Stars on Screen
Definition of ‘Icon’: They’re five-time Grammy winners who dominated country music charts in the 1980s and ‘90s with a string of Top 10 hits (20, to be exact). And now, the story of mother-daughter singing duo Naomi and Wynonna Judd, aka The Judds, appears to be headed for the small screen.
Fox is working on a new, onehour anthology drama series that tells the true stories of music legends who have left their imprint on recording history. Appropriately titled “Icon,” the series would profile a different artist each season, beginning with The Judds, who are on board as executive producers.
You might be thinking that the story of these country music hitmakers is well-trodden territory, given their 2011 OWN docuseries, “The Judds,” and the many bestselling memoirs written by mom Naomi and daughters Wynonna and Ashley, who followed her own path to stardom as an actress. But theirs is a story that transcends music genres, a story anchored by a loving but fractious family dynamic that has been tested by fame and tragedy. And quite frankly, that makes for good TV, while The Judds’ catalog certainly contains enough hits to craft a killer soundtrack.
The Judds stopped performing regularly as a duo in 1991 following Naomi’s hepatitis C diagnosis, and Wynonna went on to enjoy a successful solo career (she has a few concerts scheduled in 2020). There have been a few appearances and one-off concerts, but the last opportunity to see The Judds perform live was their 2010-11 Last Encore tour. And while country music’s most successful duo is due to receive their very own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame next year, this new Fox anthology series should be a special treat for fans once production gets underway — they just need to find a writer first.
(Re)Animating ‘X-Files’: Some good news for fans of “The XFiles”: Fox is reportedly considering a spinoff series that would keep the franchise alive.
But wait — there are a few twists in this story. The potential new series is an animated comedy titled “The X-Files: Albuquerque.” And it won’t feature Mulder or Scully, either: it appears actors David Duchovny and
Gillian Anderson aren’t attached to the project at this time.
Instead, “The X-Files: Albuquerque” will follow the antics of an office staffed by misfit agents who are willing to tackle the cases that are otherwise too ridiculous, farfetched or outrageous for more serious agents — you know, like Mulder and Scully.
The people behind this project are writers Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko, who have both worked on Netflix’s “Paradise PD” and Comedy Central’s “Brickleberry.” They’ll pen the pilot, but they’ll also serve as executive producers alongside series creator Chris Carter and another “X-Files” alumnus, Gabe Rotter.
“The X-Files: Albuquerque” is still pretty early in the development process, but if you’re a fan of the live-action show, this might be the closest you’ll get to a series revival (and even then, there aren’t many similarities between the two shows).
Lifting the ‘Vale’: Two more names have been added to the cast of “Shining Vale,” and that means the Starz horror-comedy pilot is one step closer to becoming a reality.
The potential half-hour series already has two big names attached as series regulars: Courteney Cox (“Friends”) and Greg Kinnear (“Little Miss Sunshine,” 2006). They’ll be joined by Gus Birney (“The Mist”) and Dylan Gage (“PEN15”), who have been cast as siblings to complete the TV family.
“Shining Vale” is based on a story co-written by “Trial & Error” co-creator Jeff Astrof and “Divorce” creator Sharon Horgan. It’s the tale of a dysfunctional family — father Terry (Kinnear), mother Pat (Cox), daughter Gaynor (Birney) and son Jake (Gage) — that moves from a big city to a small town, and the “horror-comedy” bits stem from the fact that their new home is the scene of some pretty terrible things. Weirdly, nobody has picked up on this — that is, no one except Pat, who isn’t sure if she’s depressed or possessed (it might not be clear to the viewer, either).