TV News Wrap-Up: ‘Dead to Me’ Season 2 Gets Premiere Date, Lisa Kudrow Joins ‘Space Force,’ ‘All Rise’ Produces Virtual Episode, and More
Welcome to quarantine week four everyone. As we come on a month of production shutdowns, self-isolation, quarantines, and lockdowns, some creatives are finding innovative ways to produce new content.
While we still don’t know what the effects of the coronavirus will be on the entertainment industry at large, but some services have realized that now is a time for an audience to consume content. As a result, there is an abundance of materials being made available for free from platforms like Apple TV+ and HBO.
Some networks and shows are still preparing for the post-coronavirus world. Take a look at a few of this week’s highlights.
—
All Rise is returning to production with a virtually shot social distancing episode. Following the shut down of production due to coronavirus, All Rise is among the shows that have found an innovative way to produce new content. The cast will be recording from inside their home using technologies like Zoom, FaceTime, and WebEx, to produce the episode and the episode will showcase the cast adapting their work lives to social distancing and self-isolation. Read more about this decision here.
Netflix announces that Dead to Me Season 2 will premiere in May. The streamer dropped a short trailer depicting Jen and Judy trying to decide what to do after the Season 1 cliffhanger, coming to the realizing that they’re not in Snow White, they’re in Scarface. The second season of the dark comedy will premiere May 8th. Check out the trailer below.
Epix has ordered a Charles Manson docuseries.
The Friends reunion special will not be ready in time for HBO Max’s launch in May. Variety reports that a source says that the continued production shutdown due to coronavirus means that they cast has not been able to film the reunion special. Since one of the original selling points of the series was that the reunion would take place on the original soundstage, they had no considered remote filming via Zoom or other technologies. The ten original seasons of Friends will still be available to stream when HBO Max launches in May.
Netflix is adapting Kiera Cass’s The Selection into a movie directed by filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour. Variety exclusively reported the news that the 2012 novel would be brought to the screen. The first in a five-book series, The Selection tells the story of 35 girls who are selected to move into a royal palace and compete for a prince’s heart. It follows America Singer, who is chosen from the society’s lower class to be one of Prince Maxon’s suitors but is torn between the life and love she left behind.
Lisa Kudrow is joining Steve Carell in Netflix’s Space Force. The new workplace comedy, “…centers on Mark R. Naird (Carell), a four-star general and decorated pilot who dreams of running the Air Force but instead finds himself tapped to lead the newly-formed sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces: the titular Space Force.” Variety reports that Kudrow will play Maggie Naird, Mark’s wife who has sublimated parts of herself to help her husband’s career grow, but will find herself growing in new directions. Netflix has set the premiere for May 29th.
Starz has greenlit Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson’s Black Mafia Family. Variety reports that this new series will join Jackson’s expanding series family at Starz, which includes the recently concluded Power, and the forthcoming spinoffs set in the same universe. Black Mafia Family, “is inspired by the true story of two brothers who rose from the decaying streets of southwest Detroit in the late 1980’s and gave birth to one of the most influential crime families in this country. Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory’s charismatic leadership, combined with Terry ‘Southwest T’ Flenory’s business acumen allows and the duo to take their vision beyond the drug trade and into the world of Hip Hop.”
—
What do you think of this week’s TV news? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow us on Twitter and on 
Instagram!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.