The one airing in 2021
‘Friends’ reunion still a go at HBO Max
The one airing in 2021: It looks like HBO Max’s highly anticipated “Friends” reunion is finally going to happen … but in 2021.
Last month, actor Matthew Perry (“Mr. Sunshine”), aka Chandler, posted this tweet that set off a wave of excitement: “Friends reunion being rescheduled for the beginning of March. Looks like we have a busy year coming up. And that’s the way I like it!”
This is great news for all of the fans who have been looking forward to seeing Ross (David Schwimmer, “Intelligence”), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston, “The Morning Show”), Monica (Courteney Cox, “Cougar Town”), Chandler (Perry), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow, “Web Therapy”) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc, “Man With a Plan”) back together again.
The “Friends” reunion was supposed to be the mustsee event of 2020 — the one that would help HBO Max make a big first impression on launch day. Instead, production was shut down on March 18 due to the pandemic and delayed again in August when filming was supposed to begin.
There have been a few other high-profile cast reunions in 2020, including the very successful “A Parks and Recreation Special,” but those were virtual reunions that involved video calls or stars filming their parts at home — an option that doesn’t hold much appeal to the cast of “Friends” and the HBO Max executives, who are set on having an in-person reunion back on the Warner Bros. Stage 24 soundstage.
“We haven’t all been in the same room in front of people — I mean, we have privately once many years ago but that’s it,” Lisa Kudrow said in an interview earlier this year with The Hollywood Reporter. “The whole point of this is to be in the same room. That hasn’t changed. And HBO
Max is being phenomenally patient and understanding.”
Assuming everything goes smoothly and filming begins in March 2021, there’s a good chance the special might make it to air in late spring. Sure, that’s one year later than its intended premiere date, but given the circumstances, it’s the best fans can hope for.
Spinning a spinoff: Syndication has been good to “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak and professional letter turner Vanna White, but it’s time for them to take it to the next level: prime time.
ABC has ordered a full series of “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune,” and it has already found a cushy spot for it in its prime-time lineup. The latest addition to the network’s game show roster even has a premiere date already: Jan. 7.
As the title implies, celebrity contestants will be the ones spinning the wheel, guessing letters, buying vowels and solving the puzzle. It’s all for a good cause: they’ll be playing for the chance to win up to $1 million to be donated to the charity of their choice.
We’ve seen similar nighttime versions of “The Price Is Right” and “Let’s Make a Deal” at CBS and, of course, ABC has had great success with its makeovers of “The $100,000 Pyramid,” “Celebrity Family Feud” and others. But this “Wheel of Fortune” spinoff marks the syndicated show’s debut in broadcast TV’s most coveted time period — a bit surprising, given that the show has been on the air for 38 seasons. (Fun fact: in 2019, Pat Sajak set a new record as the longestrunning host of the same game show.)
Even its syndicated companion series, “Jeopardy!,” has received the prime-time treatment. Hosted by the late, great Alex Trebek, “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” was a big success for ABC when it aired at the beginning of the year. In fact, its trio of contestants — James Holzhauer,
Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter — are set to compete again (but not against each other) in ABC’s remake of the British quiz show “The Chase,” which will premiere the same night (Jan. 7) as “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.”
A new DC Comics:
Ready for a new kind of hero? How about a former villain-turned-antihero?
“Black Lightning” is getting its own spinoff, and its network, CW, is already working on a backdoor pilot. It would center on Painkiller, whose name will also serve as the (possible) series title.
Actor Jordan Calloway (“Unfabulous”) will reprise his role as the DC Comics character, whose real name is Khalil Payne. He’s a man who is riddled with guilt about his former life in Freeland City, where Painkiller wreaked havoc as Tobias Whale’s righthand man and cyberneticenhanced killing machine under the A.S.A.’s control.
Payne has managed to free himself from that life by starting anew in Akashic Valley, but the past never stays buried. Eventually, he will find himself back in action — this time bringing
justice instead of meting out punishment … if he can find a way to harness his dark side.
CW is planning to air the planted pilot spinoff as the seventh episode of “Black Lightning” during the new season that begins in February 2021. And if it ends up having a similar feel to its parent series, that might be because “Black Lightning” showrunner Salim Akil will write, direct and executive produce the episode.
Also known as a “backdoor pilot,” the planted spinoff is standard practice in the industry. It involves
introducing a character into an already successful series in order to generate interest in a planned spinoff.
CW has had a lot of success with this strategy. In addition to introducing a prequel to “The 100,” “Arrow’s” planted spinoff drew 890,000 viewers in January, many of those viewers now anxiously awaiting an update on “Green Arrow and the Canaries.” Neither has officially been ordered to series, but CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz previously said both projects were “very much alive.”