TAGGED AS: ABC, Amazon, CBS, FX, NBC, Showtime
This week in TV news: Showtime gives a tasty first look at Twin Peaks limited series, Harry Potter franchise star added to Fargo season 3, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail is working on a miniseries based on classic film Metropolis, and more.
Fargo has added to the cast of its third installment, with David Thewlis (Harry Potter films), Michael Stuhlbarg (Boardwalk Empire), and Jim Gaffigan (The Jim Gaffigan Show) joining previously announced stars Ewan McGregor, Carrie Coon, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Set in 2010, the next installment of Fargo will feature an all-new “true crime” tale centered on Emmit and his slightly younger brother Ray Stussy (both played by McGregor). Rounding out the cast are Scoot McNairy (Halt & Catch Fire), Shea Whigham (Vice Principals), Karan Soni (Blunt Talk), Fred Melamed (Casual, Lady Dynamite), and Thomas Mann (Me, Earl and the Dying Girl). Production is set to begin in Calgary in January for a 2017 premiere.
In development news this week, a TV adaptation of the 1992 film Single White Female has received a script order from NBC. Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) is working on a miniseries based on Fritz Lang‘s 1927 sci-fi classic Metropolis for Universal Cable Productions. New eight-episode A&E docu-series Generation KKK will feature footage from cameras embedded within the hate group. The series premieres Jan. 10. ABC drama Somewhere Between, about a woman who knows her daughter is going to be murdered, will begin shooting in Vancouver and air in summer 2017. Classic sitcom producer Norman Lear has entered into talks with Netflix to potentially launch reboots of All in the Family, Good Times, The Jeffersons, and Maude as part of an anthology miniseries in which contemporary actors will act out scripted scenes — as originally written — from the vintage shows. And, finally, people are talking about Russian reality show Game2: Winter that will purportedly allow rape and murder as part of contestants’ survival tactics in the Siberian wilderness.
Original scripted television is up 71 percent since 2011 across cable, broadcast, and streamers, according to FX Networks Research. Streaming content is up 1,450 percent for the same period. “Peak TV was once again far from peaky in 2016, with a record 455 scripted original series across broadcast, cable, and streaming sources,” Julie Piepenkotter, FX Networks’ executive vice president, Research, said in a statement. “This estimate reps a +8 percent increase over just last year (421 in 2015) ― but an astonishing +71 percent increase over five years ago (266 in 2011) and +137 percent over a decade ago (192 in 2006).”
Amazon will stream the original Unsolved Mysteries series with case updates in 2017, according to TheWrap.com. The reality-based series started airing in 1987, was hosted by Robert Stack (Airplane!), and featured dramatic re-enactments of mysterious stories — from strange deaths to UFO sightings. Law & Order star Dennis Farina took over hosting duties in 2008.
…and it’s of creator David Lynch eating a doughnut. So it’s a character study, really — Lynch plays FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole in the Twin Peaks limited series that will air on Showtime in 2017.
