TV Bits: ‘L.A.’s Finest’, ‘DuckTales’, ‘Fear The Walking Dead’, ‘Luke Cage’, ‘Pose’, ‘Finding Justice’ And More
In this edition of TV bits:
In case you forgot,NBCordered aBad Boysspin-offstarringGabrielle Unionearly this year. Union reprises the role she played inBad Boys II– the sister of Martin Lawrence’s character.Jessica Albaalso stars. Now, the show has an official title:L.A.’s Finest. AsDeadlinereports, “The project follows the Special Agent Syd Burnett character played by Union in 2003’sBad Boys IImovie as she moves to Los Angeles and joins the LAPD,” adding that Union’s “free-spirited former DEA agent Burnett has a fresh start in her new job as an LAPD detective. She’s partnered with Nancy McKenna (Alba), a working mom who can’t help but look at Syd’s freedom with some grass-is-greener envy. These two have totally different lifestyles and approaches, but they both are at the top of their fields in this action-packed, character-driven procedural.” Don’t expect Will Smith or Martin Lawrence to show up on the show anytime soon, though.
You may have heard of thisLin-Manuel Mirandafellow. He won a bunch of awards and wrote a musical about the old guy on the ten dollar bill. Now, Miranda will make his debut on the rebootedDuckTales. So it goes. The series reboots the 1980sDuckTalesseries, featuring a storyline about Scrooge McDuck gaining “guardianship of grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie when Donald Duck reluctantly takes them to McDuck Manor, the wonder of which enthralls the mischievous triplets. While living with their trillionaire relative, the boys learn long-held family secrets and unleash symbolic artifacts from Scrooge’s past.” Miranda will voice the character Gizmoduck. Miranda’s debut episode will airFriday, May 11on Disney Channel and DisneyNOW.
Fear the Walking Deadis a huge hit, which I find a little surprising since it doesn’t seem like people talk about it as much asThe Walking Dead. But the show continually brings in scores of viewers, so someone, somewhere, really likes this spin-off.Fear the Walking Deadis returning for its fourth season onApril 15, and in anticipation of that, AMC released the first three minutes of the season premiere online. So if you can’t wait till the 15th, you’re in luck! These first few minutes introduce viewers to a new character on the show, played byGarret Dillahunt.Luke Cageseason 2 will be streaming sooner than you think, and the Marvel Netflix series just added a fresh face.Black Filmreports actress and singerAntonique Smithhas joined the cast. Smith will play new character Nandi Tyler, a detective who took over for Misty Knight (Simone Missick) after Misty lost her arm during the events ofThe Defenders.Mike Colterwill return as Luke Cage, a man with super strength and unbreakable skin who serves as a protector for his Harlem neighborhood. Danny Rand (Finn Jones), aka the Iron Fist, will be appearing at some point as well (sorry).Luke Cageseason 2 arrives on NetflixJune 22, 2018.
Ryan Murphy’sPoseis going to make TV history, as Murphy and company have assembled “the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles and the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series,” per FX. The first trailer forPosecan be seen above, ahead of theJune 3, 2018premiere. “Set in the 1980s, Pose looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene & the ball culture world.” The cast includesDominique Jackson,Mj Rodriguez,Indya Moore,Angelica Ross,Hallie Sahar,Ryan Jamaal Swain,Billy Porter,Dyllon Burnside,Evan Peters,Kate Mara, andJames Van Der Beek. The show was created by Murphy,Brad FalchukandSteven Canals.Allison Pearson’s novelHow Hard Can It Be?is going to be developed as a TV series by producerBruna Papandrea. The book is a follow-up to Pearson’s other novel,I Don’t Know How She Does It, and follows Kate Reddy, who is facing her 50th birthday. “Her children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace. Will Kate reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new “shaping” underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter’s surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?” Of the TV adaptation, Pearsonsaid, “I am delighted that Bruna and her amazing team at Made Up Stories are transforming ‘How Hard Can It Be?’ into a compelling TV drama. Committed to telling important tales about women’s lives at this great turning point in our history, Made Up Stories is the perfect producer for my novel. We have such a wealth of great actresses in their prime right now; I can’t wait to see them bring my heroine and her friends to life.“Dwayne Johnsonlikes to keep busy. When he’s not starring in dozens of big film franchises, he’s also producing.Deadlinereports that BET has orderedFinding Justice, a six-part docuseries from Johnson andDany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions.Finding Justice"tells the powerful stories of heroes, leaders, advocates and change agents in African American communities across America as they uncover injustices and fight to bring healing and change.” Johnson issued the following statement about the production:
According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Universal Cable Productions wants to turn theWarren Ellis,Declan ShalveyandJordie Bellaire comicInjectioninto a TV show. “Once upon a time, there were five crazy people, and they poisoned the 21st Century. Now they have to deal with the corrosion to try and save us all from a world becoming too weird to support human life,” states the description of the comic, adding thatInjectionis “about how loud and strange the world is getting, about the wild future and the haunted past all crashing into the present day at once, and about five eccentric geniuses dealing with the paranormal and numinous as well as the growing weight of what they did to the planet with the Injection. Beginning with Maria Kilbride, the troubled troubleshooter for the research wing of mysterious multinational FPI, dragged from hospital to investigate a case of a possessed laboratory and a disappearance that, impossibly, has the hallmarks of ancient folklore.” This soundsverycool, although it also sounds like the type of idea that’s hard to adapt into a TV show. But perhaps it’ll work out.
