This week in TV news, FX announces new premiere dates while El Rey Network plans a kung-fu marathon. Plus, Snowpiercer might head to the small screen and Empire is definitely heading for a long winter break!
Snowpiercer: The TV Show? Sure, why not? says Tomorrow Studios, which has optioned the rights to Bong Joon Ho’s icy post-apocalyptic action flick from 2013 starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton. Josh Friedman (Emerald City, War of the Worlds) is attached to write the script and told the Hollywood Reporter, “I’m a huge fan of director Bong’s films, especially Snowpiercer. It’s great the way the best sci-fi is great — thoughtful, political, funny, scary, and sly… And it’s on a train. A big f–king train. What more could you want?” Marty Adelstein, who runs Tomorrow Studios added, “As such a prolific and innovative writer [Friedman] is the ideal person to create a massive new world in this adaptation. This is an expansive, high-concept project and we are thrilled to be a part of reimagining it for television.”
Louis CK may have shut down Louie indefinitely, but he maintains his FX producer status with Baskets, a series he co-created with Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover, Bored to Death) and Jonathan Krisel (Portlandia, Man Seeking Woman) about a man named Chip Baskets (Galifianakis) who has long dreamt of becoming a French clown — but life keeps getting in the way. FX will debut Baskets on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 10 p.m. and also announced dates for other upcoming series. On Jan. 6, FXX will premiere season 11 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 10 p.m. and season two of Man Seeking Woman at 10:30 p.m. The newest anthology series from Ryan Murphy, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, will air on Feb. 2 at 10 p.m. on FX, and season four of The Americans is confirmed for March 2016.
Empire, Fox’s smash-hit hip-hop saga starring Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, has only three more episodes to go before it takes a long mid-season break. The show’s co-creator Lee Daniels tweeted on Wednesday, “Remaining air dates: Wednesday, Nov. 18, 25 & Dec. 2. Returns Wed., March 30, 2016.” That means you’ll have to find something to fill the void in the following months (perhaps one, or all, of these?). It also means that the viewers who’ve dropped off this season will have plenty of time to catch up. Variety reported Thursday that Empire, which started the season with an all-time high, hit a ratings low this week, down nine percent from last week — though it still dominates its timeslot. The most recent episode of Empire, “True Love Never” was the first Rotten episode of the season on Rotten Tomatoes, with a score of 58 percent on the Tomatometer.
El Rey Network announced its second annual “Way of the Turkey” marathon this week. The Thanksgiving-timed film feast will feature 96 hours of kung-fu films, beginning Thursday, Nov. 26 at 6 a.m. with Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, an old-school Shaw Brothers-produced yarn about assassins stalking a group of martial-arts students, and concluding Sunday, Nov. 29 at 6:00 a.m. with House of Traps, Chang Cheh’s action spectacular about a team of skilled fighters in a house rigged with ingenious and deadly traps. Other king-fu fighting includes Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, and Executioners from Shaolin. Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, will host the marathon, along with Lucha Underground baddie, Dario Cueto. Visit elreynetwork.com for more info.
