In Development
Del Toro’s Carnival Row. The Guillermo del Toro film script (with the longer title A Killing on Carnival Row) which has been languishing in development hell for a decade has been rescued by Amazon Studios with an eye toward turning it into a TV series revolving around a detective tracking a serial killer Victorian city populated by humans, elves, faeries and vampires. (Wrap)
Sinatra: All or Nothing at All. HBO and Alex Gibney will celebrate Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday with a two night, four-hour documentary focused on his 1971 Los Angeles farewell concert. There will be no talking head interviews, rather the entire thing will be pulled together from performances and archival footage. The Chairman of the Board turns 100 on December 15th so I’m guess the doc will drop sometime in winter? (Deadline)
Roots. History channel is nearing a greenlight on a remake of the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries based on Alex Haley’s biographical boo about the slave experience in the United States. Allen Hughes (Menace II Society) is lined up to directed and executive produce. (Deadline)
Tig Notaro. Is getting her own HBO special. The comedian rose to prominence in 2012 following a now legendary Los Angeles show in which she talked about her then-recent breast cancer diagnosis and other personal traumas including the death of her mother. Louis C.K. convinced her to release an audio recording of the show. More recently the internet flipped its shit when Notaro performed part of her set at the New York Comedy Festival topless, mastectomy scars on full display. (Deadline)
Returning Series
Murder in the First. Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage) has signed on as a series regular for the second season of Steven Bochco’s TNT crime drama starring Taye Diggs. She’ll play Lara Cruz, “a brash and badass member of the SFPD Gang Task Force.” Each season tracks a single murder case from the crime itself through the investigation, arrest and trial. Presumably, Murder in the First will fill the same June – August slot as last season. (TVLine)
Renewals/Cancellations
Bob’s Burgers. Your Burger of the Day is a sixth season of FOX’s Emmy-winning animated comedy (comes with a side of “uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” (EW)
Real Time with Bill Maher. Renewed for 2 more seasons of 35 episodes each. (TVByTheNumbers)
Happyland. The ratings for the theme-park-set half-hour comedy did not make MTV happy, so it has been cancelled. (Deadline)
Syndicated Craig Ferguson Comedy/Talk Show. Plans for a 30-minute comedy/talk show hosted by the former Late Show host have been scotched. (Deadline)
