TV News Wrap-Up: ‘Revenge’ Reboot Dead at ABC, New Zealand Grants Border Exemptions to Five Productions, ‘Katy Keene’ Canceled By The CW

It’s getting time for networks to decide where they want to take their pilot projects. Many networks are committing to film a few of their slate and push the rest to the next cycle. 

Meanwhile, a lot of shows are getting renewed, and steps are being taken for a few productions to begin their slate again. 

Take a look at the highlights from this week in TV news right here.

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Curb Your Enthusiasm will return for Season 11 on HBO. 

• Variety reports that the cabler has granted thie long-running improvised show an eleventh season. 
• “Believe me, I’m as upset about this as you are,” Larry David said. “One day I can only hope that HBO will come to their senses and grant me the cancellation I so richly deserve.”

ABC has passed on three projects, made a commitment to film five pilots this year, and has rolled three over to 2021.

• Early this week, Deadline reported that ABC announced that it will commit to filming five pilots in 2020 when production is able to safely resume. They have moved three shows to their 2021 slate. 
• The pilots they’ve committed to shoot include: Rebel starring Katey Sagal, Delroy Lindo’s Harlem’s Kitchen, as well as comedies Bossy, Home Economics, and Work Wife.
• Adopted, National Parks Service and Triage are being rolled into the 2021 pilot. 
• This leaves Prospect, Wreckage, and Untitled Kapnek/Holland Project as the only pilots on the slate awaiting a decision. 
• ABC also elected to pass on three projects including the reboot of thirtysomething entitled thirtysomething(else), The Brides from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and comedy Valley Trash starring Jason Lee. 

Ozark has been renewed for a fourth and final season by Netflix. 

• Netflix announced that the final season will consist of fourteen episodes and be broken into two parts. 
• “A super-sized season means super-sized problems for the Byrdes,” Jason Bateman stated. “I’m excited to end with a bang(s).”
• Read more about this supersized final season of Ozark right here.

The Kominsky Method has been renewed for a third and final season by Netflix.

• In a TVLine report, creator Chuck Lorre is quoted as saying, “It’s been an incredible experience to see the warm response from both audiences and critics. I’m excited to wrap up the story with this final chapter.”
• The Kominsky Method joins a series of Netflix shows who have had final seasons announced including Lucifer and Ozark. 

Netflix is giving 2% of its cash going forward, $100 million to start, to the economic development of Black communities.

• According to Deadline, the streamer made the announcement on Tuesday that it will dedicate 2% of its cash holdings, up to $100 million to start, towards financial institutions and organizations that directly support Black communities. 
• This is part of their commitment to racial equity. 
• Aaron Mitchell, Director, Talent Acquisition and Shannon Alwyn, Director, Treasury explained the decision in a blog post, “We believe bringing more capital to these communities can make a meaningful difference for the people and businesses in them, helping more families buy their first home or save for college, and more small businesses get started or grow.”

NBC has given a series order to the science fiction series Debris. 

• According to The Hollywood Reporter, Debris was able to complete about 80 percent of its pilot before the production shutdown in March. Sources say that the producers used sketches so that the network brass could review the pilot.
• This is the first series from NBC’s pilot crop to receive a series order, and the second new drama added to the slate behind the Chris Meloni-led Law & Order: SVU spinoff. 
• Debris is the story of “…two agents from two different continents who investigate an alien spacecraft wreckage and its mysterious effects on humankind.”

Katy Keene has been canceled by The CW after one season but is looking for a new home. 

• The network announced that it wouldn’t be renewing the freshman series on Thursday, making it the only series not to get a renewal from The CW. 
• Deadline reports that the contracts for the cast, originally set to expire on June 30th, were extended as the network mulled over the decision. Now Warner Bros. Television plans to use that time to explore options to keep the series alive. 
• HBO Max, which currently holds the streaming rights for the series and carries the first season, is considered the most likely home at the moment. 

New Zealand has granted five productions border exemptions. 

• Deadline reports that 206 foreign-based cast and crew and 35 family members will be allowed to enter New Zealand in the next six months. 
• New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment has announced that the productions granted border exemptions include, Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series, Netflix series Cowboy Bebop and Sweet Tooth, Peter Farrelly’s film Greatest Beer Run Ever starring Viggo Mortensen, and Power Rangers Beast Morphers series.
• The new arrivals will be subject to self-quarantine when they enter New Zealand.

Hulu has renewed The Great for a second season.

• Like the first season, the second season will consist of ten episodes. 
• The series starred Elle Fanning as Catherine the Great, alongside Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Sacha Dhawan, Sebastian de Souza, Bayo Gbadamosi, and Belinda Bromilow. 
• Variety reports, “Season 1 of The Great received mostly positive reviews from audiences and critics, with the show holding an 88% critical approval rating in Rotten Tomatoes.”

ABC is passing on a Revenge sequel series.

• ABC has passed on the chance for a follow-up to the 2011-2015 series starring Emily VanCamp with a fan-favorite character from the original (presumably Gabriel Mann’s Nolan Ross).
• According to TV Line, the sequel series would “follow a young Latina immigrant who arrives in Malibu to exact revenge on a pharmaceutical dynasty that caused “the murder of her biochemist mother, the destruction of her family and a global epidemic.”

Netflix’s Never Have I Ever is getting a second season.

• According to Deadline, the second season will also consist of ten episodes. 
• Maitreyi Ramakrishnan will reprise her lead role as high school student Devi Vishwakumar.
• Cast members Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Jaren Lewison, Darren Barnet, Lee Rodriguez, and Ramona Young are also set to return. 
• The show, which launched in April, has been applauded for an accurate depiction of high school as well as breaking South Asian stereotypes.

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What is your favorite bit of television news this week? Let us know in the comments below.

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