TV

'Roseanne' Revival Renewed at ABC

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A second season of the revival, No. 11 overall, comes on the heels of record-breaking ratings and a warm reception from critics.

ABC will be wringing more nostalgia from the surprisingly fruitful Roseanne reboot, giving a not-at-all-surprising renewal to the revived sitcom.

The next batch of episodes will again reunite original castmembers Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert, Alicia Goranson and Michael Fishman. Other past castmembers are expected to make infrequent visits, as they did during this latest run. There was no immediate word whether the network plans to have it ready for fall, but sources say the order has been increased from nine episodes to 13.

The wild success of Roseanne cannot be stressed enough. In a climate where TV reunions, particularly on the sitcom front, are a popular way to cut through the clutter, Barr's show did one better. Its March 27 premiere was the highest-rated scripted broadcast of the season, and the highest-rated sitcom in more than three years. The hourlong opener took a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49 and 18.1 million viewers in one night alone. Time-shifting has already driven the episode to 21.9 million viewers and a 6.1 rating after only three days of additional viewing.
Those numbers should see advertising rates climb for the upcoming return. These episodes were already able to command a strong $175,000 for 30-second spots, and the unexpectedly strong ratings will drive that number even higher.

It's a huge and much needed win for ABC. The No. 4 network, which trails the rest of the broadcasters in large part due to its lack of live sports, did not start its midseason on the most auspicious of notes. The annual Academy Awards telecast, the marquee night of ABC's calendar, hit a record low. And even though the revived American Idol has been a consistent performer, it's not lighting ratings on fire. But now the network will finish the broadcast season with TV's No. 1 new drama, previously renewed The Good Doctor, and the season's No. 1 series overall in Roseanne.
“We’re thrilled that America has welcomed the Conner family back into their homes," said ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey. "The show is as fresh and relevant today as it was when it left the air 21 years ago. We can’t wait to see what the Roseanne team has in store for next year."
Both the cast and showrunner Bruce Helford went into the premiere saying that they were hoping for a second season of the revival, No. 11 for the comedy overall. "I don't know that we'd ever go to a 22-episode season," Helford told THR, stressing that a traditional broadcast season seems unlikely. "That's a lot. John and Laurie have movie careers. Everybody has things that they’re doing, so it might be hard to get 22 episodes in. But I would love to do another 10 or 12 on a yearly basis."

If there are indeed longer-term prospects (and continued ratings success) for Roseanne, it could take some of the stress off the potential end of ABC flagship comedy Modern Family. The longtime network darling is renewed through the coming season. And while there has been no confirmation that No. 10 will be the show's final season, few expect it to go beyond that unless the Disney-Fox deal changes the situation.
Roseanne is produced for ABC by Carsey-Werner Productions. This new batch of episodes saw writer Whitney Cummings and actress Gilbert join Barr, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Helford as executive producers.

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James Corden's "News Team" Is Determined to Figure Out #WhoBitBeyonce

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The ‘Late Late Show’ host and his team of Helen Hunt, Chris O’Dowd and Ben Schwartz are diving deep into “one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time."

Beyonce’s biter is still on the loose — and no one is more concerned than James Corden, Helen Hunt and their “elite investigative news team,” aka “senior analyst” Chris O’Dowd and “man on the street” Ben Schwartz.

The foursome attempted to crack the case during a sketch on Thursday’s Late Late Show. "It's the evening. It's CBS. It's CBS This Evening,” Corden said with a straight face, while Hunt dryly declared that “the search continues” for the alleged actress who, as Tiffany Haddish claimed in a recent GQ interview, sunk her teeth into Queen Bey during an industry party.

"That's right," Corden said. "It's been five days since this story was first reported, and with every additional day that passes, this is quickly becoming one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time."

Agreed Hunt, "Indeed. At this point, there are only two worlds that exist: The world before March 26, 2018, and the world after March 26, 2018 — or whenever you saw the story trending on Twitter."

As Schwartz pointed out during the report, a handful of actresses have already issued denials in response to the Beyhive’s theories about who attacked the Grammy winner. "The denials keep rolling in, and as of now, Lena Dunham, Jennifer Lawrence and Frances McDormand have all denied biting Beyonce,” he said from his post in downtown Los Angeles.

Back in the studio, Hunt insisted that she is innocent as well — even though her name hasn’t been thrown in the mix: “Helen Hunt has also denied biting Beyonce.”

That’s when a couple questions crossed Corden’s mind. "If she did bite Beyonce, how would she do it? And what would it taste like?” the late-night host asked, to which Schwartz quipped back, “Lemonade, probably.”

O’Dowd then provided a chart to illustrate the data he gathered in an effort to nail down the culprit. "As you can see from this chart, these are the ladies — all of the single ladies. Now, to the left, to the left, everything we know is in a box to the left,” he said, quoting Beyonce herself, before finally admitting that "everything we know" is "still nothing."

Moments later, though, Corden yelled, "This just in! The person who bit Beyonce was actually —” But, unfortunately, the report faded to black. Watch the segment below.

Beyonce Knowles James Corden Late-Night TV
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'Life Sentence' Will Exit CW Lineup Before Moving to Fridays in April

The freshman drama has struggled out of the gate, not even mustering 400,000 viewers in its most recent episode.

Life Sentence seems destined for capital punishment.

The freshman CW drama is being moved from the schedule after four middling episodes — and one especially lackluster showing this week. The network announced Friday that only one more episode will air in its Wednesday time slot before taking a two-week break and shifting to Fridays at 9 o'clock on April 27.

The series, starring Pretty Little Liars alum Lucy Hale, could only muster a 0.1 rating among adults 18-49 and 400,000 on its highest-ranking Wednesday night — easily ranking as the lowest-rated scripted hour to air on a broadcast network this season. Time-shifting has been minimal, with live-plus-seven day ratings for the premiere only lifting it to a 0.4 rating in the key demo.

It's not a cancellation for the drama, but it does not bode well at all. Even with the network's always-significant streaming lifts, it's unlikely that enough viewers have been tuning into alternate platforms to justify keeping it around. It's also been quite some time since the CW was motivated enough by a poor linear performance to yank something from the lineup this soon.

Executive produced by Bill Lawrence, the Warner Bros./CBS TV Studios show is not a typical CW drama. Neither comic book in source material, or a prestige comedy like Crazy Ex Girlfriend or Jane the Virgin, its more the kind of drama the network was known for earlier in its time on the air.

The CW, interestingly, has not made any big renewal news for the 2018-19 season. At this point in the TV calendar, it's typically given the green light to most of its series.

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TV Ratings: 'Station 19' Improves, 'Supernatural' Matches Season High

The 'Grey's Anatomy' spinoff gets a tiny lift in its second episode, outpacing NBC's 'Chicago Fire' — albeit in a different time slot.

CBS dominated Thursday evening with a relatively stable episode of The Big Bang Theory.

The comedy, fetching a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49 and nearly 13 million viewers, won the night by nearly every measure. Young Sheldon (2.0 adults) was just behind it, followed by an even outing of Mom (1.4 adults), a new Life in Pieces (1.0 adults) and the recently renewed SWAT (0.9 adults).

Driven by Grey's Anatomy, which earned a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49, ABC ranked No. 2 among the broadcast networks. It led into an ever-so-slightly-lifted second outing of spinoff Station 19 that averaged a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49 and 5.8 million viewers, topping NBC's similarly themed Chicago Fire (0.9 adults) at 10 p.m., after losing a head-to-head two-hour battle on its premiere night. Scandal shifted into the 10 o'clock time slot with a 0.8 rating in the key demo, off a significant three-tenths of a point from its last original.

NBC's comedy block also saw some fatigue, with drops for Superstore (0.8 adults) and Will & Grace (0.9 adults) before an unfortunate drop for Champions. The latter was down to just a 0.5 rating in the key demo. Fell freshman AP Bio was steady with a 0.6 rating among adults 18-49.

Gotham (0.7 adults) and Showtime at the Apollo (0.6 adults) held on Fox, while Supernatural jumped to a season high 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 on the CW — matching its season premiere score from way back in October. Arrow held with a 0.4 rating despite the lifted lead-in.

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Confused Stephen Colbert on Trump's Ohio Rally: "'Roseanne' Is About the Trumps?"

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In response to the president's reaction to the success of the Roseanne Barr comedy revival, Colbert quipped, "I can't wait for the episode where John Goodman blows the vacation money paying off a porn star."

Stephen Colbert had a few thoughts to share after President Donald Trump made his first public appearance in five days to pitch his infrastructure plan in Ohio, but veered off topic to tout the reboot of Roseanne Barr's sitcom Roseanne.

"Even look at Roseanne, I called her yesterday," Trump said in the Thursday speech. "Look at her ratings! Look at her ratings!" ABC's revival of the iconic sitcom overperformed in Middle America and nabbed the network TV's biggest comedy launch in three-plus years.

In addition to personally speaking to Barr about the reboot, the ratings-focused president said that former Apprentice producer Mark Burnett called him about the "unbelievable" numbers — 18.1 million viewers and a 5.1 rating in the key demo — adding that Burnett said, "And [the show] was about us!"

Colbert took particular issue with that latter detail.

"Wait, I haven't seen it yet, but Roseanne is about the Trumps?" Colbert asked, sarcastically. "Well, I can't wait for the episode where John Goodman blows the vacation money paying off a porn star." (Goodman plays Barr's onscreen husband.)

Despite the premiere spotlight on Roseanne Conner's (Barr) praise of Trump, the cast has been clear that the comedy doesn’t focus on politics as much as many are assuming. “We keep saying that the first episode is going to piss off liberals and the other eight are going to piss off conservatives," executive producer Whitney Cummings previously told The Hollywood Reporter.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert host did acknowledge that a lot of people thought it was refreshing for a major sitcom character to be a fervent Trump supporter. (Barr herself publicly supports him, too.) So he found something else that might appeal to a Trump crowd.

"Well, I would like 18 million people to watch my show," Colbert said before adding something "refreshing" of his own. "I agree with Donald Trump about something: CNN lies."

Colbert then showed a botched headline from a CNN segment about Dana Carvey's appearance as Trump's new national security adviser John Bolton on Colbert's show earlier this week, mistakenly calling it Saturday Night Live.

"Fake news," Colbert quipped. "I take everything back. I apologize. Donald Trump is a great president."

He dedicated the rest of his monologue to other soundbites from Trump's Ohio speech, like forgetting the name of former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin — who he had just fired a day before.

Stephen Colbert Roseanne
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'Arrow' Says Farewell to an Original Series Regular

Willa Holland had been on a reduced episode count this season.

[This story contains spoilers from Thursday's Arrow.]

An original series regular is departing The CW's Arrow.

Willa Holland, who has played Thea Queen/Speedy for six seasons, has exited the Greg Berlanti-produced DC Comics drama. Her last episode aired Thursday night and saw her character leave town in pursuit of righting her father's wrongs.

"We’re very sad to see Willa go. She’s been a critical part of Arrow since its inception and a wonderful and talented person to boot," Arrow exec producer Marc Guggenheim told The Hollywood Reporter. "But we’re in our sixth season now and supportive of her wish to stretch her legs and pursue other creative opportunities. The door is always open for Willa to return if she has a hankering to."

The writing for Holland's exit had been on the wall. While still being credited as a series regular, Holland for the past two seasons has had a contractually reduced role. This season, she appeared in 10 of the show's 16 episodes to have aired this season. In season five, Holland's Thea — Oliver's younger sister — was in 14 of its 23 episodes.

Arrow was Holland's longest tenure to date, having appeared in 130 episodes of the drama exec produced by Guggenheim. Her credits include Gossip Girl and The O.C.

Holland's exit leaves only Amell (Oliver/Arrow), David Ramsey (Diggle/Spartan) and Paul Blackthorne (Detective Lance) as original series regulars from the pilot. (Emily Bett Rickards recurred in season one before being promoted to regular in season two and was not in the pilot.)

Arrow, which has begun to show its age, is considered likely to return to The CW for a seventh season. The cast is heading into contract renegotiations as is typical for a show following its sixth season.

Holland's departure follows changes on The CW's fellow DC Comics drama Legends of Tomorrow, which said farewell to stars Wentworth Miller, Victor Garber and Franz Drameh this season. To help fill the void, Matt Ryan will join the show's fourth season, should Legends earn a renewal. (It's considered a safe bet to come back.)

Keep track of all the latest renewals and cancellations with THR's handy scorecard and of all the pilot pickups with our handy guide.

Arrow
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'Will & Grace' Team Goes Inside That "Bittersweet" Debbie Reynolds Tribute Episode

The creators and cast also explain to THR why the sitcom feels more political in 2018 compared to its original run.

NBC's Will & Grace paid tribute to the late Debbie Reynolds on Thursday night, and while the touching episode was bittersweet for everyone involved, the half-hour was especially poignant for Reynolds' TV daughter, Debra Messing.

"It was very important to Debra Messing that we address both the character, Bobbi Adler, and the woman, Debbie Reynolds," Max Mutchnick, alongside his co-creator and co-showrunner David Kohan, told The Hollywood Reporter recently at PaleyFest. "We loved her and miss her. She was a fantastic part of the show and she would have been a part of the revival, but, you know, such is life."

Reynolds, who appeared in 10 episodes of the show's original run (watch a clip below), died in December 2016. A photo of her and Messing in character has been featured in Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and Grace Adler's (Messing) apartment on the new episodes, and Grace opened up about the loss of her mother when consoling Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) after the death of Rosario (Shelley Morrison). But Thursday's show brought Grace, with Will in tow, back home to Schenectady, New York, to honor Bobbi's dying wish: that the entire family celebrate her birthday.

The trip home saw Robert Klein step in as Grace's father, Martin Adler, as the comedian took over the role from Alan Arkin after he was unable to return for the revival. Returning guest star Sara Rue and Mary McCormack played Grace's sisters.

The episode, titled "One Job," kicks off a two-part finale to the revival season of the beloved sitcom that stars the foursome of Messing, McCormack, Mullally and Sean Hayes, who plays Jack McFarland. The revival, a hit for the network amid TV's reboot frenzy, has already been renewed for two more seasons.

In addition to Alec Baldwin returning as Karen's lover Malcolm Widmark, the final episode, titled "It's a Family Affair," will also welcome back Blythe Danner as Will's mom, Marilyn Truman. Sydney Pollack, who played Will's father during the show's original run, also passed away when the show was off the air in 2008.

"Debbie’s loss was obviously a loss to the whole world," Messing told THR, "but she played my mom and I felt very close to her and her loss was really, really hard. Especially when we were referencing her in the show."

Not only was Bobbi's birthday a central plot point, but several portraits, including an oversized picture in the family room, adorned the house during the dinner table scene with the Adlers and Will, who were all clad in party hats as they laughed, cried and fought their way through the visit. "It was a little bit sad rehearsing because of the big portrait of Debbie on set," director and producer James Burrows tells THR, referring to the script as "funny and bittersweet."

Though Mutchnick and Kohan have been paying tribute to Reynolds all year here and there, it was Messing who specifically asked for something more.

"I just said, 'Please, please. We have to honor her.' And they did," says the actress of what the creators and writers came up with. "They wrote the episode and I think it’s beautiful and hilarious. They did right by Debbie."

The episode also held a personal meaning to Hayes, who told THR that his own mother passed away the night they filmed: "Isn’t that crazy? I say that because of the coincidence of it, and I thought that was really special for me."

The two-part finale caps off a successful and yet political return for Will & Grace. Right out of the gate, the premiere and its "Make America Gay Again" message took direct aim at the Trump administration and, in the 14 episodes since, there has been no shortage of jokes and jabs aimed at the president and the state of the country. But having the constant thread of Karen as an avid Trump supporter and a March 15 episode that tackled both red and blue hypocrisy — with its ripped-from-the-headlines cake plotline with a twist — has helped infuse some balance.

"Everything is political now no matter what you do — being a gay show on network television is a political act," says Kohan. "Having Meghan Mullally’s character of Karen Walker on this show is a political statement, too. I’m glad that we get a little bit of everything in the series," Mutchnick adds.

Admits Burrows, "We’re a lot more political than we ever were, but there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit."

But has the show become too political? Messing and Hayes say it only feels that way because there is so much to address in the current climate.

"This isn’t new. We always pushed the boundaries, we always had very provocative humor," says Messing, while also agreeing with Burrows. "I feel like we’re doing what we always did, we just have more fodder these days. There’s a lot more happening in our country to talk about."

Adds Hayes, "The characters in the show are living the same lives as the audience, so anything that affects America at the time or in the world is going to be talked about on the show."

McCormack, however, took his explanation one step further.

"The first couple years we did the show, Bill Clinton was in office," the actor explains to THR. "I remember a distinct moment when 9/11 happened and we all looked to Max and David and said, 'Well, the characters live in New York, what are we going to do?' And the decision was made that Will & Grace is not the show to try to give some message, so we kept it lighter."

The actor continues, "I think this time around we thought, 'We can’t.' These characters have been living in New York and in this country — they are almost 50. It’s time for them to have a say, and that say needs to be funny as well, but it can’t just be light."

The season finale of Will & Grace airs Thursday, April 5, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

Jean Bentley contributed to this story.

Will & Grace
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Emily Ratajkowski, 'American Vandal' Breakout Among Cast of NBC's Kenya Barris Pilot

'Bright Futures' will also feature Shameik Moore, Calum Worthy and Lilly Singh — while Lisa Kudrow will provide an off-camera role.

NBC is filling out the cast of its Kenya Barris pilot in one fell swoop, tapping Emily Ratajkowski, Shameik Moore, Calum Worthy, Lilly Singh and Jimmy Tatro for the sitcom about struggling twenty-somethings.

Bright Futures, described as a comedy about friends stumbling through the transition from their clueless twenties to the successful adults they're destined to become, certainly cast a wide net for its crop of actors — many of them making their first appearance in a broadcast pilot.

Ratajkowski, a model and actress, has been making consistent film and TV appearances throughout her career, but a regular broadcast gig would be a first. She's been cast as Sarah, "a girl-next-door type but also with a behind-the-ear tattoo."

Moore, cast in the role of Aaron, was one of the stars of Baz Luhrmann's short-lived Netflix series The Get Down. Morre will play one of the roommates central to the series, who overpartied after passing the bar exam and now has to work as a personal injury attorney. Worthy starred in four seasons of Disney comedy Austin & Ally. He'll play Danny, an "ultraneurotic USC film school grad." YouTuber Lilly Singh plays Sid, a recent med school graduate who became a doctor for the wrong reasons.

Also on board is American Vandal's Tatro. His role in Netflix's true-crime doc spoof earned him a Critics Choice Award nomination earlier in the year. He plays Berger, a hater with a heart of gold.

Of note: Lisa Kudrow could potentially be staging her return to NBC's comedy block. She's signed on to narrate.

Bright Futures, one of several Barris projects this pilot season, hales from ABC Studios and Khalabo Ink Society. Hale Rothstein is a writer and executive producer, with Danny Segal and Isaac Schamis writing and executive producing. Barris is also an EP.
Ratajkowski is repped by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and Bloom Hergott Diemer. Moore is with CAA, Three Six Zero and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Worthy is at UTA, CTM International, Make Good Content and Myman Greenspan Fox. Lilly Singh is repped by WME and manager Sarah Weichel, and — exhale! — Tatro is with UTA and Felker Toczek Suddleson.

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Tim Kring Drama 'Beyond' Canceled at Freeform

The series wrapped its second season a week ago.

Freeform is moving beyond Beyond.

The younger-skewing, Disney-owned cable network has canceled the Tim Kring-produced series after two seasons. The decision comes a week after the sci-fi drama wrapped its second season.

Beyond revolved around Holden (Burkely Duffield), a man who wakes up from a coma after 12 years and discovers supernatural abilities that propel him into the middle of a dangerous conspiracy.

After launching all 10 of its first-season episodes with a Netflix-like binge model in season one, Freeform days later renewed the series for a second season. All told, the network at the time said more than 14 million people watched the show in its first week — with 7.2 million of those watching the linear premiere. It helped Freeform generate what it says was its best week across digital platforms in more than four years. With three days of delayed viewing, Beyond — from Kring's Imperative Entertainment — ranks as the network's biggest launch in a year: 1.5 million total viewers and 500,000 among adults 18-49.

The series returned on-par in January but saw its numbers quickly decline from there. The March 22 season finale drew just 260,000 total viewers — off about 50 percent year-over-year.

The news comes as Freeform is expanding its programming strategy to four nights a week as it looks to utilize its slate of blockbuster films as lead-ins to help boost the fortunes of its scripted fare. The cable network's scripted roster also includes the recently renewed Grown-ish, The Bold Type, Famous in Love, Shadowhunters and rookies Marvel's Cloak and Dagger, Alone Together and Siren. The Tom Ascheim-led Freeform is also readying a Pretty Little Liars spinoff as it plots the end of The Fosters and Young and Hungry.

Freeform
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She will continue to report to Katherine Nelson, whose group also oversees communications for Universal Cable Productions and Wilshire Studios.

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