Trends to look for on TV come fall
Networks look for the next big hit in a crowded streaming landscape
What could be your next favorite television series?
Broadcast networks are fighting for attention – and the next hit – in a crowded streaming-show landscape that includes more diversity, spinoffs, familiar faces and literary inspiration.
Only a fraction of the episodes commissioned by networks this spring will become series on the broadcast networks’ 2019-20 schedule. The winners will be chosen in mid-May as they prepare to unveil new lineups. Until then, some trends to look out for:
Familiar faces hope to return
Familiar faces are returning to the small screen in several pilot.
❚ Pauley Perrette, a fan favorite who left “NCIS” last year, is giving comedy a try with CBS’ “Broke“playing a single mom and bar manager who takes in her snobby-but-broke sister and brother-in-law.
❚ Jennifer Morrison (“Once Upon a Time,” “House”) returns to her medical TV roots in CBS’ “Under the Bridge.” She stars as a surgeon who has to fix her medical practice and her marriage after a scandal.
❚ Two former TV presidents also are vying to return: Jimmy Smits (”Sons of Anarchy,” “The West Wing”) stars in NBC’s pilot “Bluff City Law,” as Memphis lawyer who takes on controversial civil rights cases. And “Scandal” alum Bellamy Young has signed on to co-star with Michael Sheen (“Masters of Sex”) in “Prodigal Son,” a potential Fox drama, as parents of a criminal psychologist.
And there are plenty of options for actresses of a certain age.
❚ “Sex and the City” alum Kim Cattrall stars in Fox’s “Filthy Rich” as Margaret Monroe, a woman who is blindsided when her husband, the CEO of a Christian TV network, dies and leaves a will revealing he has illegitimate children.
❚ Brooke Shields (“Jane the Virgin,” “Suddenly Susan”) is set to portray a cosmetics company CEO in CW’s “Glamorous.”
❚ Fran Drescher (“The Nanny”) has been cast in the NBC comedy “Uninsured” as a woman who enlists the help of her son to pay off debts.
❚ Vanessa Williams (“Ugly Betty”) stars in comedy pilot “Happy Accident,” as the lounge-singer mother of a
med-school student whose life is changed by a decades-old family secret.
❚ Andie MacDowell and Kathleen Turner have signed on to star in a potential Fox series whose entire first season is set on a wedding night.
Asian-American influence
The success of last year’s film “Crazy Rich Asians” has encouraged more Asian-American representation on the small screen.
❚ CBS’ “The Emperor of Malibu” co-stars the film’s Ken Jeong as a Chinese billionaire who comes to the U.S. when his son becomes engaged to an American woman. The show was created by Kevin Kwan, who wrote the “Asians” trilogy that inspired the movie.
❚ In an ABC pilot, Holly Chou (“The Big Sick”) unexpectedly becomes the matriarch of her family after her grandmother’s death.
❚ Kal Penn (”Designated Survivor”) created and stars in an NBC comedy pilot as a former New York City councilman who helps recent immigrants in need.
❚ NBC’s “Like Magic” stars Jee Young Han (“Station 19”) as a woman pursuing her dream to become a magician.
Literary views
Books have become big this year with several pilots based on literature, including modern novels and a classic character.
❚ ABC is considering a drama based on “Big Little Lies” author Liane Moriarty’s novel “The Hypnotist’s Love Story.”
❚ Jeffrey Deaver’s “The Bone Collector” book series inspired a potential NBC drama starring Russell Hornsby (“Proven Innocent,” “Grimm”) as Lincoln Rhyme, whom Denzel Washington played in a 1999 movie adaptation.
❚ CW brings the legendary Nancy Drew to life as the teen sleuth who solves a murder in her hometown after her high-school graduation.
Dads starting over
Three comedies deal with fathers who find a way to move on after tragedy.
❚ Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”) turns to his father-in-law after his wife dies in NBC’s “Saving Kenan.”
❚ In ABC’s “Nana,” Katey Sagal (“Sons of Anarchy”) moves in with her son-in-law’s family to help raise her two granddaughters.
❚ And Walton Goggins (“Justified”) tries to balance being a widowed father with getting back into the dating scene in CBS comedy “The Unicorn.”
Odd inspirations
Inspiration comes from unusual places.
❚ A John Mayer song is the basis for ABC’s “Heart of Life,” about adults from different walks of life who discover they are related.
❚ “Patty’s Auto,” the Fox comedy about an auto repair shop with women mechanics, takes its inspiration from Girls Auto Clinic, an auto shop near Philadelphia.
❚ NBC’s “Council of Dads” is based on Bruce Feiler’s memoir about a father pulling together a group of friends to support his family when he’s diagnosed with a terminal illness.
More spinoffs
Networks’ dependence on remakes and spinoffs continues, especially at CW.
❚ “Riverdale” may spawn “Katy Keene,” starring Lucy Hale (“Pretty Little Liars”) as a woman who dreams of a fashion careerin New York.
❚ “Jane the Virgin,” exiting this summer, may beget “Jane the Novela,” an anthology series based on the novels “written” by Jane Villanueva, Gina Rodriguez’s title character. (Rodriguez also would narrate).
❚ And Ruby Rose, who gueststarred as Kate Kane/Batwoman in the network’s other DC Comics series, likely will get her own show.
Elsewhere, CBS is cloning freshman series “FBI” with “FBI: Most Wanted,” a spinoff focusing on a division that tracks criminals on the most-wanted list.