When a CEO falls: Kyle Chandler joins cast of Showtime anthology series
When a CEO falls: “Friday Night Lights” alumnus Kyle Chandler (aka Coach Taylor) has had no trouble finding work after the NBC series wrapped in 2011, with roles on television and in films such as this year’s “Godzilla vs. Kong.” For his next role, Chandler will be involved with a different kind of Titan: the ride-hailing app Uber.
The Emmy winner is set to star in “Super Pumped,” a new Showtime anthology series from “Billions” creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien, and “Quantico” writer/producer Beth Schacter. The idea is that each season of “Super Pumped” brings you a true story that rocked the business world, one that eventually made headlines for all the wrong reasons — and it doesn’t get more shocking than the rise and fall of a big CEO.
The first installment is based on Mike Isaac’s bestselling book, “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber,” which chronicles the rise and fall of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.the television adaptation will explore Uber and Kalanick’s meteoric rise in Silicon Valley, as the ride-hailing app became one of the world’s most valuable startup companies and Kalanick reached billionaire status.
But from 2013 onwards, the company was rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and accusations of a toxic work environment. Kalanick was eventually ousted as CEO in 2017 over concerns he had fostered a flawed corporate culture, though he stayed on as a member of the board of directors until 2019.
Chandler will play the role of Texas venture capitalist Bill Gurley, who staked his reputation on Uber’s success early on.
And who will play Kalanick? Another award-winning actor, Joseph Gordon-levitt, who won a Golden Globe for 2009’s “500 Days of Summer” and 2011’s “50/50” and recently starred in the Oscar-nominated film “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (2020).
No news yet on a possible release date, but “Super Pumped” has been in the works since 2019. It’s also worth noting that it was originally intended to be a limited series before being bumped up to a seasonal anthology.
‘Perfect Strangers’ Again: HBO Max is working on a potential revival of 1980s sitcom “Perfect Strangers.”and now, we are so happy, we do the Dance of Joy. Longtime TV viewers will remember the original version as a quirky ABC comedy that ran from 1986 to 1993, and in that time, it was a key part of the network’s TGIF programming block (it occupied the first time-slot when the block was introduced in 1988).
The series centered on the sometimescontentious relationship between “Cousin” Larry (played by Mark Linn-baker,“blue Bloods”) and his distant relative-slashroommate, Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot, “Risky Business,” 1983), a shepherd from the (fictional) island of Mypos.
It didn’t win any major awards (except a Young Artist Award for one of its guest stars), but it did make TV history by launching a popular spinoff, “Family Matters.”
Larry and Balki won’t be the stars of this updated version. This time, the story revolves around Deja (Robin Thede, “The Rundown with Robin Thede”) and Poppy (London Hughes, “Damned”), two “perfect strangers” who discover they’re half-sisters when they inherit a one-bedroom apartment above a yoga studio in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Like the original leads, Deja and Poppy are polar opposites, but they eventually learn to live and work together.
This new “Perfect Strangers” is still in development. Thede, whose HBO series “A Black Lady Sketch Show” was recently renewed for a third season, will pen the script and serve as executive producer alongside Robert L. Boyett, who was the supervising executive producer on the original show, “Full House,” “Family Matters” and many others.
Freeform renewal: Expect more “Cruel Summer” to come. The Jessica Biel-produced YA (young adult) drama recently wrapped its freshman year, but it’s already Freeform’s most-watched series, with an average of 6.8 million total viewers per day. It’s the top new cable drama in 2021 among women aged 18 to 34, and it’s performing well on Hulu, too.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that Freeform has officially renewed it for a second season, though the Disney-owned basic cable network has yet to announce when it will be back or for how long (Season 1 consisted of 10 episodes).
“Renewing ‘Cruel Summer’ for a Season 2 was an easy decision,” Freeform president Tara Duncan, who stepped into the role last year, said. “It’s the biggest series debut in Freeform’s history, and the audience response has been overwhelmingly positive. Jessica [Biel], Michelle [Purple] and [showrunner] Tia [Napolitano] did a phenomenal job telling an addictive story that’s tapped into the cultural zeitgeist. I’m excited to see where they take the series next.” (Take note of that last sentence.)
As for producers Biel and Purple, they had this to say in a joint statement: “To be picked up for a second season is a dream, and we have so many ideas for where we can take this next.”
As it stands, “Cruel Summer” is a mystery that focuses on two young women, popular girl Kate Wallis (Olivia Holt, “Kickin’ It”) and nerdy Jeanette Turner (Chiara Aurelia, “Gerald’s Game,” 2017), who suddenly becomes an outcast after Kate goes missing and she’s accused of being involved in the disappearance.
The story itself was set over the course of three years in the mid1990s and was told through shifting points of view, with episodes alternating between Kate’s and Jeanette’s perspectives.
But will Season 2 feature the same characters and a new mystery? Or will “Cruel Summer” switch to an anthology format, meaning a completely different mystery and a new cast of characters every season?