for a second season a month ago, and today HBO ordered additional seasons of comedies Bored to Death (starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis, and Ted Danson) and Danny McBride’s Eastbound & Down.  The former averaged 1 million viewers this past Sunday and the latter 1.44 million.  This is great new for fans of funny things.

[Via Deadline]

HBO renews Boardwalk Empire for a second season

A mere two days after its smashing series premiere, HBO has renewed the Scorsese/Winter production Boardwalk Empire for a second season.  The debut of the Prohibition-era drama averaged 4.8 million viewers, making it HBO’s most watched premiere since 2004’s Deadwood.  Says Michael Lombardo, President of HBO Programming: “All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi.  The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.”

Boardwalk Empire airs Sunday nights at 9PM on HBO.

[Via EW]

ABC axes FlashForward, renews V

For some time now there’s been much discussion surrounding the fate of ABC’s two freshman sci-fi series, FlashForward & V.  Overall both have been performing rather poorly in the ratings.  But when it came to decision time, ABC decided to cancel one and keep the other.  As much as I have enjoyed following FlashForward, there were many hints to its eventual demise.  Two of them are the following: The ratings (FFpremiered to 12.47 million viewers and plummeted to 4.77 million viewers for last week’s ep) and a change in leadership (co-creator/showrunner David S. Goyer left the show in early February).  And here’s another one: ABC heavily promoted the new series the wrong way; in a number of ad spots the network was hailing it as “the next Lost.”  Although the show contains a myriad of characters, a complex mythos, and flashbacks to boot, it is most definitely not another Lost.  The direction and plot of the show are quite different from Lost.  ABC obviously felt some pressure to promote the show in this way since Lost is nearly finished, but I have a feeling FF might have fared differently if it was marketed in a more appropriate way.  In my opinion, I thought FlashForward started out great, then it started to lose its focus (right around when Goyer made his announcement), and now it finds itself back on track with a bunch of potential.  But now none of that matters anymore since it won’t be coming back after the May 27 finale.  I wonder if the producers will try to wrap things up for us..

And then there’s V, the mini-series reboot that could.  ABC aired this series in a very strange manner due to a number of early production issues.  They aired an initial “pod” of four episodes starting in November which garnered a huge following, then the show did not come back until the end of March.  Thanks to this long hiatus, viewership dropped during the latter half of the season.  As of late, however, the show has seen a surge in the ratings, especially in the coveted 18-49 demo, and in my opinion, it’s become more creative and engaging with the addition of some new characters and exciting and fast-moving plot twists.  According to the latest sources, V has been issued a 13-epsiode second season set to start this fall.

So what do I think about all this?  As a fan of both shows, I have to say I’m not so surprised that ABC decided to cancel FlashForward and keep V.  Although the potential for FlashForward is just starting to come to fruition, the delivery feels a bit “too little too late”.  V, on the other hand, always packed an explosive punch, from the initial pod of episodes to where to series sits now.  All I have to say is this: At least ABC decided to keep one of these shows; a sudden cancellation of both would have been devastating.

FlashForward airs Thursday nights at 8PM on ABC; the two-hour finale airs May 27.  V ends its first season run next Tuesday at 8PM on ABC.

[Via EW-AusielloFiles, here & here]

HBO renews How To Make It In America for a second season

YES!  Now that the excitement is out there let me tell you what it’s about: HBO has renewed How To Make It In America for a second season!  HTMIIA, produced by Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, and Rob Weiss (Entourage), follows 20-somethings who are trying to make it big in the fashion industry in New York City.

Although it attracted an average of less than 1 million viewers at its Sunday night spot, HBO obviously still believes in its potential, and so do I.  Though the plotlines are nothing to rave about, it’s the character developments and relationships that get you invested in the show.  Main protangonists Ben (Bryan Greenburg) and Cam (Victor Russek) play believable characters set in a real world environment and situation.  The show uses the streets of NYC to its advantage by injecting a big shot of realism into everything that goes down around the characters.  By the end of the 8-epsiode run I was really pulling for Ben & Cam and I’m excited to see what the writers have in store for them (the same goes for Cam’s cousin Rene, played by Luis Guzman).  I’m glad we haven’t seen the last of Rasta Monsta!  The rest of the ensemble, including Rachel (Lake Bell), Kaplan (Eddie Kaye Thomas), and Domingo (Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi), make for a great supporting cast.

How To Make It In America is expected to return to HBO sometime during summer 2011 with another 8-episode run.

[Via EW-HollywoodInsider; LATimesBlog]

Stewart & Colbert extend contracts with Comedy Central

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future.  Both political satirists have extended their contracts with Comedy Central, making the network their home for at least the next few years.  Stewart, who became the host of The Daily Show in 1999, will stick with it at least until June 2013 and Cobert will man his position through 2012.  Staying with cable instead of jumping to the big networks makes sense for the dynamic duo; the cable environment allows for more creative freedom and less restriction on lambasting politicians and celebrities alike.  Something Conan is fervently looking forward to, I’m sure of it.

[Via IGN]

ABC renews Castle

ABC’s hit crime/comedy show Castle starring Nathon Fillion and Stana Katic has just been renewed for a 22-episode third season!  The show is doing extremely well these days so news of a renewal does not come to much surprise, only excitement.  This past Monday’s episode (the second part of the Dana Delany “event”) attracted huge numbers for the show, 14.5 million viewers to be precise.  That’s the largest audience the show has on record.  Ausiello reports that this high viewership “gave ABC its best scripted performance in the time-slot in 14 years.”  Way to go, Castle!

[Via EW-AusielloFiles]

NBC renews Community, The Office & 30 Rock (+ Parks & Rec cast welcomes Lowe, Scott)

Great news for fans of NBC Thursday night comedy!  In addition to giving Parks & Rec the go-ahead for a third season, NBC has decided to renew the rest of its Thursday night lineup, including freshman comedy Community and old staples like The Office and 30 Rock.

While we’re on the subject of NBC comedies, it’s be let known that two new characters are joining the already-strong cast of Parks & Recreation.  Actor Rob Lowe will be leaving his current post at ABC’s Brothers & Sisters and will join Parks & Rec at the end of this season; series creator Michael Shur hints Lowe will be on board for “a number of episodes stretching into Season 3.”  Funnyman Adam Scott (you know him from Step Brothers; he played Brennen’s brother Derek) will also become a recurring character who will enter the scene towards this season’s end.  Lowe and Scott will likely be welcome additions to Pawnee’s colorful, hilarious cast.

[Via EW-AusielloFiles; IGN]