There was a lot of news flying around yesterday from the networks about their fall schedules, since it’s upfronts season. Some of it was sad, some of it was just fine, and some of it was Rashida Jones. But some of it fell through the cracks, so here it is in bullet point form.
- NBC has picked up Law & Order: SVU for a 16th season, thereby recapturing Mariska Hargitay under the antediluvian curse that binds her to the show until the network decides it is done with it and condemning to death at least 22 new people in the Law & Order-verse. In its report on the renewal, Deadline brightly notes that Dick Wolf still hopes to take down Gunsmoke’s record for longest-running drama series, a record he tied in the 20th season of Law & Order’s original flavor, then failed to surpass because NBC cruelly canceled it right out from under him. Now, he wanders the network schedule swearing vengeance until Marshal Dillon’s trophy is his. So what we’re saying, Mariska Hargitay, is you might as well settle in for a while. Dick Wolf is getting this show to 2019 and year 21 by hook or by crook or by terrible black magicks.
- Fox has picked up American Idol for its 14th season. This season’s collapse in the ratings led some to suggest that the network might cancel it or name season 14 the show’s final one, but no one seems quite ready to do that. Interestingly, Fox president Kevin Reilly speculated in this interview with Vulture that he wouldn’t mind getting the show’s original judging panel of Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul back together for a “final” season. He just wasn’t committed to season 14 being the last one. But it sounds like he’s thought about it. And somewhere, Brian Dunkleman waits for the phone that never rings.
- While TBS picked up a bunch of comedies, its sister network, TNT, picked up a couple of new dramas. One, named Proof, stars Jennifer Beals as a skeptical doctor who believes, first and foremost, in science—what we in the biz call a “Scully”—only to embark on a quest to prove that life after death exists by looking into cases involving reincarnation and hauntings and what have you. Why does she do this? The summary isn’t immediately clear. We’ll just guess it’s because she’s kidnapped by a ghost. The other series, Public Morals, hails from Ed Burns, who created and also stars. It’s produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television, and it’s about cops in ‘60s New York. TNT is keeping Agent X, its Sharon Stone project alive for possible retooling (and possible connection to the film Foodfight), but it has quietly pulled the plug on Guilty By Association. We don’t know what that is either.
- Finally, though we’ve already reported on Rake’s cancellation, this sentence from Deadline’s report on the same was too good to pass up: “On the hourlong side, there will be no second season for Rake, though it has not been officially cancelled.” Your guess is as good as ours.
If you’re waiting on news of Community’s renewal, that should come in the next 48 hours. So just hang out here and constantly refresh the homepage. Our advertisers thank you.
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