NOT DONE WITH ABC YET
Shonda Rhimes last year signed a big production deal at Netflix, but her footprint at ABC remains large, with two new series joining three dramas on the network.
Courthouse drama For the People
(due March 11) and an untitled Grey’s
Anatomy spinoff about Seattle firefighters (March 22) will join Rhimes’
Grey’s, Scandal and How to Get Away
With Murder. Scandal ends its run April 19; Murder’s future is uncertain.
Rhimes said there was a misconception that the Netflix deal would peel her away from involvement with the ABC shows. The broadcast network has rights to current series and spinoffs of them already in the works.
“We’re already at Netflix, and we’re at ABC. All of our new shows are going to be at Netflix.” The speculation is “like saying I have five kids and I’m going to just leave them.”
The Grey’s spinoff shares more than a city with the original series: Incredulously, anesthesiologist and surgeon Ben Warren (Jason George) quits to become a rookie firefighter.
“The pay (differential) is huge, but I don’t think anyone starts as a firefighter for money,” said George.
People features prosecutors and public defenders in a Manhattan federal court overseen by a clerk (Anna Deavere Smith), a judge (Vondie Curtis Hall) and a chief public defender (Hope Davis).
In a post-Harvey Weinstein world where workplace sexual harassment
makes headlines, Rhimes was asked what effect that conversation would have on the signature mix of work, romance and sex in her shows.
“I don’t think sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace is tricky territory. When it happens, we talk about it, and when it doesn’t happen, we don’t,” she said. – B.K.
‘ROSEANNE’
ABC comedy Roseanne didn’t run from difficult cultural issues during its initial hit run, and it’s not doing so in its return on March 27.
The reboot, 21 years after its nineseason run ended, dives into contemporary politics.
Star and executive producer Roseanne Barr, a Trump supporter, initially shied away from political questions at the Television Critics Association but ultimately, she couldn’t resist.
“We always tried to have ( Roseanne) be a true reflection of the society we live in,” she said. “Half the people voted for Trump and half didn’t, so it’s just realistic.”
Barr’s character, Roseanne Conner, is a working-class mom who supports Trump. “It was working-class people who elected Trump, and that was very real and needed to be discussed,” said Barr, adding she’s “not a Trump apologist, and there are a lot of things he has said and done that I don’t agree with.”
Barr, who announced that she’s retiring from Twitter, acknowledged pulling back from outspokenness as the premiere approaches. “I didn’t want it to overshadow the show, so I’m taking a little bit of a break.”
Barr said she intended to revisit the groundbreaking comedy, though it meant having to explain the death of John Goodman’s Dan Conner. “I always wanted a 10th year to complete what I did in the first nine,” she said, saying she’s open to continuing beyond the nine-episode season.
– B.K.
‘AMERICAN IDOL’
Less than two years after Fox canceled the long-running, one-time megahit, the grandaddy of reality singing competitions is back on ABC.
Ryan Seacrest, already in the Disney family on Live With Kelly and Ryan, is back as host of American Idol. And for the show’s 16th season, there’s a new lineup of judges: Pop singer Katy Perry, country’s Luke Bryan and R&B crooner Lionel Richie.
Seacrest said that it’s essentially the same show that returns March 11, airing Sundays and Mondays.
ABC is making an expensive gamble on the show — Perry’s salary has been widely reported at $25 million — to help boost its third-place prime-time lineup.
But the question remains: Can Idol mint stars like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood as it once did? Perry hopes so, even as NBC’s rival The Voice considers that an optional side effect. “We are wasting our time if we do not find another star,” Perry says. “Americans need a real legit American Idol.” – G.L.