TV News Wrap-Up: CBS Cuts Episode Orders for Broadcast Series, Uzo Aduba Cast in HBO’s ‘In Treatment,’ ‘Ginger Snaps’ TV Series Adaptation in the Works

As production starts up again, we are getting lots of news about series premiere dates. This also means that there are some cancellations and some inventive ways to produce shows while still observing social distancing.

We can look forward to new episodes of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, American Gods, and more, plus more shows are starting to film again. 

Not to mention, there are more new series in the works and some of your favorites actors making their way back to your screens. 

Check out the highlights in this week’s TV news wrap-up. 

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Netflix has renewed The Baby-Sitters Club for Season 2. 

• The series based on the best-selling books by Ann M. Martin is getting a second go-around at Netflix. 
• According to Deadline, the second season will follow middle-schoolers Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, Stacey McGill, Dawn Schafer, Jessie Ramsey, Mallory Pike as they start their babysitting business in the town of Stonybrook, Connecticut.

Killing Eve producer Sid Gentle Films is working on a TV adaptation of the Ginger Snaps movie trilogy. 

• Deadline reports, Anna Ssemuyaba will write the potential Ginger Snaps TV series based on a trio of cult horror movies that spell a darkly comic tale of teenage sisterhood originally released in 2000.
• The project will be executive produced by John Fawcett, co-creator and director of the original film and co-creator and executive producer of BBC America’s award-winning series, Orphan Black. 
• The series will focus around, “…the story of sisters, Ginger and Brigette, who are self-imposed outcasts in their hometown. Inseparable and fascinated with the macabre, they make a pact to escape their sleepy suburban home by sixteen or else take their own lives. But on the night of her first period, Ginger is attacked and infected by a werewolf which unleashes a monstrous kind of puberty. Brigette can’t understand this new version of her sister who is violent and sexual. As a bloody trail begins to form in Ginger’s wake, Brigette must find a way to curb her sister’s new cravings or risk losing her forever.”

Freshman series Filthy Rich and NeXt have been canceled at Fox.

• Deadline reports that both shows will see out their current runs.
• Reportedly, both shows are currently averaging 0.5/3 in the adults 18-49 demo. Both the low ratings and uncertainty are behind the cancellation of the series.
• Both shows were originally intended for summer runs. 
• NeXt has aired three episodes of a 10-episode order, and Filthy Rich has aired five of its 10 episodes. 

Narcos: Mexico has been renewed for Season 3 by Netflix with a new showrunner.

• Deadline reports that not only has the streamer renewed the drug-trafficking series for a third outing but that lead Diego Luna will not be returning. 
• Last season, Luna’s character Felix Gallardo was sentenced to prison for his drug trafficking crimes, and there was speculation that he wouldn’t return since he’s on deck to reprise his role as Cassian Andor in the Disney+ Star Wars series Rogue One, currently in pre-production.
• The series will also be getting a new showrunner as Eric Newman steps down. 
• Carlo Bernard is expected to take over day-to-day showrunning duties and Newman will continue to executive produce alongside Bernard, and Jose Padilha, Sidonie Dumas, Christophe Riandee, Nicolas Atlan, Doug Miro, and Andrés Baiz. Wagner Moura.
• Season 3 will reportedly focus on the “….war that breaks out after Felix’s empire splinters. As newly independent cartels struggle to survive political upheaval and escalating violence, a new generation of Mexican kingpins emerge. But in this war, truth is the first casualty – and every arrest, murder, and take-down only pushes real victory further away.”

CBS All Access’s anthology series, Why Women Kill casts Allison Tolman and Nick Frost as Season 2 leads.

• According to Deadline, the new season of the anthology series will be set in 1949 and “…explore what it means to be beautiful, the hidden truth behind the facades people present to the world, the effects of being ignored and overlooked by society, and finally, the lengths one woman will go in order to finally belong.”
• Tolman will play Alma, a timid and awkward housewife. She yearns for a spot in the local garden club and for her daughter to get married but finds her life disrupted when she discovers her husband’s secret hobby.
• Frost will play Bertman, Alma’s husband who is a veterinarian who spends his days putting animals out of their misery. He’s kind and good-humored but has a secret hobby that is much darker than his jovial nature will have you believe.

HBO Max’s The Peacemaker, The Suicide Squad spinoff, adds Steve Agee.

• Deadline exclusively reported, “…Agee will reprise one of two of his Suicide Squad roles, that of John Economos.”
• John Cena is said to star in the new series which will begin shooting early next year. 
• Peacemaker’s first incarnation was Christopher Smith, a pacifist diplomat, and son of a Nazi death camp commandant who founded the Pax Institute, which fights dictators and warlords.

CBS All Access has renewed No Activity for Season 4; and it will be animated.

• The formal greenlight for the series had been expected, and the series has already been written.
• Prior to the recent shutdowns, the show had been gearing up for production. 
• According to Deadline, the new season will be a departure from the previous series with characters appearing in animated form. 
• Julie McNamara, EVP and Head of Programming, CBS All Access said, “We are so excited to welcome back the hilarious team behind No Activity for a fourth season and can’t wait to show fans their favorite mediocre law enforcement agents brought to life in animated form.”

Alicia Von Rittberg has been cast as the title role in the new Starz series Becoming Elizabeth. 

• A Deadline exclusive reports that the drama details the early years of Queen Elizabeth I.
• Rittberg has been cast as Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, who was executed when Elizabeth was just two years old. 
• While the marriage was annulled and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate she proceeded to go on a long journey filled with scheming, betrayal, and illicit relationships before ascending to the throne and ruling for 45 years. 

Brave New World has been canceled by Peacock after one season. 

• UCP, the studio behind the sci-fi drama series based on the novel by Aldous Huxley will shop it to other outlets.
• “There will not be Season 2 of Brave New World on Peacock. David Wiener created a thought-provoking and cinematic adaptation. We’re grateful to the cast and crew who brought this world to life. We look forward to telling more stories with David in the future,” Peacock said in a statement obtained by Deadline. 
• Brave New World was part of Peacock’s inaugural slate and the only original homegrown scripted seres available when the platform launched in July. The drama failed to generate buzz amongst critics and fans. 

CBS has trimmed episode orders of most broadcast series for the 2020-2021 television season. 

• A typical CBS Studios series order is 22 episodes but with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing shows to delay their premieres, the network has made the decision to cut shows such as NCIS, SEAL Team, and Bull to somewhere between 16 and 18 episodes. 
• The network is currently negotiating with outside studios such as Warner Bros TV and Universal TV. 
• Deadline also reported, ” In addition to scheduling — the late show premieres means that networks will need fewer episodes to get through the end of the broadcast season in May — the increased cost of production also is believed to have played a role in these decisions. Implementing COVID-19 safety protocols adds hundreds of thousands of dollars to the production budget of each episode this year.”

In Treatment Season 4 is officially greenlit, and Uzo Aduba will be its star. 

• The original series starring Gabriel Byrne ended its three-season run in 2010.
• Aduba will be the headliner for the reimagined version that is set to go into production this fall under COVID-19 guidelines. 
• The debut is planned for 2021 with the series airing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max. 
• Deadline reports that Aduba will play Dr. Brooke Lawrence, who will see a diverse trio of patients as she wrestles with her own issues. No additional cast announcements have been made. 
• The original series brought an Emmy and a Golden Globe as well as a Peabody and AFI Award.

Sarah Drew is set to recur on Freeform’s Cruel Summer. 

• The Freeform features a story that “… take place over three summers from 1993-1995 in a small town in Texas. After the beautiful and popular Kate (Olivia Holt) is abducted, Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) goes from being sweet and awkward to the new popular girl in school.”
• Drew will play Jeanette’s mother Cindy who is trying to hold together their family and reputation as town gossip threatens to destroy it. 
• Drew’s arc will last one-season.
• You can read more about Sarah Drew’s role in Cruel Summer right here.

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

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